How to port forward a Arma 3 server
Arma 3 opens a block of four consecutive UDP ports starting at the game port: gameplay, the Steam query, master server registration, and voice.
Your setup
Pick the firmware family, not the exact model — the menus are identical across a range.
Default is 2302. If you changed it, it is the value of -port=.
The private address of the machine running the server — ipconfig on Windows, ip addr on Linux. It starts with 192.168, 10. or 172.
Open these
This firmware accepts ranges, so each line below is a single rule.
- 2302-2305 UDP
2302UDPGame trafficThe port players type.2303UDPSteam queryArma places its query port at game port + 1.2304UDPSteam masterRegistration with the master server list.2305UDPVONVoice-over-network. Skip it and in-game voice fails while everything else works.
Do not open these
This game has no remote-administration port to get wrong. Forward only what is listed on the left and nothing else.
Step by step: your router
- 1
Give the server a fixed local IP
A forward points at one address. If the server picks up a different one after a reboot, the rule silently starts pointing at nothing — this is why forwards "stop working" on their own.
On this router:look for DHCP Reservation, Address Reservation, Static Lease or Manually Assigned IP
- 2
Open the router admin page
Try these addresses in a browser on the same network:
- 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 Arma 3 2302-2305 2302-2305 UDP your server’s local IP External and internal port are the same number here. Changing the external port is possible, but then everyone connects on the new one, so keep them matched unless you have a reason.
- 5
Let the server through its own firewall
The router now sends traffic to the machine, and the machine can still refuse it. Windows Defender Firewall in particular blocks a freshly installed dedicated server by default, which looks exactly like a failed forward.
Take it with you
Arma 3 — port forwarding rules ------------------------------ 2302-2305 UDP -> <server local IP>
Check whether it worked
Test from outside your own network. Connecting from a machine in the house proves nothing — that traffic never leaves the LAN and never touches the rule you just wrote.
What usually goes wrong
The fourth port is voice-over-network, and leaving it closed creates a very confusing symptom — everything works, people can play together, and nobody can hear anyone. Because voice is easy to blame on settings or hardware, this can go undiagnosed for a long time. Forward the whole range.
Not forwarding at all
Arma servers are unusually sensitive to single-core performance, so the machine matters more than the connection. Modded Altis with a full server is not a spare-laptop workload.