Port forwarding for a Squad server
For Squad, forward the game port plus the next port up over UDP, and then two Steam ports that the server browser relies on.
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 7787. If you changed that, use whatever you set in Port= in the startup line.
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.
- 7787-7788 UDP
- 27165-27166 UDP
7787UDPGame trafficPort.7788UDPRaw socketClaimed alongside the game port.27165UDPSteam queryQueryPort.27166UDPSteamPaired with the query port.
Do not open these
These are admin sockets. Many guides put them in the same list as the game ports, but forwarding them exposes a remote console for your server to the whole internet.
21114TCPRCONSquad RCON. Admin traffic — keep it internal.
For remote administration, connect to the machine through SSH or a VPN and use the port locally from there. Nobody else can reach it that way.
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 Squad 7787-7788 7787-7788 UDP your server’s local IP Squad 27165-27166 27165-27166 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
Squad — port forwarding rules ----------------------------- 7787-7788 UDP -> <server local IP> 27165-27166 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
Squad's RCON is a genuine remote console with a genuine password — do not forward it. Public Squad servers are also expected to stay reachable and responsive to a degree most home connections cannot hold through a full round, so getting the forward working is where the difficulty starts, not where it ends.
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Skipping port forwarding
A hundred-player round of Squad is a heavy networking job, and it is one of the games where your home upload limit, not the hardware, is what holds you back.