Port forwarding for a DayZ server
DayZ takes four consecutive UDP ports upwards from the game port, and on top of that a Steam query port that stays put when the others move.
Your setup
Choose the firmware family rather than your exact model — every router in a family shares the same menus.
Out of the box it is 2302. If you changed that, use whatever you set in -port=.
The local address of the computer that runs the server. Find it with ipconfig on Windows or ip addr on Linux; it will begin with 192.168, 10. or 172.
Open these
Your firmware takes ranges, so each line here is one rule.
- 2302-2305 UDP
- 27016 UDP
2302UDPGame trafficThe connect port.2303UDPVoice / RakNetPart of the block DayZ opens above the game port.2304UDPVoice / RakNetPart of the block DayZ opens above the game port.2305UDPVoice / RakNetPart of the block DayZ opens above the game port.27016UDPSteam querysteamQueryPort. Fixed by default — it does not follow the game port.
Do not open these
Good news: this game has no remote-admin port that could be exposed by mistake. Forward the ports on the left and stop there.
Step by step: your router
- 1
Give the server a fixed local IP
A forwarding rule targets a single local address. If the server comes back from a reboot with a new one, the rule quietly points at an empty address — which is how forwards seem to "break by themselves".
On this router:look for DHCP Reservation, Address Reservation, Static Lease or Manually Assigned IP
- 2
Open the router admin page
From a device on the same network, open one of these in a browser:
- 192.168.0.1
- 192.168.1.1
- 192.168.2.1
- 10.0.0.1
Almost always printed on a sticker on the router itself.
- 3
Find the port forwarding page
Port Forwarding, Virtual Server, NAT, Applications & Gaming, or Port Mapping
Vendors use at least six names for the same feature. Whatever it is called, the page you want is the one asking for a port, a protocol and a device on your network. If the external and internal port fields both exist, set them to the same number.
- 4
Create one rule per line
a description field, if there is one External / WAN / Public / Service port Internal / LAN / Private port Protocol Internal IP / Device / Server IP DayZ 2302-2305 2302-2305 UDP your server’s local IP DayZ 27016 27016 UDP your server’s local IP Use the same number for the external and internal port. You can make the external one different, but then every player has to connect on that new number, so keep them identical unless you have a specific reason not to.
- 5
Let the server through its own firewall
The router is now sending traffic to the right computer, but that computer can still turn it away. Windows Defender Firewall is the usual offender: it blocks a newly installed dedicated server by default, and from outside that is indistinguishable from a broken forward.
Take it with you
DayZ — port forwarding rules ---------------------------- 2302-2305 UDP -> <server local IP> 27016 UDP -> <server local IP>
Check whether it worked
Always test from outside your network. A connection from another device in the house proves nothing: that traffic stays on your LAN and never passes through the rule you just created.
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The usual mistake
A query port that is fixed rather than offset is what breaks a server that has been moved. Shift the game port to dodge a clash, forward a matching block, and you still have not forwarded the query port — so the server does not list. Check its number directly instead of working it out.
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Skipping port forwarding
DayZ's persistence files keep growing, and the server does best left running rather than started whenever someone wants to play. Those two things make hosting at home awkward well before performance becomes the issue.