Firewalling for MSN Messenger

I would like to create firewall rules that allow one machine on my LAN to
communicate with MSN Messenger for text, audio, and video chat. Does anyone
know what ports on which IP ranges need to be opened? The information that
has been most difficult to obtain is the IP ranges. I do not want to open a
set of ports to the Internet at large, only to the IP ranges in which the MSN
Messenger servers reside.

Does Microsoft have a whitepaper that specifies IP ranges and the use for
each port (port range) and if so, what is the link to this paper?

Thank you

Greetings,

With the exception of text, all the features you want to work require direct connections to
the peers you're trying to connect to for any reasonable expectation of performance. There
are relays, but they're regularly overloaded and the quality/bandwidth is limited.
Therefore, it could be any IP that you're attempting to connect to.

http://support.microsoft.com/kb/927847 provides a list of all the ports used and the URLs.
Sorry, no actual IP ranges here, Microsoft prefers the ability to change/move things around,
which is why they just provide URLs you'll have to look up manually. There should be enough
there for basic functionality/a good guess though.

--
Jonathan Kay
Microsoft MVP - Windows Live Messenger
MSN Messenger/Windows Messenger
MessengerGeek Blog: http://www.messengergeek.com
Messenger Resources: http://messenger.jonathankay.com
(c) 2009 Jonathan Kay - If redistributing, you must include this signature or citation
--

"tomstat" <> wrote in message
news:9FA6FED7-8B4A-4D8D-A2FA-...
> I would like to create firewall rules that allow one machine on my LAN to
> communicate with MSN Messenger for text, audio, and video chat. Does anyone
> know what ports on which IP ranges need to be opened? The information that
> has been most difficult to obtain is the IP ranges. I do not want to open a
> set of ports to the Internet at large, only to the IP ranges in which the MSN
> Messenger servers reside.
>
> Does Microsoft have a whitepaper that specifies IP ranges and the use for
> each port (port range) and if so, what is the link to this paper?
>
> Thank you

Hello,

Here's another URL from what Jonathan provided. I'm not sure what's the
updated one though. :S

http://support.microsoft.com/kb/960820

- confused

"Jonathan Kay [MVP]" wrote:

> Greetings,
>
> With the exception of text, all the features you want to work require direct connections to
> the peers you're trying to connect to for any reasonable expectation of performance. There
> are relays, but they're regularly overloaded and the quality/bandwidth is limited.
> Therefore, it could be any IP that you're attempting to connect to.
>
> http://support.microsoft.com/kb/927847 provides a list of all the ports used and the URLs.
> Sorry, no actual IP ranges here, Microsoft prefers the ability to change/move things around,
> which is why they just provide URLs you'll have to look up manually. There should be enough
> there for basic functionality/a good guess though.
>
> --
> Jonathan Kay
> Microsoft MVP - Windows Live Messenger
> MSN Messenger/Windows Messenger
> MessengerGeek Blog: http://www.messengergeek.com
> Messenger Resources: http://messenger.jonathankay.com
> (c) 2009 Jonathan Kay - If redistributing, you must include this signature or citation
> --
>
> "tomstat" <> wrote in message
> news:9FA6FED7-8B4A-4D8D-A2FA-...
> > I would like to create firewall rules that allow one machine on my LAN to
> > communicate with MSN Messenger for text, audio, and video chat. Does anyone
> > know what ports on which IP ranges need to be opened? The information that
> > has been most difficult to obtain is the IP ranges. I do not want to open a
> > set of ports to the Internet at large, only to the IP ranges in which the MSN
> > Messenger servers reside.
> >
> > Does Microsoft have a whitepaper that specifies IP ranges and the use for
> > each port (port range) and if so, what is the link to this paper?
> >
> > Thank you
>
>
>

Hi,

Actually you're right, 960820 is the updated one but the only thing added is the "what's new"
URL.

I'll have to go and check but I also believe some of the ports in that one aren't even
relevant for 2009 and someone forgot to remove them (the legacy ones).

--
Jonathan Kay
Microsoft MVP - Windows Live Messenger
MSN Messenger/Windows Messenger
MessengerGeek Blog: http://www.messengergeek.com
Messenger Resources: http://messenger.jonathankay.com
(c) 2009 Jonathan Kay - If redistributing, you must include this signature or citation
--

"Confused" <> wrote in message
news:F951F763-D4AF-4B3B-AA68-...
> Hello,
>
> Here's another URL from what Jonathan provided. I'm not sure what's the
> updated one though. :S
>
> http://support.microsoft.com/kb/960820
>
> - confused
>
> "Jonathan Kay [MVP]" wrote:
>
>> Greetings,
>>
>> With the exception of text, all the features you want to work require direct connections
>> to
>> the peers you're trying to connect to for any reasonable expectation of performance.
>> There
>> are relays, but they're regularly overloaded and the quality/bandwidth is limited.
>> Therefore, it could be any IP that you're attempting to connect to.
>>
>> http://support.microsoft.com/kb/927847 provides a list of all the ports used and the URLs.
>> Sorry, no actual IP ranges here, Microsoft prefers the ability to change/move things
>> around,
>> which is why they just provide URLs you'll have to look up manually. There should be
>> enough
>> there for basic functionality/a good guess though.
>>
>> --
>> Jonathan Kay
>> Microsoft MVP - Windows Live Messenger
>> MSN Messenger/Windows Messenger
>> MessengerGeek Blog: http://www.messengergeek.com
>> Messenger Resources: http://messenger.jonathankay.com
>> (c) 2009 Jonathan Kay - If redistributing, you must include this signature or citation
>> --
>>
>> "tomstat" <> wrote in message
>> news:9FA6FED7-8B4A-4D8D-A2FA-...
>> > I would like to create firewall rules that allow one machine on my LAN to
>> > communicate with MSN Messenger for text, audio, and video chat. Does anyone
>> > know what ports on which IP ranges need to be opened? The information that
>> > has been most difficult to obtain is the IP ranges. I do not want to open a
>> > set of ports to the Internet at large, only to the IP ranges in which the MSN
>> > Messenger servers reside.
>> >
>> > Does Microsoft have a whitepaper that specifies IP ranges and the use for
>> > each port (port range) and if so, what is the link to this paper?
>> >
>> > Thank you
>>
>>
>>