Port Forwarding help

[tcrooks]

Originally Posted by the_sky_goat

can you upload a screenshot of your router firewall rules please?

'ere tis;


Thanks for the info.

I didn't understand the other comments about not being able to access the web site from my LAN using the domain name, in this case eastbourne.selfip.org, as I had no problem at all when using a Linksys WAG354G router.

I do have a network of Mac systems but I don't see why this should make a difference. I am using OS X inbuilt Apache web server and haven't changed anything with this for ages.

[tcrooks]

Originally Posted by mossywell

Worry not - I'll post the fool-proof method when testing is complete. However, I only want to do one test at a time. I get easily confused, you see!

I'm really looking forward to this. As I commented elsewhere I'm a Mac user but feel sure that I can find the appropriate alternatives to Windows commands - it is Unix under the hood of OS X after all!

[the_sky_goat]

Hi - I can see you website from here - the church site. It is working fine. The reason it is not working when you try it from within your internal network is as mentioned before - I appreciate that it worked with the linksys router, but the Netgear router does not support the address translation needed to convert your request back from an external address to an internal one.

The solution for you - if you don't want to keep accessing it from 192.168.0.3 is to create an entry in your HOSTS file that looks like this:

192.168.0.3 eastbourne.selfip.org

You can find the HOSTS file here C:\WINDOWS\system32\drivers\etc

edit is with notepad.

Hope this helps

[tcrooks]

Originally Posted by the_sky_goat

I have a server running quite happily via my Sky Router as you can see. I do not use DynDNS, although I would be happy to look at your settings. I also have uPnP turned off. In WAN setup you should have no ticks in any of the three boxes.

I have no ticks in any of the 3 boxes in WAN Setup.

I have got Dynamic DNS setup for my host name - eastbourne.selfip.org together with my user name and password for DynDNS - and I have wild cards ticked although I think this is not relevant.

I do have uPnP turned on at present for VOIP, video conferencing, and remote management of other Macs. All this is working quite happily - maybe one of the reasons why Netgear products have been favourites of Mac OS X users. However in my earlier trials and tribulations with port forwarding I did switch it off but to no effect.

The only other information I can offer is that the network here at home consists of the Sky DG834GT router with a desktop Mac ( which acts as a web server - if only) connected by ethernet and WPA wireless networking for 3 laptops (including one running WinXP) plus a Nintendo Wii, and connected to the Sky router a Linksys WAG354G with WEP networking for Nintendo DS's. The only thing that doesn't work is port forwarding for web hosting.

This is the ShieldsUP! report that I've just done;



So I'm at the "Hmmm" stage.

[tcrooks]

Originally Posted by the_sky_goat

Hi - I can see you website from here - the church site. It is working fine.

The solution for you - if you don't want to keep accessing it from 192.168.0.3 is to create an entry in your HOSTS file that looks like this:

192.168.0.3 eastbourne.selfip.org

You can find the HOSTS file here C:\WINDOWS\system32\drivers\etc

Wow - thanks! I'll have to look into the equivalent for MAC OS X. I didn't have to do anything about NAT on the Linksys just set up the port forwarding rule. I'm astounded to find that the Netgear router doesn't support NAT - that is correct? How does the uPnP work I wonder?

I expect there are many others who will appreciate your reply. Thanks once again.

[the_sky_goat]

I get the same answer when I run Shields Up! on my system - but I am running a server on port 80. The port should normally only show as open if a server is running on that responding device - i.e. the router. It should normally remain hidden if the router is forwarding port 80 traffic to another machine on the network. If you go to this page and click on the probe button it should report it being open - https://www.grc.com/port_80.htm

As for the issue of NAT - the router does NAT, it just doesn't support the looping of the address - this is pretty common with many routers.

The HOSTS file for MAC OSX should be found in the top level /etc directory.

[tcrooks]

Originally Posted by tcrooks

I'm astounded to find that the Netgear router doesn't support NAT - that is correct?

Well I had another look at the DG834GT manual and on page 5-9 of my version it says

• Local computers must access the local server using the computer’s local LAN address
(192.168.0.11 in the example in Figure 5-6 above). Attempts by local computers to access the
server using the external WAN IP address will fail.

This section of the manual does cover NAT, and of course address translation does work, but the router firmware just isn't as flexible as that for other routers I've experienced.

My thanks to anyone who has help shed light on this. Just gotta get another ISP line to the house! or use a non-Netgear router?

[the_sky_goat]

I wouldn't bother myself - I would just live with not accessing the domain name directly from inside your network, or adding the name to the HOSTS file.

Anyway - glad it's sorted out!