Port forwarding can be necessary for helping your node stay synced and connected to peers. This can increase connections/peers for your Qortal core node(s). We will try to make this scenario as simple as we can - as there are several variables. Choose the section below that fits your situation:

Option 1: If you have only ONE node, and your router has uPnP enabled, you will not need to do anything, your single node will simply start obtaining incoming connections.

If you ARE going to use uPnP, you can have MULTIPLE nodes on the same LAN obtaining incoming connections via uPnP by simply modifying a SINGLE setting in settings.json for your SECOND node and HIGHER:

Simply edit settings.json for the nodes ASIDE FROM THE FIRST NODE, and change the listenPort for the subsequent nodes, below is an example for the second node on the LAN.

{
"listenPort": 22392
}

On networks that do NOT have uPnP available, you will need to enable port forwarding and static assignment to obtain incoming connections. Doing this will be DIFFERENT on any given router. You will need to obtain instructions for your router from an internet search as far as the terminology and specific settings that you will need.

We will provide basic overall instructions here for understanding.

1. Setup static assignment for each node machine on your LAN. - Static assignment ensures that the machine will obtain the same LAN IP address every time, from your router. (Some routers give static assignment other names, most of the time it will be located under DHCP settings.)

2. Establish a port forwarding (or DNAT) entry in your router, for each of your statically assigned node machines, changing the external port of each.

You do NOT need to modify any further settings on your NODE, simply add new entries for each node machine with a DIFFERENT EXTERNAL PORT. See below for an overall idea…

Node 1 - Internal port: 12392, external port: 12392

Node 2 - Internal port: 12392, external port: 22392

Node 3 - Internal port: 12392, external port: 32392

etc… You can use ANY port you like for the different external port, as long as it doesn't go over 65535 as that is the MAX port in the tcpv4 port range. Once you HAVE set different external ports for each, you can check your external IP address with a service like https://whatismyipaddress.com (look for ipv4 address there) and you will know what the peer address for Qortal will be for each of your nodes, with your external IP and whatever external port you set for each node.

All that needs to change is the EXTERNAL port, port forwarding will allow you to forward to the SAME internal port on DIFFERENT IPs, this way no modifications of Qortal settings are required.

Here you can find step by step info for specific router: https://portforward.com/

Static IP guide: https://www.coolblue.nl/en/advice/assign-fixed-ip-address-router.html

Port forwarding guide: https://www.lifewire.com/how-to-port-forward-4163829