Hi all,
I have a home server running Debian Squeeze. This server is behind a router with a static IP.
To access the apache server, in the router I have redirected port 8888 (public) to port 80 (private) so when I type xxx.xxx.xxx.xxx:8888 (where the x's represent the router's static ip address) in a web browser from outside the LAN, it displays a home page. That works just fine.
Now I would like to access the ssh server from outside the LAN. To accomplish this, in the router I redirected port 1982 to the server's (private) port 22, but I keep getting a "Connection timed out" message in Putty while trying to connect to the server.
Some things to consider:
1) the sshd daemon is running on the server.
2) Iptables is not blocking any incoming connections (just to test, it's configured with an ACCEPT ALL policy).
3) The Putty connection is xxx.xxx.xxx.xxx:1982 (where the x's represent the same IP address as above).
4) I already checked this post where a suggestion is given but I am not quite sure as how to implement it.
I hope I have asked this question the smart way. Any suggestions / ideas are more than welcome!

does ssh localhost work ?

are you able to ssh in from within the same network ?

Yes, it works like a charm - I forgot to include that details in the things-to-consider list above.

Test to see if the port is even listening and check to see if you get an SSH banner using telnet. Testing from Linux,

If you're not getting a banner then it indicates either an in between routing problem or a problem with the router port forwarding. I would do a tracert to test further and double check your IP/port settings in the router. If it still doesn't work then try forwarding to another port other than 1982 and test again. Check the router logs to see if there's any errors which pop up when you're doing your testing.

NOTE: If you're inside the LAN and ssh into your Debian server than you can still test against the xxx.xxx.xxx.xxx:1982 address. telnet localhost so that you know what kind of SSH banner you should be expecting.

We'll proceed further once you've taken those testing steps.

Here's the banner. I tested from outside the LAN with a Debian Squeeze box at work:
Again, the x's are the public IP address.

Means there is no service listening. So it's likely a routing problem or a port forwarding issue on your home router. You said, "Here's the banner," but you didn't post any banner from telnet. The output of nmap is not a banner.

At any rate I would look more closely at your router. If you try all the port forwarding settings you can then perhaps upgrading the routers firmware will fix a known/unknown routing bug.

Yesterday when I got home I changed the public port to 22 (which is forwarded by the router to private port 22) and it worked! There must have been something wrong with public port 1982 I guess - it was open in the router but it was not forwarding traffic to the LAN.
Any ideas why? The router is a Dlink-600. Anyway, I'll mark this as solved, but additional insights are always welcome, so feel free to keep 'em coming.

It could be a firmware bug, or possibly something internally used by the router preventing you from using the port (though if that's the case it shouldn't have let you select it to begin with). Since you're running on port 22 then generically run nmap and see what services are running on your router other than 22.

Try using a port other than 22 and 1982; for example maybe 2222 and check to see if it still works. If your router keeps having port forwarding problems then I would say it needs a firmware upgrade. D-Link publishes all of their firmware on their support website. Port forwarding is on Layer 3 and is a software issue so there shouldn't be anything physically wrong with your router unless it's bad memory addresses on the router memory.

SAM