Net.Sockets : PC Portnumber changes dynamically in LAN via (DLINK)router - vb.net

Hi i am creating server/client application using .net.Sockets something like cybercafe software.
Im following this example on codeproject Simple Socket Chat Program
there is no problem i run it on local pc. But when i run the client in the other pc in network i got a problem.
says :
No connection could be made because the target machine actively refused it.
I tried to use netstat -a on cmd and i found out that the portnumbers of all the p.c on our network always changes.
Is there any way to do it without using portnumber and just hostname or ipaddress only.
I need help...
Thanks in Regards

First, the random port numbers under Local Address in netstat are done so that everything gets a unique local port.
Also, a port is necessary for sockets.
The problem you are having is most likely because the firewall where your server software is located is blocking that port. For Windows 7 (and presumably Vista), you can unblock the port by running WF.msc, going to Inbound Rules on the left, clicking New Rule on the right, and adding a new program or port rule. The rest of the steps should be self-explanatory.

Related

Reverse SSH Tunnel with Dynamic Port Allocation

We have a system that implements reverse ssh tunnel to enable remote port forwarding.
This enables to expose devices on local network via a Public IP.
However, we're achieving this by a static port allocation, i.e. We've mapped Serial No.s of devices to Ports and each time a request comes to our server with Serial No. , we forward it to the designated port.
Obviously this design isn't scalable and we want to replace it with dynamic port allocation, such that the server itself takes care of allocating the port and freeing it once the device goes offline.
It'd be great to have suggestions on how this can be achieved.
Thanks in anticipation and apologies for my lack of knowledge in case I didn't explain it better (I'm new to this)
This can be solved by using a ssh command script in ~/.ssh/authorized_keys on your server.
command="reverse_server.py" ssh-rsa <publicKey>
First, a client has to connect to the script and send it's own serial (in my case a use the MAC-adress of one NIC).
The server looks into a database and tell the assigned port number or creates a new one for an unknown serial.
In the next step, the client can connect, using the reported port number as reverse port.
Btw. You should add some logic to monitor and recreate the tunnel if it disconnects or get stuck.

Pica8 SDN whiteswitch ping from mangement console to host port

I am connecting my controller PC to a Pica8 white switch via the Management port. I can SSH into the switch and ping the controller PC, however I cant ping the hosts through the standard ports. I have created a bridge of the first four ports and have successfully pinged from host to host after I installed a flow that allowed it.
My question is, is there some kind of mechanism separating the controller port from all of the data ports, I would think I should be able to ping from the switch to the hosts.
I'm not sure this answers your question, but before pinging the management port I believe you need to set an IP for it via the console port.
I use minicom per the instructions located here. However, I am using the RJ45 to DB9 adapter cable -> USB Serial port connection. That looks like so.
Unfortunately, that creates a problem with minicom, since the instructions tell you to simply power up the switch and observe the received data. There is actually a little more to it than that. You have to configure minicom's serial port. Fortunately, there is a tech blog that I found very helpful. If you follow the provided instructions, it will walk you through changing ports. Once you modify the port that minicom is listening on (For me it is Port /dev/ttyUSB0), you should be able to configure your management port.

Able to RDP into remote server, but not able to ping or telnet

We have a Win Server 2008 box being hosted (dedicated) for us.
I need to connect to one of it's DB's from a server in our LAN.
What started out as a "sure, I'll just throw that together for you real quick" project has turned into a week-long hair-pulling pile of WTF :)
I am able to RDP into that server without fail or issue.
When I tried to connect to the DB, I got a generic "could not connect" error, so I went hunting.
Telnet attemtps and pings time out.
Since then, we have tried endless variations of firewall settings (including wide open), and still ... no go.
In addition to our firewall, the hosting provider also has a firewall layer.
We turned on all logging, and we don't even see any connection attempts at our FW.
We then had the hosting provider turn on all logging, and they don't see any connection attempts either!
Hrmmmph
I'm at a complete loss.
Any suggestions?
BTW, while I'm comfortable enough with all this to explore and make changes, my experience with firewalls and stuff is fairly limited, so don't hesitate to dumb it down ;)
It is hard to give just one answer to this question, because the interim results of the problem analysis lead to different steps that you need to do next. It will more likely be a step by step help with tracing down the problem.
Do not trust any firewall setting (esp. not any that someone else did, and again esp. not if you don't know him), unless you tested it. Firewall settings are tricky and even experienced professionals get them wrong now and then.
In the guide below, I will write <win2008server> in commands where you have to put the name or IP of the windows 2008 server to which you want to connect. On the other side, I will use the expression "office PC" when I mean your workstation PC in the office from where you are trying to connect to the win2008server.
STEP 1: Checking the Endpoints
1.) Can you telnet to the RDP port?
On your office PC, try this on a command prompt:
telnet <win2008server> 3389
This is to make sure that DNS name resulution works for telnet, as well as network hardware and routing. It should, because you can use RDP to establish this connection. However, anything can get in between, like the telnet command being in any way configured nonstandard or being replaced for whatever reason on a company pc (sysadmins have strange ideas at times...).
2.) Can you telnet locally on the win2008server to the database?
When logged in using RDP on the win2008server, open a command prompt on the server and issue the command
telnet <win2008server> <database port>
That means you are trying to connect from the server to itself. This is to make sure the database port is open on the server.
STEP 2: Checking the Firewalls of the Endpoints
If for 1.) and 2.), your answer is yes it works, you have to test if either the remote side can not be reached or your location can not connect to the internet on the port you are testing (database port). You do this by replacing the respective other side with any other host on the internet for which you know it's reachable or can reach other servers. Typically, you google for a port checker ;)
3.) Check if the win2008server can be reached from another location than yours:
3.1.) Check if the RDP port of the win2008server can be reached from a third party location:
Google for port checker and take the first result (e.g. http://www.yougetsignal.com/tools/open-ports/ ). Type in the name or IP address of the win2008server and the RDP port, usually 3389 . Click on "check" and wait for the success or the timeout.
3.2.) Check if the database port of the win2008server can be reached from a third party location:
Do the same as in 3.1.), just with the database port instead of the RDP port.
4.) Check if you can connect to an outside server on the database port:
For this to work, you need to know a server or create one, which is somewhere outside on the internet, and which listens on the database port. You typically do this by keeping your private PC at home run and accessible through RDP or SSH, and there you open a server and configure your private internet router to forward the connection correctly.
Another way to do this test is webspace with SSH access. Many webspace providers nowadays allow for an SSH login (usually any webspace at $4/month and above).
Let's assume you have SSH access to any such third party place. You can use nc (netcat) there to open a server socket on the database port with this command:
nc -l <database port>
If it's your private PC at home, you usually have to also configure your private router and set up a dynamic DNS name for your internet access for the whole story to work out. You do not have this extra work with a webspace based SSH login. However, there you can not test ports below 1024 because you do not have the privileges. Good luck with this ;)
After you got this, try connecting to the port that you opened:
4.1.) From your office PC with
telnet <third party location> <database port>
4.2.) If 4.1.) does not work, also try with the port checker, because you might have gotten something wrong with setting up the server. Look at 3.) for this, and use the <third party location> and <database port> with the port checker (fourth party check).
STEP 3: Blaming ;)
At least one of the things should have failed by now and you can start calling people and letting them know about your tests and the results. You should be able to combine the results logically, but never start with that. Think about how to convey the information. Start out with your findings and then let them have a moment for their own conclusion. It can be difficult to tell someone in another company or department that their firewall isn't configured correctly. They might deny this even in the presence of proof. Be patient. Explain your findings again. Hint at the conclusion. This can be the trickiest part of the whole problem solution.
I have to say that today I had the same problem.
My solution was just to edit secpol.msc and disable all the FW profiles; then, run services.msc and also disable Windows Firewall service.
After this server was pingable for me.

Hosting site using xampp server from local network without port-forwarding

I want to make my site available world wide. Im using xampp server for hosting. I have no access to any kind of servers and modems. Situation is shown below:
My site server has local ip assigned by wifi router and it runs Windows 8.
Remember I have no access on any kind of servers and modems so port port-forwarding is impossible (out of my scope).
Its actually difficult, but not impossible.
One way, I would approach this is:
I would host a page on internet.
Then take request and store it in database.
One of my program will always be running from my computer.
Then check for request and curl the request to localhost. For this you may use Node.js (taking data from database using GET method and curl it to localhost).
This is the best I could think of. And I am working on it, when the code is ready I'll make it open source and notify you :)
But still, it's difficult, as you need to put user's request to sleep for 2 seconds and then transferring it.
Its slow, but may work out for you.
Disadvantages:
Program will be very slow and memory usage will be more.
Breaking may happen many times.
High bandwidth wastage
If not encrypted, MIM (Men in Middle) may possible.
Advantages:
Indirect method of hosting
Need not to worry about your code being lost.
I am looking forward for a better alternative and I would like to keep this question for bounty once again.
If you cannot open the necessary ports within your LAN you will require access to an external server. However, the external server does not need to host any code, e.g.
Create a Linux based ec2 instance using Amazon's free tier.
Install a package to redirect remote to local ports:
a. using socat:
Install socat using your distributions package manager
Connect via SSH: ssh -N -R 42500:127.0.0.1:80 -o ServerAliveInterval=60 ubuntu#xxx.xxx.xxx.xxx -N -R 8080:localhost:80 "socat TCP-LISTEN:8080,fork TCP:127.0.0.1:42500"
b. using a webserver and reverse proxy:
Install apache or nginx and any required reverse proxy modules and configure your VirtualHost to proxy requests to a local port, e.g. :8080 -> 127.0.0.1:42500
Connect via SSH: ssh -N -R 42500:127.0.0.1:80 -o ServerAliveInterval=60 ubuntu#xxx.xxx.xxx.xxx
Your machine is now reachable via the ec2 instance http://xxx.xxx.xxx.xxx:8080/.
I occasionally use this technique when debugging web service callbacks.
Update 17-02-2014
If you are a Windows user you will need to install a third-party tool to support ssh. Options include:
cygwin
git bash
PuTTY
PuTTY is the easiest choice if you are not familiar with *nix tools. To configure remote port forwarding in PuTTY expand the following setting: Connection -> SSH -> Tunnels. Given the previously described scenario, populate Source port as 42500, Desination as 127.0.0.1:80 and tick the Remote option. (You may also need to add the path to a PuTTY compatible private key in the Connection -> SSH -> Auth tab depending on your server configuration.
To test you have successfully forwarded a port, execute the command netstat -lnt on your server. You will see output similar to:
tcp 0 0 127.0.0.1:42500 0.0.0.0:* LISTEN
Finally you can test with curl http://127.0.0.1:42500. You will see the output of your own machines web root running on port 80.
if you don't have a public IP address and cannot use port forwarding it is impossible to host the site
As people have said you need a public IP address. However, even if you did you should not use xampp as a public server, as it is designed for development and therefore has some security settings disabled.
I would recommend buying some shared web hosting, and uploading it to that. (you can get cheap hosting if you google 'shared web hosting', plus free .tk domains are avaliable: http://www.dot.tk/)
Do your company has any vpn network?
If it does and you have access to the vpn network, you can include your server to the vpn network and your guest will only need to login to your company vpn network then access your site like in a local network without using port forwarding. And since your data is very confidential, I assume that using vpn will also help to increase the security of your data.
Please correct me if I'm wrong.
Thank You.
What you are asking is not possible without port forwarding.
Lets break it into steps.
To host your site locally you will need a IP that is static so that
users can access it specifically.
You will need a domain so that it can be converted into user friendly name.
A 24x7 Internet Connection is must! You added a Wifi Router in your Diagram and most of today's router are capable of port forwarding.
What i will do in your scenario is:
Instead of using XAMP, i will install WAMP because i am more familiar with it and easy to configure.(totally personal preference)
Then i would set my server "ONLINE".(Google how to set WAMP server online)
Forward port "80" from router settings to my local computer ip address.(mostly it is tagged as "Virtual Server","Firewall","Port Forwarding",etc vary router to router in settings)
Suppose you have a local ip "192.168.1.3" and global/router IP "254.232.123.232" then you would redirect all the HTTP request done towards router to your local IP.
[[[[254.232.123.232]]]] --+ :80 +-- --------->192.168.1.3
That is good for now, but then you will need to tackle dynamic IP problem of router. But don't worry, thanks to some free sites that will be easy!
Go to no-ip.org -> Setup Account -> and create a entry, just a subdomain for now to test whether everything is working fine.(subdomain like mysite.no-ip.org, later purchase a real Domain)
Input your IP address there(Router IP) and download its application which will automatically update their server if your local IP changes.
Wait for some minutes and Voila! Your site is live.

How do I telnet to a specific port on a Windows 8 Consumer Preview machine?

I have been trying to troubleshoot a program that 'listens' on port 7751 for TCP connections. In Windows 7 and before, sometimes I have to enable the port in any firewall software that exists but otherwise it works OK.
In testing on Windows 8 Consumer Preview, my app is unable to start its 'listening' service, and I get the error: "No connection could be made because the target machine actively refused it".
I turned off the Windows Firewall totally, to eliminate it, but the problem still exists (no other security software is installed on this Win8 box).
In order to eliminate my program, I went through the "Turn on/off Windows features" applet in Control Panel, and installed Telnet Server and Client. I have started the Telnet service (and made it automatic), and also added "Everybody" and myself specifically into the TelnetClients local group.
When I run from the command line:
telnet 192.168.100.93 7751
I am told "Could not open connection to the host, on port 7751".
I tried the following:
netstat -an | find /i "listening"
But the port 7751 was not listed (and program that should listen on it was running).
This port is not blocked by the firewall, as it is turned off.
I tried telnet to another port that was listed by the netstat command, and it works OK.
My application connects to the port using the following:
System.Net.Sockets.TcpClient tcpc = new TcpClient();
tcpc.Connect(server, port);
But the .Connect immediately sends it to the
catch(SocketException s)
Which reports the "No connection could be made because the target server actively refused it." Note the "target server" is itself.
My App is a regular Windows Forms app, in C#, which is built by Visual Studio 2005 (.net 2.0) on the Windows 8 box itself...
What am I doing wrong?
EDIT: In answer to the question below, the code which starts the listening is:
private TcpListener tcpL;
IPEndPoint ipEndPoint = new IPEndPoint(ipAddress, Configuration.portNumber);
tcpL = new TcpListener(ipEndPoint);
tcpL.Start();
(ipAddress and Configuration.portNumber are my IP address 192.168.100.93, and 7751 respectively).
This code is within a try/catch and does not go to the catch, so I assume it started OK?
Assuming that the commands you listed are returning valid data and 192.168.100.93 is the IP address of your machine (you could use 127.0.0.1 instead), your client won't be able to connect, as there isn't anything listening on the port.
Is your listening application using TcpClient to listen on a port? If not then the problem is on your listening application, so please show that code instead.