How to setup port forwarding for Loxone Miniserver?

Port Forwarding is one of the essential components when it comes down to connecting to the Miniserver with the Loxone Config or app when you are not locally present on site.

It is referred to the remote access, defined as you not being on the same network as the Loxone Miniserver.

For the Miniserver to be accessible from a remote network, there is a need for a port to be open in the firewall of your router that allows traffic control to the Miniserver.

The three key aspects of port forwarding are the internal, external, and the device with whom this forwarding rule is associated.

The first step of the process is setting up a forwarding rule, which might be an external port 7500 forwarded to internal port 80 for UDP and TCP protocol communication. Meaning, the remote access device is requesting port 7500 to forward UDP or TCP traffic through port 80 in order to reach the Miniserver.

After a certain rule is created, it needs to be assigned to a device in order to work. This is simply instructing the router to pass the communication through a port to which device is this being forwarded.

The rule assigning can be done by the Loxone Miniserver's MAC address or IP address if it remains static.

However, the recommendation from Loxone is to leave the Miniserver on the default internal port 80, reducing the complexity and steps needed to complete this setup. Regarding the external port, it can be randomly selected but is suggested for the users to pick a number above 7000, thus reducing the risk of any conflict with other pre-defined applications or additional security.

One of the other recommendations is to avoid port 80 externally, due to the many malicious internet programs that are spamming this port, possibly causing errors in communication with the Miniserver.