Web API Self Host public IP

Question

I am trying to access a Web API Service written by me (currently hosted in a Console Application for ease) from anywhere without using a DDNS service. I know that the public IP could change, it doesn't matter. I will always have access to the new one. I'm just doing this for the fun of it.

So far, I did the following things:

1. I set a static IP in the DHCP of the router (in this case 192.168.1.101);
2. Added a port forwarding from and to the 50000 port(easier to make sure I don't confuse things around);
3. Added an inbound rule for the 50000 port on the firewall with "allow the connection" set;

The service is set to start on the address 192.168.1.101:50000 all the time. Also Cors is set to CorsOptions.AllowAll

Here comes my problem: when I make a request using Postman to the API using the local ip address and port, everything works as expected.

However, if I try accessing the public IP address with the same port, like so: public_ip:50000/ApiRoute I get a timeout regardless of the device (local machine or other device connected on same network or different) I make the request from;

The source of the public IP address is the ifconfig.co website.

Does anyone have any idea why the public IP doesn't work? I'm honestly out of ideas.

Answer 1

Try just putting an asterisk (*) in the base URL to be sure the API can be accessed from any IP address, just like this code:

using Microsoft.Owin.Hosting;
using System;

namespace WebApiDocker
{
    class Program
    {
        static void Main(string[] args)
        {
            string baseAddress = "http://*:80/";

            using (WebApp.Start<Startup>(url: baseAddress))
            {
                Thread.Sleep(Timeout.Infinite);
            }
        }
    }
}