[Xitami] Firewall/Routers & UDP

[Rick Headly]

Hello,

I've been using Xitami for the past three or four years, both for FTP
and HTTP purposes.  Throughout this time, I've achieved satisfactory
results, simply by forwarding ports 21 and 80 [TCP only] from the
router to the applicable PC, and opening TCP ports 21 and 80 on the
software-firewall installed to that machine.

What troubles me however, is that I constantly find myself reading
posts on various message-boards which have been written by people of
questionable knowledge, and with unknown skill and experience, about
the set-up and configuration of Xitami and similar web-servers in
general.  Quite often, they specifically instruct the user to open
incoming TCP **AND** UDP ports 20 (???), 21, and 80... but ALWAYS fail
to explain why.

I admit having very little understanding of UDP protocol... and
because I have very little trust for my information sources, I've
refused to open any incoming UDP ports (or port 20) for Xitami's use.

Is it wise of me to keep unnecessary ports closed, or am I just being
paranoid, and robbing myself of true optimization and efficiency?

   Rick