Topic: Port 80 Blocking

[Greg Lumpkin]

I have an SME 5.0 server installed at my home on a Comcast @Home cable Internet connection.  It is set up as "server only" behind a Linksys Cable/DSL Router.  With port forwarding set on the router, I can access the FTP, mail, and the default web page if I type in https://, but since Comcast blocks port 80, I cannot get to my home page by using the default www.whatever.com.

Does anyone have a workaround for this?  Can I modify a file on the server to listen to another port other than 80?  Will this even work?

Thanks.

[Greg Lumpkin]

I've been reading other posts on this site and found that it isn't an uncommon thing.  It appears that most broadband suppliers want to prohibit individuals from having web servers at their homes.  It seems that the Code Red worm scared them silly.  Whatever.

I think I've found some instructions in other posts to make Apache listen to other ports for http requets.  If that works, I'll just forward whatever port I designate in Apache to the outside and see what happens.

As a side note, I called EarthLink for a price and availability on their DSL service.  They do not block port 80, but they do block port 25.  So it's a trade off I guess.  If I stay with Comcast (assuming they stay around), then I need to find some way to get around port 80.  If I go with EarthLink, I can't use SMTP.

Oh well...

[jeroen]

Dunno much about a Linksys router, but maybe it's possible to forward let's say port 8000 on the outside to port 80 on the inside? That way you don't have to change anything on your e-smith box.

good luck

[Ralph]

Absolutely will work. I have a Linksys BEFSR41 router and I forward the port to 3500 but you can also use 8000 or whatever suits your fancy. Here's what you need to do. First read about how to make templates on your e-smith server. Make a template model for httpd.conf and modify the 2 fragments "05Port" and "35Listen80". Just change each instance of 80 to whatever port you would like to use, you could also copy and paste another line in the listen fragment with the new port to make Apache still listen to port 80 on your local network. Restart httpd or reboot. You can always check to see if you did it right by viewing the "real" /etc/httpd/httpd.conf and port and listen lines should now say 3500. Hope this helps.
Ralph