In Status / Connections, all the network connections which can be detected by WinRoute include the following:
client connections to the Internet through WinRoute
connections from the host on which WinRoute is running
connections from other hosts to services provided by the host with WinRoute
connections performed by clients within the Internet that are mapped to services running in LAN
Notes:
connections among local clients will not be detected nor displayed by WinRoute.
UDP protocol is also called connectionless protocol. This protocol does not perform any connection. The communication is performed through individual messages (so-called datagrams). Periodic data exchange is monitored in this case.
WinRoute administrators are allowed to close any of the active connections.
One connection is represented by each line of this window. These are network connections, not user connections (each client program can occupy more than one connection at a given moment). The columns provide the following information:
- Source and Destination
IP address of the source (the connection initiator) and of the destination. If there is an appropriate reverse record in DNS, the IP address will be substituted with the DNS name.
- Source Port and Destination Port
Ports used for the particular connection.
- Protocol
Communication protocol (TCP or UDP)
- Timeout
Time left until automatic disconnection. The countdown starts when data traffic stops. Each new data packet sets the counter to zero.
- Rx and Tx
Total size of data received (Rx) or transmitted (Tx) during the connection (in kilobytes). Received data means the data transferred from Source to Destination, transmitted data means the opposite.
- Info
An informational text describing the connection (e.g. about the protocol inspector with which it is controlled).
Information in Connections is refreshed automatically within a user defined interval or the Refresh button can be used for manual refreshing.
Right-click on the Connections window (on the connection selected) to view a context menu including the following options:
- Kill connection
Use this option to finish selected connection immediately (in case of UDP connections all following datagrams will be dropped).
Note: This option is active only if the context menu has been called by right-clicking on a particular connection. If called up by right-clicking in the Connections window (with no connection selected), the option is inactive.
- Refresh
This option will refresh the information in the Connections window immediately. This function is equal to the function of the Refresh button at the bottom of the window.
- Auto refresh
Settings for automatic refreshing of the information in the Connections window. Information can be refreshed in the interval from 5 seconds up to 1 minute or the auto refresh function can be switched off (No refresh).
- Manage columns
By choosing this option you can select which columns will be displayed in the Connections window (see chapter 3.6).
Clicking on the Colors button displays the color settings dialog to define colors for each connection:
For each item either a color or the Default option can be chosen. Default colors are set in the operating system (the common setting for default colors is black font and white background).
- Font Color
Active connections — connections with currently active data traffic
Inactive connections — TCP connections which have been closed but 2 minutes after they were killed they are still kept active — to avoid repeated packet mishandling)
- Background Color
Local connections — connections where an IP address of the host with WinRoute is either source or destination
Inbound connections — connections from the Internet to the local network (allowed by firewall)
Outbound connections — connections from the local network to the Internet
Note: Incoming and outgoing connections are distinguished by detection of direction of IP addresses — “out” (SNAT) or “in” (DNAT). For more details see chapter Chapter 5.