How to make Apache webserver accessible from outside?

How to make Apache webserver accessible from outside?

[nksahita]

Hi, 

I installed RH9 on my home computer which has broadband connection. 

I got account with dyndns.org which allows me to get a domain name (e.g. 
http://xyz.dyndns.org) that points to the IP address allocated by my ISP. 

When I try to access this webserver from my home PC - http://xyz.dyndns.org, 
it works fine - I can see the home page that I have setup on my RH9 Apache 
server. 

However if someone from outside (my friend for e.g.), tries to access 
http://xyz.dyndns.org, he can't do it.  However, if my friend tries to ping 
the IP address or xyz.dyndns.org, he is able to do it. 

I have confirmed with my ISP that they don't block any ports. 

Are there any settings in RH9 that I need to turn on so that it can accept 
incoming web traffic from outside? 

Thanks for any help / pointer in advance. 

Regards.
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Re: How to make Apache webserver accessible from outside?

[Ray Olszewski]

At 10:16 PM 6/16/2003 -0600, nksahita@softhome.net wrote:
>Hi,
>I installed RH9 on my home computer which has broadband connection.
>I got account with dyndns.org which allows me to get a domain name (e.g. 
>http://xyz.dyndns.org) that points to the IP address allocated by my ISP.
>When I try to access this webserver from my home PC - 
>http://xyz.dyndns.org, it works fine - I can see the home page that I have 
>setup on my RH9 Apache server.
>However if someone from outside (my friend for e.g.), tries to access 
>http://xyz.dyndns.org, he can't do it.  However, if my friend tries to 
>ping the IP address or xyz.dyndns.org, he is able to do it.
>I have confirmed with my ISP that they don't block any ports.
>Are there any settings in RH9 that I need to turn on so that it can accept 
>incoming web traffic from outside?
>Thanks for any help / pointer in advance.
>Regards.


As you describe this setup, it should work. So let's consider why it might 
not.

Possibility one: Your ISP is blocking port 80. Yes, I know you said "I have 
confirmed with my ISP that they don't block any ports", but I don't have to 
believe it just because that is what you say your ISP says. The test: try 
running apache on a different port (8080 is traditional), then see if 
someone from outside can access the Web site as  http://xyz.dyndns.org:8080 .

Possibility two: Your system is running firewall rules that block incoming 
traffic. I don't know what a naive installation of RH9 does about 
firewalling. The easiest way to find out is to check for yourself: see what 
the command "iptables -nvL" reports about default policies and specific 
rules. While I would always strongly recommend running a decent set of 
firewall rules on any machine that is connected to the Internet, you might, 
just as a brief test, try clearing the rulesets and setting all policies to 
ACCEPT (see the man page for iptables if you don't know how to do this) to 
see if that makes it possible to connect to your Web server.

Possibility three: apache is misconfigured. You write: "When I try to 
access this webserver from my home PC ... it works fine". What URL are you 
using to access it? Are you accessing it as  http://xyz.dyndns.org or are 
you using the localhost interface to access it? Make sure apache knows (in 
its config files) that it is running on the URL and interface you want your 
friend to use to connect, and that it is configured to accept connections 
from the outside.

Possibility Four: Your host_access rules (/etc/hosts.allow and 
/etc/hosts.deny) are blocking the connection. I don't *think* apache uses 
these access lists itself when run as its own daemon (it has its own 
access.conf file for this purpose, which you should have checked for 
Possibiliy Three), but if you run apache through inetd, and it uses 
tcp-wrappers (tcpd), then these access rules will apply to connection attempts.

If none of those possibilites pans out for you, the only things I can think 
of to do are ...

First, give us more specifics next time. Like the real URL and what "he 
can't do it" actually looks like. What failure does the browser at the far 
end report? At your end, does apache log the attempt to connect? Oh, and 
who is your ISP?

Second, try running some other service (like ssh) and see if it works. If 
not, consider (and tell us, if you want more help) how this one fails.

BTW, after writing all of this ... on reflection, I really like Possibility 
One.



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Re: How to make Apache webserver accessible from outside?

[nksahita]

Hello Ray, 

Thanks so much for your tips below. Being a newbie, I don't exactly 
understand all that you mentioned below but it gives me pointers - I will 
try this out and let everyone know. 

As for possibility 3 you mentioned below - the URL I tried from my Home PC 
was http://xyz.dyndns.org and not the localhost. 

Thanks! 

Regards. 

 


Ray Olszewski writes: 

> At 10:16 PM 6/16/2003 -0600, nksahita@softhome.net wrote:
>> Hi,
>> I installed RH9 on my home computer which has broadband connection.
>> I got account with dyndns.org which allows me to get a domain name (e.g. 
>> http://xyz.dyndns.org) that points to the IP address allocated by my ISP.
>> When I try to access this webserver from my home PC - 
>> http://xyz.dyndns.org, it works fine - I can see the home page that I 
>> have setup on my RH9 Apache server.
>> However if someone from outside (my friend for e.g.), tries to access 
>> http://xyz.dyndns.org, he can't do it.  However, if my friend tries to 
>> ping the IP address or xyz.dyndns.org, he is able to do it.
>> I have confirmed with my ISP that they don't block any ports.
>> Are there any settings in RH9 that I need to turn on so that it can 
>> accept incoming web traffic from outside?
>> Thanks for any help / pointer in advance.
>> Regards.
>  
> 
> As you describe this setup, it should work. So let's consider why it might 
> not. 
> 
> Possibility one: Your ISP is blocking port 80. Yes, I know you said "I 
> have confirmed with my ISP that they don't block any ports", but I don't 
> have to believe it just because that is what you say your ISP says. The 
> test: try running apache on a different port (8080 is traditional), then 
> see if someone from outside can access the Web site as  
> http://xyz.dyndns.org:8080 . 
> 
> Possibility two: Your system is running firewall rules that block incoming 
> traffic. I don't know what a naive installation of RH9 does about 
> firewalling. The easiest way to find out is to check for yourself: see 
> what the command "iptables -nvL" reports about default policies and 
> specific rules. While I would always strongly recommend running a decent 
> set of firewall rules on any machine that is connected to the Internet, 
> you might, just as a brief test, try clearing the rulesets and setting all 
> policies to ACCEPT (see the man page for iptables if you don't know how to 
> do this) to see if that makes it possible to connect to your Web server. 
> 
> Possibility three: apache is misconfigured. You write: "When I try to 
> access this webserver from my home PC ... it works fine". What URL are you 
> using to access it? Are you accessing it as  http://xyz.dyndns.org or are 
> you using the localhost interface to access it? Make sure apache knows (in 
> its config files) that it is running on the URL and interface you want 
> your friend to use to connect, and that it is configured to accept 
> connections from the outside. 
> 
> Possibility Four: Your host_access rules (/etc/hosts.allow and 
> /etc/hosts.deny) are blocking the connection. I don't *think* apache uses 
> these access lists itself when run as its own daemon (it has its own 
> access.conf file for this purpose, which you should have checked for 
> Possibiliy Three), but if you run apache through inetd, and it uses 
> tcp-wrappers (tcpd), then these access rules will apply to connection 
> attempts. 
> 
> If none of those possibilites pans out for you, the only things I can 
> think of to do are ... 
> 
> First, give us more specifics next time. Like the real URL and what "he 
> can't do it" actually looks like. What failure does the browser at the far 
> end report? At your end, does apache log the attempt to connect? Oh, and 
> who is your ISP? 
> 
> Second, try running some other service (like ssh) and see if it works. If 
> not, consider (and tell us, if you want more help) how this one fails. 
> 
> BTW, after writing all of this ... on reflection, I really like 
> Possibility One. 
> 
>  
> 
> -
> To unsubscribe from this list: send the line "unsubscribe linux-newbie" in
> the body of a message to majordomo@vger.kernel.org
> More majordomo info at  http://vger.kernel.org/majordomo-info.html
> Please read the FAQ at http://www.linux-learn.org/faqs
 
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Re: How to make Apache webserver accessible from outside?

[pa3gcu]

On Tuesday 17 June 2003 07:40, nksahita@softhome.net wrote:
> Hello Ray,
>
> Thanks so much for your tips below. Being a newbie, I don't exactly
> understand all that you mentioned below but it gives me pointers - I will
> try this out and let everyone know.
>
> As for possibility 3 you mentioned below - the URL I tried from my Home PC
> was http://xyz.dyndns.org and not the localhost.


Is that your actual domainname.? if it is then your machine is filtering all 
ports, only pings are returned from that machine which is listed as;
219.57.116.3 .

nmap shows all ports filtered.

> Thanks!
>
> Regards.
>

-- 
Regards Richard
pa3gcu@zeelandnet.nl
http://people.zeelandnet.nl/pa3gcu/



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Re: How to make Apache webserver accessible from outside?

[nksahita]

Nope xyz.dyndns.org is not actual domain name.  The actual domain name is 
nksahita.dyndns.org which is down at the moment (my home computer is down at 
the moment).  I will get it up in next few hours and then try out again. 

BTW, on related subject - is there any way to test if my webserver is 
accessible from elsewhere without asking someone's help to test?  The way I 
do right now is to change my settings and then call my friend to help to see 
if he can access my website from his computer. Is there any better way of 
testing this? 


TIA. 

 

pa3gcu writes: 

> On Tuesday 17 June 2003 07:40, nksahita@softhome.net wrote:
>> Hello Ray, 
>>
>> Thanks so much for your tips below. Being a newbie, I don't exactly
>> understand all that you mentioned below but it gives me pointers - I will
>> try this out and let everyone know. 
>>
>> As for possibility 3 you mentioned below - the URL I tried from my Home PC
>> was http://xyz.dyndns.org and not the localhost.
>  
> 
> Is that your actual domainname.? if it is then your machine is filtering all 
> ports, only pings are returned from that machine which is listed as;
> 219.57.116.3 . 
> 
> nmap shows all ports filtered. 
> 
>> Thanks! 
>>
>> Regards. 
>>
> 
> -- 
> Regards Richard
> pa3gcu@zeelandnet.nl
> http://people.zeelandnet.nl/pa3gcu/ 
> 
>  
> 
> -
> To unsubscribe from this list: send the line "unsubscribe linux-newbie" in
> the body of a message to majordomo@vger.kernel.org
> More majordomo info at  http://vger.kernel.org/majordomo-info.html
> Please read the FAQ at http://www.linux-learn.org/faqs
 
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Re: How to make Apache webserver accessible from outside?

[Nilesh Sahita]

All,

The problem is resolved.  It was due to RH9 security level setting - the
incoming HTTP request was not enabled.  Once I set it ON - my webserver
was accessible from outside network.

Thanks!

Regards,
- Nilesh


On Tue, 2003-06-17 at 14:56, nksahita@softhome.net wrote:
> Nope xyz.dyndns.org is not actual domain name.  The actual domain name is 
> nksahita.dyndns.org which is down at the moment (my home computer is down at 
> the moment).  I will get it up in next few hours and then try out again. 
> 
> BTW, on related subject - is there any way to test if my webserver is 
> accessible from elsewhere without asking someone's help to test?  The way I 
> do right now is to change my settings and then call my friend to help to see 
> if he can access my website from his computer. Is there any better way of 
> testing this? 
> 
> 
> TIA. 
> 
>  
> 
> pa3gcu writes: 
> 
> > On Tuesday 17 June 2003 07:40, nksahita@softhome.net wrote:
> >> Hello Ray, 
> >>
> >> Thanks so much for your tips below. Being a newbie, I don't exactly
> >> understand all that you mentioned below but it gives me pointers - I will
> >> try this out and let everyone know. 
> >>
> >> As for possibility 3 you mentioned below - the URL I tried from my Home PC
> >> was http://xyz.dyndns.org and not the localhost.
> >  
> > 
> > Is that your actual domainname.? if it is then your machine is filtering all 
> > ports, only pings are returned from that machine which is listed as;
> > 219.57.116.3 . 
> > 
> > nmap shows all ports filtered. 
> > 
> >> Thanks! 
> >>
> >> Regards. 
> >>
> > 
> > -- 
> > Regards Richard
> > pa3gcu@zeelandnet.nl
> > http://people.zeelandnet.nl/pa3gcu/
> > 
> >  
> > 
> > -
> > To unsubscribe from this list: send the line "unsubscribe linux-newbie" in
> > the body of a message to majordomo@vger.kernel.org
> > More majordomo info at  http://vger.kernel.org/majordomo-info.html
> > Please read the FAQ at http://www.linux-learn.org/faqs
>  
> -
> To unsubscribe from this list: send the line "unsubscribe linux-newbie" in
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