Hi All,

Before I begin, I am using MythTV R16

General Problem
I searched and searched for the answer to this issue, but I just can't figure out the solution. I think I have taken the right steps, but I am unable to access mythweb from outside of my LAN. I am using the address www.domainurl.net:8180/.

The error message Firefox displays is....

'Connection was refused when attempting to contact www.urlhere.'

Problem in Detail
I am trying to set up mythweb so that I can access it from outside of the LAN.

I am able to access mythweb by entering the ip address that my DHCP router has assigned to the mythtv box (http://ipaddress/mythweb).

To enable access to outside of the LAN, I have edited the /etc/apache/httpd.conf file and changed the 'port 80' to port 8180 (my cable provider blocks port 80). I have also configured the cable router firewall to forward port 8180 to the LAN ip address of the mythtv box (TCP and UDP).

Unfortunately, this doesn't seem to be quite enough to achieve the goal.

I have consulted with the SecuringMythWebHowTo; however, I don't want to restrict access at this time. So I did not modify the httpd.conf file in any other way.

I have restarted apache several times; however, I have not rebooted the MythTV system completely. I do not get a 404 error message (i.e., page is not there). I just get the message that the connection cannot be made. I am thinking that there is another setting I need to change on the mythtv box, but I don't know what exactly.

Can anyone suggest something that might enable access to mythweb from the Internet? It will be much appreciated.

Dr. Hood

You using the trailing "/" ? I forward a port on my home router to port 80 on my LAN knoppmyth box. If it omit the trailing / doesn't work.

www.domainurl.net:8180/mythweb/

Thanks for the quick reply. Unfortunately, adding the '/' still results in the cannot connect error message. I cannot use port 80 as my isp blocks this. I have successfully directed internet traffic to another webserver on my LAN using port 8080. I have also directed UDP packets to a VOIP adapter that I have, so I am fairly certain that the forwarding of the ports on the cable router should be doing what it needs to be doing. However, I am no networking guru.

I have plum run out of ideas.....

Dr. Hood

That should work, but I cannot say for certain. I personally have not messed with changing apache configuration. The way I did my was to keep apache using the default port of 80 on Knoppmyth but forward my Internet router port 23 WAN to Knoppmyth LAN IP port 80 that way my ISP doesn't block the incoming request port and my work doesn't block outgoing port 23 (Telnet port).

I really do appreciate the attempt at helping.

I have enabled webmin to see if that might help resolve the issue. Unfortunately, I am unfamiliar with webmin to use it effectively. The only thing I can do with webmin is to view the 'Internet Services' option and when I do I see that tcp is set at port 80. It appears that webmin didn't exact the port number from the apache httpd.conf file.

Not sure what else to do......Hmmm....

Thanks again. Hopefully somebody can pick this up and suggest something else to try.

Dr. Hood

I have done some investigating....

I did an internal scan of the ports on the internal LAN ip address of the mythtv box and the port I told apache to listen to 8180 was not detected. However, I am able to get to the mythweb interfact by going to 'internalLANipaddress:8180'.

Can someone explain why this port is not detected on a scan? Is this normal?

Dr. Hood

Just a stab in the dark, but is your router an SMC Barricade? When I set this up on mine, it was driving me nuts. Turns out the barricade didn't like certain ports, so even though I would set up the virtual routes and hit save, the software would error out (without prompting me) and not save my changes. Try a different port number (like 81) just as a test to make sure that it isn't getting upset about the port number.

_________________
Currently running: R5.5, HD5000 x 2, PVR150, Athlon 64 3000+, Chaintech VNF4, 1GB RAM, 2 x 250GB in LVM, MSI NX6200TC -> AA 9A60 -> HDTV

I can suggest a few diagnostic things:
1) you can get to it via http://internalIP:8180 right?
2) can you get to it via your static IP address (http://staticIP:81810) from your LAN?

If 2 won't work then there is a router issue. I should point out that using DHCP for mythTV in this scenario is bad. If your MythTV gets a new IP address from the router due to a reboot, the opening you put in your firewall will no longer work.

If 2 works than try doing it from outside your firewall (a friend's house). If this won't work then there is a good chance that your ISP is blocking the traffic. I know mine did for a while. By the way, you DO have a static IP address right? In other words your router is not set to DHCP on the WAN side

Type "netstat -an | grep 8180".

Do you see...

::::8180 or 0.0.0.0:8180
or
<your internal IP>:8180
or
<your external IP>:8180

If you see <your internal IP>:8180, then it can only be reached via that internal IP address. If you see ::::8180 or 0.0.0.0:8180, then it be reached from anywhere. That may be a clue about what is happening.

I got it solved! Thanks to all that replied. Your responses helped me figure out where the problem was, and for that I am grateful. I followed the instructions that everyone gave and I concluded that the problem is with my router/gateway that is connected to my cable modem.

A bit more about my LAN topography.

I am running an Internet appliance that does routing, DHCP, firewall, NAT, http server, ftp server, and a couple of other features that are pretty cool. This router/gateway appliance is dynamically assigned an IP address from my cable company ISP. However, I use the Hammer Node service to maintain the DNS tables so that my internet address gets routed to my LAN router/gateway appliance.

The problem was indeed solved by correctly configuring my router/gateway appliance. The fix was 2 steps:

(1) create a subdomain and tell the router to point traffic specifically to the MythTV box LAN IP address

(2) open a port on the router/gateway appliance firewall (8180) and have that traffic directed to the MythTV box LAN IP address.

Of course, this port has to be open in the /etc/apache/httpd.conf file.

All is good now.

I hope to have explained enough so that others can follow how it was fixed and maybe get some benefit from my experience.

With kind regards,

Dr. Hood