My tunnel won't connect — troubleshooting

Most connection issues come down to one of a few common causes.

"Could not reach RepublicNodes"

Your server itself needs outbound internet access to reach our controller. If it's on a restrictive network (a corporate firewall, a VPS provider that blocks outbound UDP), confirm it can reach republicnodes.com over HTTPS before trying again.

The code didn't work

Connect codes are one-time use and expire after an hour. If you waited too long, or already used it once, get a fresh code from My IP Tunnels — the old one doesn't need to be "undone," it simply stops working once used or expired.

It says connecting but never finishes

Give it 15–30 seconds — the handshake has to complete on both ends. If it's still not connected after that, check rnt status; if it reports "not connected," try rnt connect again with a fresh code. If your server is itself behind a very restrictive firewall that blocks outbound UDP entirely, that will prevent the connection from completing — most home routers and VPS providers don't block this, but some corporate networks do.

It connected, but my service isn't reachable

For full-IP plans: make sure your server's own software is actually listening on the port/protocol you expect, and not bound only to 127.0.0.1.

For port forwarding plans: double check the external port you're testing matches a rule you've actually created, and that your server's software is listening on the internal port you set — see Managing forwarded ports.

Still stuck?

Open a support ticket with your service name and what you've already tried — our team can see your connection's live status on our side and help pin down exactly where it's stopping.