[UPHPU] Bi-directional Communication Through a Firewall

[Kirk Ouimet]

Hi List,

 

Problem:

.         I'm building a PHP application that needs to be able to push
requests to an application that is running on multiple computers all sitting
behind a firewall.

 

Concept:

.         I do not have port 80 forwarded to any computer on my router.

.         Me and my friend can both load up google.com at the same time on
the same Internet connection, making requests on port 80. Data is sent from
Google specifically to our browser tabs. It doesn't matter that port 80
isn't forwarded, the data from google.com comes back over port 80
specifically to our computers and applications.

 

Can I use this same concept to build a bi-directional communication model
for my application? How do applications like Firefox work with making
requests that get back through the firewall? What about computer games like
Quake? I can hop into a game of Quake with no ports forwarded, yet I am able
to send and receive data to the game server without any problem.

 

I need a better fundamental networking knowledge in order to tackle this
challenge. I'd love any advice you guys could share.

 

Thanks!

 

Kirk Ouimet

 <mailto:kirk at kirkouimet.com> kirk at kirkouimet.com

Cell: (801) 310-1421