Overview

Introduction

Universal Plug-n-Play ("UPnP") gears at extending the concept of ordinary
plug-n-play services, which originally intended for local use, as an innovative network solution. Now, what exactly does this mean? It simply means that the ordinary concept of plug-n-play services allows for newly connected peripherals to automatically discover and configure itself without access to the actual peripherals. That being said, UPnP extends this concept with respect to the network; allowing for network devices to act in a similar fashion. A network router is a classical example of such a device; as of 2002, most routers have already been equipped with UPnP capabilities.

Routers have forever revolutionalized the networking world; providing simple networking solutions that cater to a variety of diverse needs. Routers are resourceful when it comes to linking computers to each other, and to the Internet; however, notwithstanding a pitfall. In terms of accessing the Internet Gateway, all computers connected to the router share one common public ip address, in turn casting a limitation upon strictly incoming connections. There are various solutions that resolve this conflict, for instance, one that involves adding entries via router control panel in order to forward ports; this process proves to be troublesome for the ordinary user. Furthermore, explaining such a task isn't always easy, it varies from router to router, and often involves knowing a master password.

A wide spread of application fundamentals; ranging from file sharing to video conversations would normally be rendered useless when burdened with such a conflict, and under such circumstances UPnP proves to be very useful. UPnP Port Works provides an even easier solution for adding, removing, enumerating port forwarding entries, and also provides resourceful information about the router. That's not all, UPnP Port Works is a platform independent application pioneered under C, that's right folks, it doesn't use the slow UPnP COM Interface provided by Microsoft under Windows XP, and above. UPnP Port Works is compatible under all Windows, and Linux Operating Systems that support UPnP technology. The linux version is currently under development, and will be released soon.