Invisible Firewall??

[MidnightJava]

I just got a new computer, and I'm in the process of porting software and files from the old one. I ported my Tomcat web server and FileZilla FTP server, and I can access them from the local machine (i.e. hostname in url = localhost). But when I try to access both servers by navigating to the WAN URL (the Internet address of the router which both servers are behind), I can't connect.

I'm experienced with this sort of thing, and the only thing I can conclude is that there's a fiewall somewhere in the path that I'm not aware of. That's a strange thing to say, but I think I've covered all the other possibilities. Here are the particulars.

I disabled the Windows Firewall, and I'm using ZoneAlarm instead. ZoneAlarm is configured to permit connections from my LAN and WAN addresses and also to permit the two servers to accept connections. Furthermore, I see no log events of any blocked traffic. And finally, I shutdown ZoneAlarm, and the connection still doesn't work.

I have a NetGear router in front of both PCs and also a Mac. I set up the NetGear router to forward certain ports to each PC and to the Mac. I can make connections on these ports to the Mac and the old PC, but not to the new one.

I can connect to both the HTTP and FTP server as localhost, so I believe they're configured properly. I've been running these servers for over a year, and I'm very familiar with how to set them up, and I really don't see any configuration problems with them.

So the only thing I can think of at this point is that SOMETHING is blocking incoming connections or preventing any software from acting as a server. I checked all the entries in the Local Security Policy, and I didn't see anything that looked like it was relevant.

Could it be that the Windows Firewall isn't really turned off? I set the flag in ZoneAlarm to turn off the WIndows Firewall, and when I look at the Security Center, the Windows Firewall status seems to report the status of the ZoneAlarm firewall (indicates "On" when ZA is running, and "off" when it's not). And if I try explicitly to enable the Windows firewall, it reports that it can't do that, which I would expect from having disabled it in ZA.

I'm truly stumped. Anyone have any ideas?

-Mark

P.S. I'm running Windows XP SP2, with all current patches.

[Redhat]

Is this version 6.0 of ZA? Try using the previous build, if it is.

[MidnightJava]

I was using ZA 6.0, but since I had the connection problems even when I disabled and uninstalled ZA, I don't think ZA is the culprit. But since I noticed that the old PC (the one that accepts connections) is running ZA 5.5, I decided to try that same version on the new PC. Unfortunately it still doesn't work.

Strangely enough, however, I get different results from running auto-update on both machines. On the old one (ZA 5.5.094.000) the ZA site says that my Internet security is up to date. When I run it from the new PC (ZA 5.5.062.000), the result tells me that there's an important security update, and I'm invited to download ZA 6.0. Very strange.

Did you hear something about problems with ZA 6.0? I'm inclined to think ZA is not the problem, since uninstall didn't make any difference; but at this point I'm willing to entertain any possibility.

-Mark

[Redhat]

Re: Problems with 6.0, I myself first experienced the "no LAN Browsing" bug, which was later fixed by a new build of 6.0, and then several times a day it stopped everything coming in or going out.

The later problem was with the most current build.

When you uninstall, are you rebooting also? Before you reboot, there will (as far as I know) still be some part of ZA running. I cannot back this up though, as I only tested ZA to see what 6.0 was like.

I VERY quickly returned to Kerio 2.1.5 :)

[MidnightJava]

I've completely removed ZA and another firewall that my company requires for VPN connection, as well as my Spyware protection software. I've rebooted a number of times since then, and I still can't connect through the WAN address.

A friend told me to look at the order of the network providers, and either reverse them or uninstall and re-install them. He was familiar with W2K and didn't know for sure how to translate to XP. Acting on his advice, I uninstalled the drivers for each of the network devices in the Device Manager (i.e., one for the built-in Ethernet controller, and one for the wireless Ethernet controller). Windows re-installed them automatically after rebooting, and still no joy.

So I remain stumped and quite frustrated. Something is preventing network connections from outside, and I have no idea what or how.

-Mark

[scuzzman]

Are you able to ping the external interface?

[MidnightJava]

Probelem Solved. It turns out that the Windows Firewall was actually ON even though the Security Center page said it was OFF. Apparenlty the firewall service was in an error condition, most likely as an artifact of the SP2 upgrade I did as soon as I got the machine, and since it couldn't determine the state of the firewall it just reported it as off.

I tried to start the firewall, and got an error that the service couldn't start. I googled the error message, and found the solution for clearing the error condition at this site.

http://blogs.geekdojo.net/andy/archive/2004/08/31/2983.aspx

When I rebooted, the Windows firewall was on, and I was able to turn it off for real. That fixed the problem. I re-installed ZA, since the Windows Firewall doesn't let me filter on incoming IP address. My server connections are now working through the WAN address.

Thanks for offering your help.

-Mark

[scuzzman]

Thanks for posting your solution! :D

And BTW: Welcome to NP :)