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Port problems [solved, lock away]

matisyahumatisyahu Registered User regular
edited September 2009 in Help / Advice Forum
I need to use an SFTP for my internship, but I can't connect to it for the life of me, and I suspect that my ISP is blocking the pertinent port.

I forwarded the port (22) but canyouseeme.org said Connection Refused, so I bypassed my router entirely and it still says Connection Refused on that port. I'm not running Windows (or any) Firewall, which I know is dangerous but I'm just trying to get this to work. The Windows Firewall service isn't even running.

Is there anything I could be overlooking, in Windows XP or elsewhere, that could be interfering with this? Is there any way I can resolve this on my own or is there a conversation with my ISP in the future?

i dont even like matisyahu and i dont know why i picked this username
matisyahu on

Posts

  • underdonkunderdonk __BANNED USERS regular
    edited September 2009
    Sounds like the port isn't open on the other end. Try using telnet to connect to that port to test and see if it's open.

    underdonk on
    Back in the day, bucko, we just had an A and a B button... and we liked it.
  • matisyahumatisyahu Registered User regular
    edited September 2009
    That didn't work, but wouldn't the problem be on my end since I can't see myself on canyouseeme.org ?

    matisyahu on
    i dont even like matisyahu and i dont know why i picked this username
  • RuckusRuckus Registered User regular
    edited September 2009
    Do you have another PC that you can use to attempt a connection locally to verify the service is working?

    Also you are referring to SecureFTP and not SimpleFTP right?

    Ruckus on
  • DaenrisDaenris Registered User regular
    edited September 2009
    matisyahu wrote: »
    That didn't work, but wouldn't the problem be on my end since I can't see myself on canyouseeme.org ?

    Unless I'm misunderstanding, not necessarily. You're trying to connect to an SFTP server on another computer, correct? Port 22 is the port the server uses to accept incoming connections. I agree that it sounds like the port isn't open at the other end if it's saying connection refused (unless your ISP is blocking a large range of ports from your IP, which could prevent you from opening an outgoing connection).

    Are you sure all the information you're using to connect is correct (hostname, protocol, port) and are you sure the target computer is up and working? Is there anyone you can check with to confirm that there are no problems with the target computer's SFTP server?

    Daenris on
  • chuckleberryfinnchuckleberryfinn Ireland Registered User regular
    edited September 2009
    matisyahu wrote: »
    I need to use an SFTP for my internship, but I can't connect to it for the life of me, and I suspect that my ISP is blocking the pertinent port.

    I forwarded the port (22) but canyouseeme.org said Connection Refused, so I bypassed my router entirely and it still says Connection Refused on that port. I'm not running Windows (or any) Firewall, which I know is dangerous but I'm just trying to get this to work. The Windows Firewall service isn't even running.

    Is there anything I could be overlooking, in Windows XP or elsewhere, that could be interfering with this? Is there any way I can resolve this on my own or is there a conversation with my ISP in the future?

    Is the SFTP server configured to accept non local connections? Try telnet 127.0.0.1 22 and telnet yourexternalip 22, see if the localhost address connects and the external address fails.

    Oh and checking the SFTP access logs would be an idea.

    chuckleberryfinn on
    No Protoss players were underpowered during this post.
  • matisyahumatisyahu Registered User regular
    edited September 2009
    Yes, SecureFTP, not SimpleFTP.

    I'm trying to connect to an SFTP server on another computer, yes. But canyouseeme.org is a different website (not the server) that lets you see if ports are open on your computer, I should have been more clear in the OP. My networking knowledge is minimal so I'm sure I'm bungling some terminology.

    I'll try bringing down my netbook and connecting it directly to my DSL modem, but since that doesn't work on my desktop I suspect it won't work on the netbook either. It didn't work on any of my 3 computers when I had the ports forwarded on my router (I assume I did it right, I've forwarded ports on my old router which I unfortunately dont have anymore, and I followed the instructions on portforward.com to a T, and tried it multiple times).

    matisyahu on
    i dont even like matisyahu and i dont know why i picked this username
  • matisyahumatisyahu Registered User regular
    edited September 2009
    matisyahu wrote: »
    I need to use an SFTP for my internship, but I can't connect to it for the life of me, and I suspect that my ISP is blocking the pertinent port.

    I forwarded the port (22) but canyouseeme.org said Connection Refused, so I bypassed my router entirely and it still says Connection Refused on that port. I'm not running Windows (or any) Firewall, which I know is dangerous but I'm just trying to get this to work. The Windows Firewall service isn't even running.

    Is there anything I could be overlooking, in Windows XP or elsewhere, that could be interfering with this? Is there any way I can resolve this on my own or is there a conversation with my ISP in the future?

    Is the SFTP server configured to accept non local connections? Try telnet 127.0.0.1 22 and telnet yourexternalip 22, see if the localhost address connects and the external address fails.

    Oh and checking the SFTP access logs would be an idea.

    Both of these telnets failed, I get "Could not open connection to the host, on port 22. Connect failed". Other employees can access the server from their houses, so it works for non local connections. I don't think I have access to the access logs.

    matisyahu on
    i dont even like matisyahu and i dont know why i picked this username
  • chuckleberryfinnchuckleberryfinn Ireland Registered User regular
    edited September 2009
    matisyahu wrote: »
    Yes, SecureFTP, not SimpleFTP.

    I'm trying to connect to an SFTP server on another computer, yes. But canyouseeme.org is a different website (not the server) that lets you see if ports are open on your computer, I should have been more clear in the OP. My networking knowledge is minimal so I'm sure I'm bungling some terminology.

    I'll try bringing down my netbook and connecting it directly to my DSL modem, but since that doesn't work on my desktop I suspect it won't work on the netbook either. It didn't work on any of my 3 computers when I had the ports forwarded on my router (I assume I did it right, I've forwarded ports on my old router which I unfortunately dont have anymore, and I followed the instructions on portforward.com to a T, and tried it multiple times).

    Ok, canyouseeme shows you open ports on your computer, the port should be open on the remote computer *not* your computer. See if you can ping the remote computer first. If using XP type start, run, cmd (opens black screen with a flashing cursor), and type ping remotecomputer. So if the SFTP server was running on google.com you would type ping google.com. If the ping doesn't fail you can at least reach the remote computer, if not you may be trying to access an internal server that the other employees have access to via a VPN link.

    Can you try pinging the remote computer and reply. You should also restart your firewall asap.

    You would only need port forwarding if you are running the SFTP server yourself and wanted external devices to have access to it, it is *not* necessary to access an external server, undo the changes you've made to the port forwarding rules on your router. You don't need them.

    Some basic networking, when you run an SFTP server (as the company you're trying to connect to is doing) the server has to run on a static port so other machines can find the service. In this case it's port 22 which is a well known port for the SFTP service (for simplicity anyway :) ). The remote machine is listening for connections on this port, it expects the connections to come in the standard way associated with this connection type. So if the remote machine running the SFTP service you want to log into is www.google.com this service is accessible via [url]www.google.com:22[/url]. From your (the client) perspective you don't care about that port on your machine, you only want to access the remote machine on that port. So port 22 doesn't have to be open on your machine at all.

    chuckleberryfinn on
    No Protoss players were underpowered during this post.
  • matisyahumatisyahu Registered User regular
    edited September 2009
    I see, so closed ports wouldn't affect my outgoing traffic? I have a rudimentary understanding of what's going on, but my boss is even rudimentarier, so this could be a pickle.

    The ping times out, time to get in touch with my boss then I suppose.

    Just as an aside, shouldn't I be able to see the port as open on my computer with that website?

    matisyahu on
    i dont even like matisyahu and i dont know why i picked this username
  • chuckleberryfinnchuckleberryfinn Ireland Registered User regular
    edited September 2009
    matisyahu wrote: »
    I see, so closed ports wouldn't affect my outgoing traffic?
    No, closed ports on your machine won't affect outgoing traffic.

    If you were running an SFTP server on your computer you would see that port as open on your computer. You aren't running this service so you shouldn't see it as open. When you try to connect to the remote SFTP server you *are* using a port on your computer but it is randomly assigned (it will be *way* above 22) but it's not listening for a connection it's trying to make one.

    Bottom line, to connect to a remote SFTP service port 22 does not need to be open or accessible on your computer.

    The ping timing out does not necessarily indicate the machine is inaccessible for you, they could just be droping ICMP (ping) packets at the firewall. You can try putting the server name or IP into Firefox or Internet Explorer and see if you get any response, so if the server is www.google.com try [url]www.google.com:22[/url] in the address bar of IE or Firefox.
    If you can, talk to some of your coworkers or the companies IT crowd and ask them about the SFTP setup.

    chuckleberryfinn on
    No Protoss players were underpowered during this post.
  • matisyahumatisyahu Registered User regular
    edited September 2009
    Thanks a lot for your help, I'll get in touch with my boss. It's a small (3 person [read: there is no IT crowd]) company and the two editors work from their home office and they are using a server from dreamhost.com. I'm looking at the server company's website and they apparently offer some VPN service, so I suspect, and maybe you could confirm or deny this for me, that they either have a VPN that I need to go through or they've simply given me the wrong URL, since nothing at all comes up when I type it into the address bar of my browser.

    The server company says you need to "enable shell access in the control panel" of their website. The SFTP account I'm using is shared, so would I be right in assuming that the shell access for that account has been enabled, or does it need to be IP specific in any way?

    matisyahu on
    i dont even like matisyahu and i dont know why i picked this username
  • chuckleberryfinnchuckleberryfinn Ireland Registered User regular
    edited September 2009
    matisyahu wrote: »
    The server company says you need to "enable shell access in the control panel" of their website. The SFTP account I'm using is shared, so would I be right in assuming that the shell access for that account has been enabled, or does it need to be IP specific in any way?

    This shouldn't be a problem for you, if it's a shared account then this should already be correctly configured.

    I gave you some bad advice there, seems Firefox and IE wouldn't be able to open an SFTP connection anyway, sorry about that.

    I assume you've already followed the instructions here: http://wiki.dreamhost.com/Ssh . If not try the following, download WINSCP from here: http://winscp.net/eng/index.php , this is a free, graphical SFTP client for Windows. When you run Winscp click the new button, enter the connection settings you're boss gave you and click login. Sorry if this seems obvious but you didn't mention how you were trying to connect to the server.

    I really don't think you'll need a VPN connection to access this machine, try using winscp and let us know if there's any change (including any error messages).

    chuckleberryfinn on
    No Protoss players were underpowered during this post.
  • matisyahumatisyahu Registered User regular
    edited September 2009
    I tried using FileZilla and a free trial of WS_FTP and neither worked, nor does WINSCP, they all time out. Honestly I think my boss must have given me the wrong port number or the wrong URL. I don't know what else it could be, and knowing her, it's pretty likely. She'll get back to me in the morning I guess. Thanks for the help and the basic networking lesson, I'll let you know how it ends up.

    matisyahu on
    i dont even like matisyahu and i dont know why i picked this username
  • matisyahumatisyahu Registered User regular
    edited September 2009
    Update: Boss gave me the wrong host name. And also it wasn't even an SFTP it was just a plain old FTP. I wasted so much time on this I could eat a horse. Oh well, at least I learned some basic networking stuff. Thanks for your help everybody, especially you, chuckleberryfinn.

    matisyahu on
    i dont even like matisyahu and i dont know why i picked this username
  • chuckleberryfinnchuckleberryfinn Ireland Registered User regular
    edited September 2009
    Anytime, glad you got it sorted in the end. Best of luck with the internship.

    chuckleberryfinn on
    No Protoss players were underpowered during this post.
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