05 Mar 11, 02:23PM
The honest answer, which most players planning to run a server don't like to hear, is that if you're not aware of, or prepared for, the consequences of running a server on your home computer, you really shouldn't be doing it.
The friendly answer is, there are many, many players around running servers on their home connection; if there was a major issue, we would have heard about it by now. A couple of forum members have mentioned getting viruses through the AC server, but failed to provide any proof of this even happening, never mind proving the AC server to be at fault. If you're not happy with this, you really shouldn't be doing it.
It's impossible to remove every exploit from the code, but statistically, the chances of your computer being attacked/infected/otherwise compromised just by forwarding two ports from your router to a service running on your computer are virtually zero. There are steps you should take to further minimise the risks; run the AC server as an unprivileged account, remove the forwarding rule when the server isn't running, put the machine running the server in a lead-lined box, etc. If you're not happy with this, you really shouldn't be doing it.
Provided you always have the same LAN IP (probably 192.168.something.something), ie. you don't sometimes swap IP with your sister, she will be completely unaffected. If you're not happy with this, you really shouldn't be doing it.
The friendly answer is, there are many, many players around running servers on their home connection; if there was a major issue, we would have heard about it by now. A couple of forum members have mentioned getting viruses through the AC server, but failed to provide any proof of this even happening, never mind proving the AC server to be at fault. If you're not happy with this, you really shouldn't be doing it.
It's impossible to remove every exploit from the code, but statistically, the chances of your computer being attacked/infected/otherwise compromised just by forwarding two ports from your router to a service running on your computer are virtually zero. There are steps you should take to further minimise the risks; run the AC server as an unprivileged account, remove the forwarding rule when the server isn't running, put the machine running the server in a lead-lined box, etc. If you're not happy with this, you really shouldn't be doing it.
Provided you always have the same LAN IP (probably 192.168.something.something), ie. you don't sometimes swap IP with your sister, she will be completely unaffected. If you're not happy with this, you really shouldn't be doing it.