Does port 8333 have to be opened?

[ksd5]

I was running the "Generate Coins" feature of Bitcoin. I have not opened up port 8333. It says it has 8 connections, and the number of blocks just keeps going up and up. (It's over 50,000). It hasn't generated any coins yet.

Is it working properly, or do I have to open up port 8333?

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[lachesis]

You do not have to open the port. It really just helps you get better connected to the network. If things are working, you're all good.

[TrafficTiger]

I'd like to use this feature, but I'm not sure what to set in my Linksys WRT54G router. I think it's the Applications and Gaming section I want, and the following is what I entered. But I don't know about the "Port In" and "Dest. Port" difference. Should they both be 8333 like I have them here?
 
Name: Bitcoin
Port In: 8333
Dest. IP Address: 192.168.1.3
Dest. Port: 8333
Protocol: tcp

TT

[SmokeTooMuch]

yeah, usually you just forward the inbound port to the same destination port.
that only differs if you run a service locally with a certain port, but you want people to connect to the service via another port.
this scenario wont really apply to the normal computer user.

[TrafficTiger]

That should be exactly what you need. Do you have more than 8 connections to your client now?

Thanks. I think I got up to 15 connections a couple of days ago when I first installed bitcoin.

TT