Port forwarding not working on wireless router
Here's my situation. I have a laptop behind a wireless router connected to a 3MB cable service. Everything is fine as far as connectivity to the outside world. One my laptop I have Apache running to develop websites. I can obviously hit the website on my laptop using "http://localhost" and "http://192.168.2.2" (which is the laptop's internal IP address). However, when I attempt to hit the website on my laptop from the outside, I cannot get to my laptop. I get prompted for the user/pass to log into my routers configuration settings. Which I would expect.....
I went into my Dell TruMobile 2300 settings and turned on both port forwarding and DMZ and pointed port 88 (the web port I'm using on my laptop) to my laptop (192.168.2.2). So it's set up like this:
DMZ - enabled --> 192.168.2.2
Port 88-88 --> 192.168.2.2 (HTTP)
Port 8888-8888 --> 192.168.2.2 (WebCam)
I have also disbabled Windows Firewall (Windows XP Home SP2) and disabled my Norton Internet Security. So as far as I can tell, everything is setup okay, but the router seems to ignore the port forwarding. Of course Dell support does not support the advanced settings on my router, so they are useless (surprise!!). I'm sure I'm missing something. I can see the website and the webcam from any computer on the internal 192.168.2 IP block, just not from the outside world.
I'm quite frustrated, because I know this should work, but it's not. If anyone has any suggestions, I would be greatly appreciative.
I went into my Dell TruMobile 2300 settings and turned on both port forwarding and DMZ and pointed port 88 (the web port I'm using on my laptop) to my laptop (192.168.2.2). So it's set up like this:
DMZ - enabled --> 192.168.2.2
Port 88-88 --> 192.168.2.2 (HTTP)
Port 8888-8888 --> 192.168.2.2 (WebCam)
I have also disbabled Windows Firewall (Windows XP Home SP2) and disabled my Norton Internet Security. So as far as I can tell, everything is setup okay, but the router seems to ignore the port forwarding. Of course Dell support does not support the advanced settings on my router, so they are useless (surprise!!). I'm sure I'm missing something. I can see the website and the webcam from any computer on the internal 192.168.2 IP block, just not from the outside world.
I'm quite frustrated, because I know this should work, but it's not. If anyone has any suggestions, I would be greatly appreciative.
You have to use the "real" ip that is assigned to the router to access your site from outside of the network. You should be able to find this in the router configuration interface then it will be http://routerIP:88/ to access it since you changed the port from 80
ASKER
Okay, here's an update.
My webserver now runs on port 88. I can confirm this via http://localhost:88 or http://192.168.2.2:88. Windows firewall is off, Norton IS is off. No other known firewalls. My wireless router has DMZ enabled and pointed towards 192.168.2.2. I have also turned on port forwarding for port 88 to 88 pointed to 192.168.2.2.
I can visit: (works)
http://localhost:88
http://192.168.2.2:88
but I cannot hit
http://24.176.250.175:88 <-- this is my reall outside IP
In theory http://24.176.250.175:88 should work, since it's my outside IP and I'm using port 88, so if I hit that address (or if anyone in the world hits that address) they should see my homepage. When I try to browse to http://24.176.250.175:88 I get "Connection Refused" by my browser, FireFox. I must be missing something. By the way, I DID reset my router after these changes.
So if you can't see this page http://24.176.250.175:88 then it's not working. My IP only changes about once a month and my server is on 24 hours a day. I'm dying over here, please help.
My webserver now runs on port 88. I can confirm this via http://localhost:88 or http://192.168.2.2:88. Windows firewall is off, Norton IS is off. No other known firewalls. My wireless router has DMZ enabled and pointed towards 192.168.2.2. I have also turned on port forwarding for port 88 to 88 pointed to 192.168.2.2.
I can visit: (works)
http://localhost:88
http://192.168.2.2:88
but I cannot hit
http://24.176.250.175:88 <-- this is my reall outside IP
In theory http://24.176.250.175:88 should work, since it's my outside IP and I'm using port 88, so if I hit that address (or if anyone in the world hits that address) they should see my homepage. When I try to browse to http://24.176.250.175:88 I get "Connection Refused" by my browser, FireFox. I must be missing something. By the way, I DID reset my router after these changes.
So if you can't see this page http://24.176.250.175:88 then it's not working. My IP only changes about once a month and my server is on 24 hours a day. I'm dying over here, please help.
ASKER
Just to verify my server is working properly, I bypassed my wireless router and plugged my lapto directly into the cable modem. When set up this way I CAN hit my webpage from an outside IP. So it MUST be a port forwarding issue with the router.
Is it bypassed right now, because i see a site that says web community street, site redsign will be launched March 2005.
ASKER
It shouldn't have been when you posted your message and it's not now. But what you saw was the site. What do you get now?
ASKER
Okay, now I'm confused.... It does appear the outside world CAN see the website, I was able to confirm here:
http://validator.w3.org/check?uri=http%3A%2F%2F24.176.250.175%3A88&charset=%28detect+automatically%29&doctype=%28detect+automatically%29
So I guess that brings me to another question, why can't I see it from behind the router?
I'll be pissed if I've, been working on this problem for several months and the whole time it was working, but for whatever reason, I can't see the site if I use the outside IP from inside.
Here's a tracert FROM my laptop to the external IP
Tracing route to 24-176-250-175.cs-cres.cha
1 1 ms 1 ms 1 ms 24-176-250-175.cs-cres.cha
Trace complete.
I would expect two hops, one from my laptop to the router (192.168.2.1) then the 2nd to the modem. Is it possible from my laptop it thinks the 24.xx.xx.xx ip is the router? and not the actual cable modem? That would explain why I can't use the external IP internally, and would also explain why the outside world can.
I'm baffled, but am still looking for an answer, since if I need to hard code the external IP into code and test locally, I'll be able to see it from the inside IP. Following me?
<img src="http://24.176.250.175:88/images/images/22.jpg">
wouldn't work if I was viewing the code locally, even if the outside world could.
http://validator.w3.org/check?uri=http%3A%2F%2F24.176.250.175%3A88&charset=%28detect+automatically%29&doctype=%28detect+automatically%29
So I guess that brings me to another question, why can't I see it from behind the router?
I'll be pissed if I've, been working on this problem for several months and the whole time it was working, but for whatever reason, I can't see the site if I use the outside IP from inside.
Here's a tracert FROM my laptop to the external IP
Tracing route to 24-176-250-175.cs-cres.cha
1 1 ms 1 ms 1 ms 24-176-250-175.cs-cres.cha
Trace complete.
I would expect two hops, one from my laptop to the router (192.168.2.1) then the 2nd to the modem. Is it possible from my laptop it thinks the 24.xx.xx.xx ip is the router? and not the actual cable modem? That would explain why I can't use the external IP internally, and would also explain why the outside world can.
I'm baffled, but am still looking for an answer, since if I need to hard code the external IP into code and test locally, I'll be able to see it from the inside IP. Following me?
<img src="http://24.176.250.175:88/images/images/22.jpg">
wouldn't work if I was viewing the code locally, even if the outside world could.
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ASKER
Well, I guess this has been working the whole time (several months) I just never tested from the actual outside world. I just assumed that I would be able to hit the outside IP from inside, just like I would be able to if the wireless router wasn't there. Anyways, I guess no one really solved the problem since there never was one, however, francrl, was quite helpful and I appreciate his prompt replies.