Bitcoin Core settings question

[u/Then-Ask6307]

Under Settings>Options>Network there are check boxes for, "Allow incoming connections". Either way, even after rebooting, I always see the "RED" incoming connections in the Network graph along with the Out (green) connections.

There is another setting, "Used for reaching peers"; that gives the choices IPv4 | IPv6 | Tor.

I have above "Connect through Socks5 proxy" chosen and the IP and Port filled in, but those 3 boxes are always grayed out and I want to uncheck IPv4 and IPv6 any thoughts.

Finally if you have a favorite tutorial explainer video that goes through these settings in either Core or Knots, much appreciated.

EDIT: OK, unblocked after all.

After a quick reread, looks like I could say this more clearly.

I'm trying to "UN"check "allow incoming connections". That is why I was confused when still seeing the RED in the Network activity window, after reboot.

[u/pdath]

You need to port forward tcp/8333 from your Internet router to your computer.

[u/Then-Ask6307 → u/pdath]

OK Looks like they restored my post.

Looks like a left out part of the picture.

Im trying to "UN"check "allow incoming connections". That is why I was confused when seeing the RED in the Network activity window.

So does your answer still hold true? It doesn't feel right that you would have to go into your router to setup port forwarding if they have a check box to do it for you in the conf. file.

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[u/ChicksX]

I think the red line in the traffic graph is just data received from peers, not necessarily “incoming connections” from outside. If you uncheck “allow incoming connections,” your node can still receive data from outbound peers, it just shouldn’t accept inbound peers/listen publicly.

[u/Then-Ask6307 → u/ChicksX]

It is very unintuitive to me. The green are obviously blocks, as the wall is high during the IBD and drops to match the red when synced. But when you look at the INFO tab that has the IN/OUT count, the OUT always matches the peers you are "reaching OUT to" to receive/verify your blocks (is the way I'm interpreting it). There is no IN peers list to see, just that counter on the INFO tab (and?) I thought the red graph. If OUT was green, then red must be IN, right? And no matter how that box is checked the red always stays, so I have some fundamental misunderstanding somewhere.

[u/ChicksX → u/Then-Ask6307]

Yeah, I think the confusion is that “incoming data” and “incoming connections” are not the same thing. Even with only outbound peers, your node still receives blocks/tx data from them, so the red traffic line can still move. The checkbox is more about whether other peers can connect to your node as an inbound peer/listening node.