Access private http server

Question

I built a Nodejs HTTP server. It's running on localhost:3000.

From outside the Local Area Network, how does one make a request to the private HTTP server? Messing with the router manually is not an option; process should be automated.

I've looked at various techniques - and I'm confused:

1. Mapping the localhost port to the external ip address (node-nat-pmp)
2. HTTP tunneling (node-tunnel)
3. SOCKS (shadowsocks-nodejs)
4. CONNECT method in request header

It seems that everything is built for a client tunneling out through a firewall, I want to tunnel a request in through the firewall and to a private server. Or just run the localhost port on the external ip.

Any help would be appreciated. Confused.

Answer 1

If you need to access an internal service from outside of your network, you typically have two options:

1. Configure Port Forwarding on your router - You mentioned this isn't a possibility
2. Use UPnP to ask your router to open a port for you - This is often disabled as it is a security risk, but if not, look into https://github.com/TooTallNate/node-nat-pmp