If you forward a port on your network (or VPN) and point your torrent software towards that port, you are now an "active" node. You can communicate with anyone else, forwarded or not.
If you leave it closed (passive node), you can only communicate with active nodes. With large torrents, this isn't an issue because there's more than enough active nodes to send the data.
Port forwarded: talk to anyone, even closed
Port closed: only talk to port forwarded people and hope that small torrents have someone with a forwarded port.
Thank you. Does this create any considerable vulnerabilities?
Not typically but it can vary depending on which protocol and which provider you use. Best to check yourself using something like ipleak.net and see if there's any identifying info on there while you're connected.
That’s great. I’ll do some more research on the hardware I have also
If you forward a port on your network (or VPN) and point your torrent software towards that port, you are now an "active" node. You can communicate with anyone else, forwarded or not.
If you leave it closed (passive node), you can only communicate with active nodes. With large torrents, this isn't an issue because there's more than enough active nodes to send the data.
Port forwarded: talk to anyone, even closed
Port closed: only talk to port forwarded people and hope that small torrents have someone with a forwarded port.
Thank you. Does this create any considerable vulnerabilities?
Not typically but it can vary depending on which protocol and which provider you use. Best to check yourself using something like ipleak.net and see if there's any identifying info on there while you're connected.
That’s great. I’ll do some more research on the hardware I have also