Topic: Port 80 still appears to be closed

[Colinf01752]

Hello,

I can see my apache webserver within my LAN but not outside on the internet. I will try to be as thorough as possible explaining my setup.

Running Windows XP SP3 for my webserver. It is wired directly to my netgear router(WNR2000V3). Port 80 and apache have been made exceptions in the firewall tab of the webserver. I have assigned a static IP address of 192.168.1.3 to the webserver. I have xampp 1.8.1 and can access the "It works" page from anywhere within my LAN. I have port forwarded port 80 to the static IP of my webserver machine in my netgear router configuration page. I have taken my domain name from Godaddy and assigned the A-record to my WAN address. I can ping either the WAN address or the Domain name from work and it receives a reply no problem. However when I try and bring open the webpage from work it receives a connection time out and no web page is displayed.

Here's maybe another hint. I thought that maybe Comcast ISP was blocking port 80. They swear up and down that they don't block incoming traffic from port 80. Ok, I believe them for the most part. Then I go to use an external port checker tool on my router and it states that port 80 is closed when contacting my WAN IP. I am pulling(what little I have left) hair out. Thanks for any tips or direction.


Xampp 1.8.1
Apache 2.4.3
PHP 5.4.7

[maba]

Hello,

I would indeed suspect Comcast to be the problem. We had this issue in Colorado Springs and it only worked once we switched to a business connection.

As there is no easy way to connect directly at the outside of the cable modem (without the Comcast network), you can only test the total solution.

If you have the possibility to connect to the "internet" side of the router, then you could test from there.

Maba

[Anaksunaman]

It is unlikely that this is due to Comcast. Unfortunately, its more likely that it is a configuration error or a firewall issue. I currently run a set up very close to yours at my home office (Comcast residential, Netgear routers) and it works fine.

The external port checker states the port is closed most likely because no service is answering. This does not necessarily mean Comcast is blocking it.

I would advise the following:

* I would try to access the page directly by your outside (WAN) IP. That is, type the IP directly into the browser address bar (e.x. 67.68.69.70).

* I would try testing from locations other than work. Assuming things are configured correctly, a smartphone with a browser and any home computer (using the external IP address or domain name in the browser) should be able to reach the site.

* Make sure the Netgear router didn't change the webserver internal IP while you weren't looking. (This happened to me with a Netgear router -- it reassigned the webserver a different IP than it initially had and broke port forwarding, despite the IP being "assigned" to that server).

* I would double check firewall settings, including turning it completely off forth the duration of testing.

* Double check your XAMPP configuration (make sure it's listening on 80 and not 8080).

As two additional steps for troubleshooting, you may want to:

A) Try a different server for quick testing such as the free version of Abyss -- http://www.aprelium.com/abyssws/download.php

This takes about 1 minute to set up on Windows (it also supports Linux and Mac). It takes no configuration other than selecting a language after install and runs by default on port 80. Just make sure to select "manual" start up during install (so there aren't any conflicts later with XAMPP -- and remember to disable XAMPP during testing so there are no port 80 conflicts). The idea with this is to eliminate the possibility of a XAMPP config issue stopping the server from responding.

B) Try a free dynamic DNS service such as http://noip.com. This eliminates configuration issues with GoDaddy.
Sign up with an email, go to Manage Hosts -> Add a Host and select a host name. Then go to Manage Host -> Modify and edit it with DNS Host (A) and insert the WAN IP (very similar to GoDaddy).

[peterw]

I would recommend that you sign up for a free dynamic DNS service with Dynu( www.dynu.com ) and use their port forwarding function to host your website on a port other than port 80. With this feature visitors to your website can still access your website at www.yourdomainname.com and you do not need to worry about port 80 being blocked.