WPNT834 Manual: Using Universal Plug and Play (UPnP)

Universal Plug and Play (UPnP) helps devices, such as Internet appliances and computers, access the network and connect to other devices as needed. UPnP devices can automatically discover the services from other registered UPnP devices on the network.

Figure 8-14

From the main menu of the browser interface, under Advanced, click on UPnP. Set up UPnP according to the guidelines below.

Turn UPnP On-UPnP can be enabled or disabled for automatic device configuration. The default setting for UPnP is disabled. If disabled, the router will not allow any device to automatically control the resources, such as port forwarding (mapping) of the router.


	Note: If you use applications such as multi-player gaming, peer-to-peer connections, real time communications such as instant messaging, or remote assistance (a feature in Windows XP), you should enable UPnP.

Advertisement Period-the Advertisement Period is how often the router will broadcast its UPnP information. This value can range from 1 to 1440 minutes. The default period is 30 minutes. Shorter durations ensure that control points have current device status at the expense of additional network traffic. Longer durations may compromise the freshness of the device status but can significantly reduce network traffic.

Advertisement Time To Live-the time to live for the advertisement is measured in hops (steps) for each UPnP packet sent. The time to live hop count is the number of steps a broadcast packet is allowed to propagate for each UPnP advertisement before it disappears. The number of hops can range from 1 to 255. The default value for the advertisement time to live is 4 hops, which should be fine for most home networks. If you notice that some devices are not being updated or reached correctly, then it may be necessary to increase this value a little.

UPnP Portmap Table-the UPnP Portmap Table displays the IP address of each UPnP device that is currently accessing the router and which ports (Internal and External) that device has opened. The UPnP Portmap Table also displays what type of port is open and if that port is still active for each IP address.