Apache Web Server - access from the www
 

Hi
I have Apache 1.3 up and running on linux box SUSE 7.3 - I can access my trial pages through intranet connected boxes either by using an ip or server name. This all seems to be working ok. I have a Static IP connection for my ADSL router ( Netgear DG834) and have configured the router to allow port forwarding on port 80 for the internal IP of the Linux Box ( I have also tried DMZ for this IP and have also added 8080 port). I have set permissions for the trial web pages for the Apache Defined user and Group. I can't access the trial web pages from the internet ( I am using a seperate computer to dial out on a 56K modem). Is there anything else I need to set up in the Linux box to make this work. ( my static IP is 81.174.151.53 - let me know if you can see anything)

Thanks

Many ISPs block port 80. They don't want people doing web hosting. Try s forwarding a high port say 8000 to 80. Then see if you can see the page via
http:/ip:8000. If that works then you no it is you ISP. Also check iptables and make sure it is not blocking you. I doubt that it is if you can connect to it from your internal network.

Coming from my experience working for an ISP in the routing department I have found that at least 60% of all ISP's do indeed block port 80 at the minimum. It is also not uncommon to find them block port 25 as well, this is starting to be more common than you would think.

Myself, I have high speed at my home and have stuffed my way right around it. I use DNS 2 Go for my internal domain name, as I am not so lucky to have a static IP at the house. Although the plus side is they let me forward port 80 requests to another port of my choosing. I use port 8020 for WWW service. I tend to avoid use of 8080 as that is sometimes what routers / firewalls use as their default for remote access.

I tried to hit your IP address, but didn't see anything come up. Also I tried to probe your ports ( totally innocently of course ) just to see if something popped back a response, i didn't see any hits.

I dont' suggest doing a DMZ, as that really opens you up to the world. Always protect your machines as much as possilbe.

You said you had a netgeat piece, you should be able to issue a port forwarder for a set or range of ports to your servers IP.

Example:
Forwarder on port 8020 to tcp/ip 192.168.100.16:8020. ALthough I would open up a small range for FTP, and such. So use 8020 & 8021, it's all good. Just remember you use the non standard ports.

As a security measure i tend to stay higher in the port numbers, usually above 5000 is possible.

If you got any questions, i am trolling the boards for a while lookin for another answer just slide me an e-mail on here or something.

-rob

I'm not getting anything at that ip.

Have you combed through httpd.conf checking settings there?

Thanks for your replies and ideas to try - My server has been off line but is now back on - so I shall keep plugging away. My ISP is Free-Online which is supposed to allow own server connection and access.

If you ping your machine from another ISP connection to the unix box, do you get a response from it ?

Are you trying to use the apache with an IPaddress or a FQDN ( fully qualified domain name )?

-r

Hi
I can ping my Router no problem - not sure how to ping the Unix box connected to the router. At the moment I am trying to use the IP address to get the connection working. I have a FQDN set up to use when I can connect through to the server. What I assumed would happen is that when I use a browser and IP address to connect to my Router through an external internet connection, the Apache application would be listening for port 80 incoming traffic and serve up the web page. I have set up a reserved internal IP address to the Unix box (192.168.0.6) and set the firewall rules to allow port forwarding. I am not using virtual hosts so don't believe Apache cares what the original WAN IP or FQDN to the router is. Are there any log files I can set up to find out where the request gets stuck ?

I have sorted the problem out - The problem was in the Router - In the list of inbound services I had to put the Linux box port 80 forwarding at the top of the list - otherwise it was not getting the http info. Thanks again for the suggestions.

hummmm that makes some sense, but not a lot. If you had it in the list, it should have worked no matter where you put it.

Although it works now, that's a good thing !

Make sure you open everything else up on the firewall for the services you are going to use on the server.... e-mail, ssh, telnet, ssl, etc.....

Good luck !
-rob