This guide is really good. http://www.howtogeek.com/66214/how-to-forward-ports-on-your-router/ Thanks Mixmaster. I also learnt a lot of information from Parana's guide, but Parana's guide is for a very complex internet connection, and the guide on this thread is aimed at the basic user with a basic connection. https://forum.ournem.com/tutorials/configuring-your-network-to-reach-nem's-cloud/
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I have a pretty simple system at my house. I go from the wall, to the router, to my computer via ethernet cable. This is how I went about to get it going.
I was able to go into Windows Firewall and set the port 7890 to forward. http://windows.microsoft.com/en-us/windows/open-port-windows-firewall#1TC=windows-7
In Mac I wen to Settings (System Preferences) -> Security & Privacy -> Firewall -> Turn off Firewall (there might be a way to keep the firewall on and just allow NEM traffic on port 7890 through but I am not sure how to do it. If somebody knows, please tell me.)
Next I needed to forward the port in my router. I logged into the router address. It is always something like 192.168.x.x and mine exactly was 192.168.0.1. So I opened up an internet browser and typed in that address. (if you don't know your address, you can also find it by using a Windows command prompt and typing "ipconfig" or terminal in Mac and typing "ifconfig -a", or you can do a Google search for you router brand's IP)
Once into the router's setting's page I went to a section in the router called "Port Forwarding". I choose to pick a range of ports to forward. I started the range at 7890 and ended it at 7890 and then forwarded it to port 7890. There will be an option to choose TCP or UDP and choosing only TCP is the best. Then there is a choice to name the service for which you are setting up the port forwarding, so any name is good. I chose "NEM". Depending on the router sometimes you can choose if you want to forward to a port range or a single port, of course for NEM it makes sense to forward just a single port, but if you enter a range from 7890-7890, it also works.
There is one more thing to do and it is kind of tricky. The port when forwarded will need a specific IP address. So you will need to know the IP address for your computer associated with that router. The way to find this is to go to command prompt in Windows. Once in command prompt type in "ipconfig". At that point it is possible to see the IPV4 address. It should look somthing like 192.168.x.x xx. Basically something that is kind of like your router address but just a little different, just a little different on the end. It'll probably a little longer. That address is the one you need to forward to 7890. Once you've entered all the information, you can click save. (for Mac go to Terminal and and type in "ifconfig -a")
So just for review, you should have something like this.
Protocol: TCP
Port Start: 7890
Port End: 7890
Destination Port: 7890
Destination IP Address: 192.168.x.xxx
Some routers will update automatically, but some will need a restart. If you don't know how to restart it, just turn it off and back on again. If you have configured your router correctly then when you go to http://nembex.nem.ninja/#nodes you can see your NEM NIS name on the top half of node list (not in the red). That means your node is in good shape and is supporting the network well. If your node is listed on the bottom half, something wasn't configured correctly. It will often take up to 15 minutes for Nembex to see your node, so if you don't see it listed, please wait a while and check again.
