A SERVER FOR MANAGING NAT RELATED ADDRESS INFORMATION FOR OTHER SERVERS

摘要

The invention aims at providing a server which manages address information for servers behind a NAT server thus allowing an access from a wide area network. A representative server issues a request to assign a default port number to a NAT server. The port management unit of the representative server registered to a default port number acquires the IP address of the NAT server (wide area network address) and port mapping information (port number information on other equipment) from the NAT server and retains the information acquired. In case it is determined that an access from the wide area network is first directed to a representative server, the representative server displays in a list the port number information on the accessing terminal in response to an access from the wide area network. This allows an external user to readily access desired equipment. The representative server periodically makes a port mapping information to the router and updates the information.