Topic: internet access problem

[Hugo Snellen]

Hi,

I have setup an SME 5.5 in my LAN .. perfect.
The SME hands out the IP adresses to the lan clients, perfect.
There is one fixed IP 192.168.0.1 which runs WIN XP with a proxy server for the other clients to access internet, perfect?
I cannot get the SME to find the web through this proxy, not perfect.
What am I doing wrong in the SME setup? The SME asks for a proxy / internet acces two times during the setup, I do not really understand the different questions.
All advice is welcome!
regards,
Hugo Snellen

[Samantha]

Have you set up SME as server only ?

Its a bit negative by how about getting SME to handle the internet connection...then you have proxy, firewall and stability

[Hugo Snellen]

I prefer not to have my company server directly on the www!
I also like to use some WIN programs to control my ISDN card as fax and answering machine!

[robert]

i reckon Sam has a point

and if you dont use SME for the things it does...
how can you expect it to do the things you want,
when it isnt in control of the things you want.

gee i stay away from microsoft - its fickle
(for .fr - vague ; unreliable/dont-know-how-to-checkout)
 
use SME for what it does: make it not do it and who knows

kind regards Rob

[Bob Todd]

I'm not going to get into the Windows/Linux is best argument but in my opinion I'd rather rely on SME for my web proxy for network security than an XP machine running proxy software.

I assume you've setup SME in Private server mode - if not then you should have with your configuration - will allow you to have e-mail services etc within your network. You then need to make sure that your "external" nic IP address on the SME server can see the XP proxy IP so ideally you want them both on the same subnet. During install you'd then set the SME external proxy to be the XP box and you could have your clients on a different subnet with their IE/Netscape proxy set to the SME box. So path for internet traffic from a client would be

client-->SME proxy-->XP Proxy-->ISDN-->Internet

Sounds messy and overly complex - maybe someone else has a better idea but its Friday and my head hurts so I'm off home now

Also there is info available on setting up SME to handle fax server software so theres no excuse in that for not running your ISDN card with your SME box.

Bob

[Hugo Snellen]

Thanks Bob,

I guess you're right, but its Friday and give it some more intensive thought this weekend. I still wonder if if it is not better to leave web access to a separate
(linux) machine for safety reasons; my company server directly on the web?? Regards, Hugo

[Hugo Snellen]

Thanks Bob,

I guess you're right, but its Friday and give it some more intensive thought this weekend. I still wonder if if it is not better to leave web access to a separate
(linux) machine for safety reasons; my company server directly on the web?? Regards, Hugo

[Ray Mitchell]

Hugo
I think this may be the right thing to do here, but I stand to be corrected by those more knowledgeable if I have it wrong. I don't see why you cannot use a Win XP box as a internet gateway if you really want to, other than potential security issues.

On your sme setup make your sme Local IP = 192.168.0.2
ie the configuration screen asks "Please enter the local IP address for this server. You must have an address that is not in use by any other computer on this network".

Make your subnet mask on ALL machines (servers & workstations) = 255.255.255.0 or something else if you prefer/need to.

On your sme setup make the gateway IP = 192.168.0.1 (the IP of the Win XP box)
I think the question in the configuration setup is "Specify gateway IP address this server should use to access the Internet".

On your sme setup make your firewall IP = 192.168.0.1 (the IP of the Win XP box)
I think the question is "Specify an IP address here if there is a firewall between this server and Internet".

Test internet access in the server console panel, it should be successful if all is well. Try ping 192.168.0.1 to see if the sme can see the Win XP.

When I have setup 2 sme servers on one network it is important to have the IP's in the correct range etc.
Usually the server connected to the internet is say local IP 192.168.5.1
The second sme server (in server only mode) local IP would be 192.168.5.2
The second server gateway IP would be 192.168.65.1
and the second server firewall IP would be 192.168.65.1
Second server DHCP =Off
Proxy=No

Hopefully this will steer you in the right direction.
Regards
Ray Mitchell

[Ray Mitchell]

Whoops I just read my post and noticed a couple of typos, so I'll post it all again with corrections to a couple of IP's.

Author: Ray Mitchell (mitchellcpa_AT_yahoo.com.au)
Date:   11-16-02 06:21

Hugo
I think this may be the right thing to do here, but I stand to be corrected by those more knowledgeable if I have it wrong. I don't see why you cannot use a Win XP box as a internet gateway if you really want to, other than potential security issues.

On your sme setup make your sme Local IP = 192.168.0.2
ie the configuration screen asks "Please enter the local IP address for this server. You must have an address that is not in use by any other computer on this network".

Make your subnet mask on ALL machines (servers & workstations) = 255.255.255.0 or something else if you prefer/need to.

On your sme setup make the gateway IP = 192.168.0.1 (the IP of the Win XP box)
I think the question in the configuration setup is "Specify gateway IP address this server should use to access the Internet".

On your sme setup make your firewall IP = 192.168.0.1 (the IP of the Win XP box)
I think the question is "Specify an IP address here if there is a firewall between this server and Internet".

Test internet access in the server console panel, it should be successful if all is well. Try ping 192.168.0.1 to see if the sme can see the Win XP.

When I have setup 2 sme servers on one network it is important to have the IP's in the correct range etc.
Usually the server connected to the internet is say local IP 192.168.5.1
The second sme server (in server only mode) local IP would be 192.168.5.2
The second server gateway IP would be 192.168.5.1
and the second server firewall IP would be 192.168.5.1
Second server DHCP =Off
Proxy=No

Hopefully this will steer you in the right direction.
Regards
Ray Mitchell

[Hugo Snellen]

The direction seems ok!
SME looks for servertest.e-smith.com through the XP proxy.
The proxy servers as DNS and returns the url 216.191.234.125 but then nothing happens and SME claims a test failure.
Hugo

[Ray Mitchell]

Hugo

What is subnet mask on Win XP box ?

What is subnet mask on sme box ?

What is Local IP on sme box ?

Regards
Ray

[Hugo Snellen]

XP:
IP 192.168.0.1
SUB 255.255.255.0
DNS ON

SME:
IP 192.168.0.100
SUB255.25.255.0

I

[Hugo Snellen]

More info on my problem:

XP Proxy:
IP 192.168.0.1
SUB 255.255.255.0
DNS ON

SME:
IP 192.168.0.100
SUB255.25.255.0

When running the server test to the www my proxy gives the following info:
.
10:37:39 am NS: 192.168.0.100 searching for servertest.e-smith.com
10:37:39 am NS: 'servertest.e-smith.com' --> 216.191.234.125

EMS stays waiting for definite connection and gives fail message after some minutes.

ANY IDEAS ?

regards,
Hugo Snellen

[Ray Mitchell]

Hugo

> XP Proxy:
> IP 192.168.0.1
> SUB 255.255.255.0
> DNS ON
>
> SME:
> IP 192.168.0.100
> SUB255.25.255.0

I 'm guessing that this is a typo here, the subnets should be the same.
Your sme box says SUB255.25.255.0 which is different to the Win XP box ??

From my earlier post, when you redo the configuration for your sme server, for the answer to "Specify gateway IP address this server should use to access the Internet" do you enter 192.168.0.1 ?

and for the answer to "Specify an IP address here if there is a firewall between this server and Internet" do you enter 192.168.0.1 ?

Regards
Ray Mitchell

[Hugo Snellen]

Hello Ray,

Youre right it's a typo the submasks are the same.
Indeed I respond to BOTH questions with the 192.168.0.1
Something strange I have noticed:
SME is configured as server ONLY but a config check tells me to be both server AND gataway. Manual reconfig does not change this....
regards,
hugo