Accessing my server from external IP (a long read - sorry!)

[adamgf]

After almost an entire day of browsing forums, reading faq's/manuals, etc., I've finally caved and decided to post my question. I've found the question posted in plenty of other places, but haven't gotten anything to work for me. Here goes:

 

Apache 2.2

ActivePerl 5.8.8

MySQL 4.1

PHP5

WinXP SP2

Dell TrueMobile 2300 router

 

After installing and configuring the above I was able to get everything working within my network quite easily. I set the server name to localhost and have been accessing my site through that over the network.

 

Now that I have everything up and running, I'd like it to be accessible outside of my network, using a DDNS service like no-ip.com. I set up an account with them and was able to ping my ip through it externally (not through a website, people are accessing my computer while I'm running a game server which is running fine).

 

If it helps, the game server I am running is on ports 6112 and 6200. canyouseeme.org recognizes these ports as open, but no other.

 

I recently read that my particular ISP (Cablevision's Optimum Voice - New York Area) blocks ports 25 & 80. I've also read elsewhere that I can use no-ip.com's port 80 redirect service to get around this.

 

So now I'm stuck. I changed my IP settings in my http.conf file to listen to port 8080. I've forwarded port 8080 from my router to the computer I'm using. Now I can only access my site by using localhost:8080 or 127.0.0.1:8080 or 192.168.2.5:8080 (which is normal I think, now that I've changed it). I've set up my no-ip.com account to redirect port 80 to port 8080. But still, when someone outside of my network tries to connect to my no-ip.com domain they get nothing. No error, I think it just hangs.

 

I'm not sure if this is relevant, but when I point to my external IP in a browser it brings me to my router control panel (which is installed on a different computer on the network). If I point to the computer it's on (192.168.2.1) it does the same. This is fine with me, I'm just wondering if it is interfering with what I'm trying to do.

 

Sorry about the long-winded first post, but of all the questions that I read elsewhere the most common problem was that the OP was not specific enough. I hope I'm not leaving anything out.

 

http://animox.no-ip.biz/

 

UPDATE: I had a friend test it again recently and he's getting a message in the browser after it redirects to xx.xx.xx.xx:8080 (xx.xx.xx.xx being my external IP) saying it can't connect. I've opened port 8080 manually on the computer I'm hosting on and have the IP set to 192.168.2.5. I've also forwarded port 8080 to the hosting computer. I haven't opened port 8080 on the computer connected to the router. Does this matter?

[madmax]

Yes, you will need to open the ports on any local firewall on the machine hosting the server otherwise no connection will be made. The FWR will not act as a "responder" on port 8080 but simply passed the requests to and fro using NAT (if you've not disabled NAT)

 

If using remote redirection/remapping from 80 to 8080 then you should be able to access from machine "A" which does not have 8080 open to the server machnie "B" which hosts the server on remapped port 8080. I've never used the service but I'd suspect that it may instead simply be a redirection for the initial URL rather than a remapping/proxy service. This means that machine "A" (accessing) would need to have outbound internet access on ports 80 and 8080. You'd need to read the blurb they issue and check this.

 

Currently there is no response on port 80 or 8080 on your domain name or your IP address - your ISP hostname resolves to ool-435602fb.dyn.optonline.net as of 12:13hrs (GMT). I would check that this is correct.

 

Check the status of your no-ip update agent to see if all is OK and the updates resolve correctly back to your ISP address

 

Ping, tracert and telnet are really useful tools to help track this stuff down

 

IMHO I'd always suggest changing ISPs and widely publicising that they block port 80. If a vendor does not treat you like a valued "customer" the most sensible option is to take your custom and money elsewhere and make sure your friends do the same. In the UK we fail to do this far too often and have created a string of companies who act like tyrants in all areas of business.

[adamgf]

Thanks for the help.

 

I just got off the phone with my ISP.  I talked to a couple different support techs and they gave me a list of the only ports that they block.  I also explained my situation and what I'm trying to accomplish and they mentioned that it should be possible, and that it probably has to do with my router or the apache config.

 

My ISP blocks port 8080 also, so now I'm using port 6180 (random port).  My router is set to the following:

 

Router Mode: Gateway Mode (other option is Access Point mode)

DHCP Server Functions enabled (my server's computer is set to a static IP)

Port 6180 forwarded (TCP) through the router to my server's computer (6180 to 6180).

 

I have NAT disabled (I'm assuming this is the DMZ host option) because I read in a couple places of how insecure it is.  If you could explain anything regarding NAT firewalls or DMZ hosting it would help a lot.

 

Currently, I've gone into Apache2 and have it set as "Listen 6180".  I also have the server name set to "ServerName localhost:6180".

I checked using the no-ip.com updater and my no-ip.com configuration is OK.

I'm not sure if the hostname you listed (ool-435602fb.dyn.optonline.net) is correct as I have never seen that specific address, but I am an Optimum Online member so I can only assume that means it's pointing to me.  How would I be able to check this?

 

And I would love to switch ISP's if it were my connection, but I'm back home at my parents' house and it's up to them.  I'm just trying to make the best of it.

 

Thanks again for the help.  Sorry I couldn't come up with more specific questions this time, but I'm not even sure what to ask anymore.  Are there more things I can configure in Apache2 (I haven't dealt with VirtualHosts, I don't even know what they are) or is it just an issue with my router at this point?

[trq]

Your site seems to be working fine to me. can't paste a screenshot but I can tell you the menu at the top has Index Draw Paint Photo Sound PVPGN Exit.

 

Looks like your good to go.

[adamgf]

THANK YOU VERY MUCH!  I toyed around with a couple other things, I'm glad it's working right now.

 

I guess the last settings I mentioned were correct.  To anyone who reads this in the future:

 

I'm listening to port 6180 in my Apache conf, Servername (my computer name):6180

Router is set to forward port 6180 to my network ip, both TCP/UDP.

[madmax]

You may find some proxy servers - esp local proxy servers proxy/webfilters such as Proxomitron use 8080 anyway. If you ever think of retrying you may want to consider port 88 or 8800 instead. No special reason for the numbers they're probably just used as a kind of mnemonic way of shuffling round the figure 8 and is easier to remember than a random port number and may well be used by others.

 

I maintain the MicroApache Win32 distro and that is configured for 8800 by default anyway to avoid clashes with both proxys and existing servers such as IIS as well as ISP port-blocking.

 

Glad it's sorted!.