//Hello All,//

Fresh install of current version of Synchronet. While I can connect with no problems to it when using an internal IP address, I can not connect if III use the external address presented by the router. I have added synchronet to the firewall rules, opened port 23 and even attempted to connect with the firewall disabled. Other "remote" operatuions, such as Teamviewer and Remote Utilities work with no problems

Any suggestions? Thanks: Thom LaCosta
--- WinPoint 415.0
* Origin: Another Random *WinPoint* Origin! (1:153/7715.25)
■ Synchronet ■ Vertrauen ■ Home of Synchronet ■ [vert/cvs/bbs].synchro.net

Re: Connection Refused
By: Thom LaCosta to All on Mon Feb 27 2023 06:44 am

> //Hello All,//
>
> Fresh install of current version of Synchronet. While I can connect with no
> problems to it when using an internal IP address, I can not connect if III
> use the external address presented by the router. I have added synchronet
> to the firewall rules, opened port 23 and even attempted to connect with the
> firewall disabled. Other "remote" operatuions, such as Teamviewer and
> Remote Utilities work with no problems
>
> Any suggestions? Thanks: Thom LaCosta

you need to trouble shooot it more. make sure you are using the correct settings. make sure your router is setup correctly. make sure you isp does not block that port

teamviewer works through a firewall, so that means nothing.
---
■ Synchronet ■ ::: BBSES.info - free BBS services :::

On 2/27/2023 06:44, Thom LaCosta wrote:
> //Hello All,//
>
> Fresh install of current version of Synchronet. While I can connect with no problems to it when using an internal IP address, I can not connect if III use the external address presented by the router. I have added synchronet to the firewall rules, opened port 23 and even attempted to connect with the firewall disabled. Other "remote" operatuions, such as Teamviewer and Remote Utilities work with no problems
>
> Any suggestions? Thanks: Thom LaCosta
> --- WinPoint 415.0
> * Origin: Another Random *WinPoint* Origin! (1:153/7715.25)
> � Synchronet � Vertrauen � Home of Synchronet � [vert/cvs/bbs].synchro.net

What is your external IP address?

---
� Synchronet � IPTIA - bbs2.ipingthereforeiam.com:2323

Re: Connection Refused
By: Thom LaCosta to All on Mon Feb 27 2023 06:44 am

> //Hello All,//
>
> Fresh install of current version of Synchronet. While I can connect with no
> problems to it when using an internal IP address, I can not connect if III
> use the external address presented by the router.

Are you trying to connect from the same computer as the BBS itself? That will only work (connecting to the public/WAN address) if your router/gateway support s hairpinning correctly. Does it?

> I have added synchronet
> to the firewall rules, opened port 23 and even attempted to connect with the
> firewall disabled. Other "remote" operatuions, such as Teamviewer and
> Remote Utilities work with no problems
>
> Any suggestions? Thanks: Thom LaCosta

Use tools like this to see if your ports are remotely accessible:
http://vert.synchro.net/scanmyports.ssjs
--
digital man (rob)

Sling Blade quote #20:
Doyle: Hey is this the kind of retard that drools and rubs shit in his hair?
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---
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Re: Connection Refused
By: Thom LaCosta to All on Mon Feb 27 2023 06:44 am

> Fresh install of current version of Synchronet. While I can connect with no
> problems to it when using an internal IP address, I can not connect if III
> use the external address presented by the router. I have added synchronet
> to the firewall rules, opened port 23 and even attempted to connect with the
> firewall disabled. Other "remote" operatuions, such as Teamviewer and
> Remote Utilities work with no problems

Have you by chance tried configuring a different port number for the BBS? Not sure what ISP you're using, but mine basically blocks all incoming traffic for common ports like 22 / 23 / 80 / 443.

---
■ Synchronet ■ 0xDECAFBAD - bbs.decafbad.com

Re: Connection Refused
By: Thom LaCosta to All on Mon Feb 27 2023 06:44 am

> Fresh install of current version of Synchronet. While I can connect with no problems to it when using an
> internal IP address, I can not connect if III use the external address presented by the router.
Your router should have an option for "Port Forwarding", so if you "telnet" to your external IP you need to make sure your router routes any requests for Port 23 (telnet://yourip) to the correct computer on your network.

If you're using SSH, that uses port 22 by default,. Rlogin is 513. The ports are listed. You should only open what you need and best to configure sbbs to listen for telnet on a non-normal port.

> I have added
> synchronet to the firewall rules, opened port 23 and even attempted to connect with the firewall disabled.
> Other "remote" operatuions, such as Teamviewer and Remote Utilities work with no problems

Your firewall just blocks stuff that gets to your computer. Your internet traffic is getting blocked by your router, and as stated, teamviewer uses an external server to route traffic past your router, and is insecure as "eff". Seriously, delete that shit.

Good tool for checking to make sure your local network has the right ports open (and none you don't want open) is http://nmap.org, but this won't help you get traffic from outside your network.

What DM suggested using "scanmyports.ssjs" from your BBS system is what you want to do.

Also keep in mind sometimes ISPs just block Ports because it's easier than dealing with rampent compromised systems and unprotected smtp relaying.

---
■ Synchronet ■ Shodan's Core @ ShodansCore.com

Re: Connection Refused
By: Thom LaCosta to All on Mon Feb 27 2023 06:44:05

TL> Fresh install of current version of Synchronet. While I can connect with
TL> no problems to it when using an internal IP address, I can not connect if
TL> III use the external address presented by the router. I have added
TL> synchronet to the firewall rules, opened port 23 and even attempted to

Are you using the external IP from inside your network? That could be an issue with your router configuration that doesn't allow return connections in that way.

Aside: If you're on a residential (especially cable) internet provider connection, many/most providers block common server ports from inbound connections. Try a higher/alternate port, such as 2323 and see if that works instead... you can probably just change the port forward in your router to listen on 2323 and forward to the host on 23, so you don't need to change the BBS's config.


--
Michael J. Ryan
+o roughneckbbs.com
tracker1@roughneckbbs.com

---
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Re: Connection Refused
By: Digital Man to Thom LaCosta on Mon Feb 27 2023 10:50:17

DM> Use tools like this to see if your ports are remotely accessible:
DM> http://vert.synchro.net/scanmyports.ssjs

Might be worth looking up both ipv4 and ipv6 addresses... I setup https://ipv4.bbs.land and https://ipv6.bbs.land to return the requesting IP, and added appropriate CORS headers so that it can be called from any domain inside a browser.


--
Michael J. Ryan
+o roughneckbbs.com
tracker1@roughneckbbs.com

---
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On 03-01-23 07:02, Tracker1 mumbled to Thom LaCosta about Connection Refused.

Tr> Aside: If you're on a residential (especially cable) internet
Tr> provider connection, many/most providers block common server ports
Tr> from inbound connections. Try a higher/alternate port, such as 2323
Tr> and see if that works instead... you can probably just change the
Tr> port forward in your router to listen on 2323 and forward to the host
Tr> on 23, so you don't need to change the BBS's config.

Sorry to hijack. I may have this same problem. Port 23 is not letting traffic
in. I know all routers are different, but in a generic way, how do you do this?

Grease
Supreme High Potentate
Dark Matter BBS

.... A cat is always on the wrong side of the door!
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Re: Re: Connection Refused
By: Grease to Tracker1 on Wed Mar 01 2023 05:28 pm

Gr> Sorry to hijack. I may have this same problem. Port 23 is not letting
Gr> traffic in. I know all routers are different, but in a generic way, how do
Gr> you do this?

If port 23 isn't letting people through, maybe your ISP is blocking that port, I'd guess.

Nightfox

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Re: Re: Connection Refused
By: Grease to Tracker1 on Wed Mar 01 2023 05:28 pm

> Sorry to hijack. I may have this same problem. Port 23 is not letting
> traffic in. I know all routers are different, but in a generic way, how do
> you do this?
>

hahaha

portforward.com probably
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-=> Nightfox wrote to Grease <=-

Ni> If port 23 isn't letting people through, maybe your ISP is blocking
Ni> that port, I'd guess.

I hope not. It's bad enough having ISPs blanket-block SMTP, if they
start blocking telnet that would really suck.

.... All of my certifications are self-signed.
--- MultiMail/Win v0.52
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Re: Re: Connection Refused
By: poindexter FORTRAN to Nightfox on Thu Mar 02 2023 05:51 am

> -=> Nightfox wrote to Grease <=-
>
> Ni> If port 23 isn't letting people through, maybe your ISP is blocking
> Ni> that port, I'd guess.
>
> I hope not. It's bad enough having ISPs blanket-block SMTP, if they
> start blocking telnet that would really suck.
>
>

i can understand why they would block it. if you have residential you should not be running servers.
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Re: Re: Connection Refused
By: MRO to poindexter FORTRAN on Thu Mar 02 2023 03:14 pm

> Ni>> If port 23 isn't letting people through, maybe your ISP is
> Ni>> blocking that port, I'd guess.

>> I hope not. It's bad enough having ISPs blanket-block SMTP, if they
>> start blocking telnet that would really suck.

MR> i can understand why they would block it. if you have residential you
MR> should not be running servers.

Why is that? Running a BBS is just a hobby for us, and our BBS is technically a server.

The only reason I can think why we "shouldn't run servers" with residential internet is because ISPs would want to make more money by charging more for "business" internet service, which doesn't have the restrictions that their residential internet service has.

Nightfox

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■ Synchronet ■ Digital Distortion: digitaldistortionbbs.com

-=> MRO wrote to poindexter FORTRAN <=-

> Ni> If port 23 isn't letting people through, maybe your ISP is blocking
> Ni> that port, I'd guess.

> I hope not. It's bad enough having ISPs blanket-block SMTP, if they
> start blocking telnet that would really suck.

MR> i can understand why they would block it. if you have residential
MR> you should not be running servers.

Why not?

.... Press any key to continue or any other key to quit
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Re: Re: Connection Refused
By: Nightfox to MRO on Thu Mar 02 2023 03:45 pm

> >> I hope not. It's bad enough having ISPs blanket-block SMTP, if they
> >> start blocking telnet that would really suck.
>
> MR> i can understand why they would block it. if you have residential
>
> MR> you
> MR> should not be running servers.
>
> Why is that? Running a BBS is just a hobby for us, and our BBS is
> technically a server.

because what you are buying isnt intended to be used in that way.
that's why some isps block ports. that's why most of the residential ips are
on spam block lists. so you cant spam people by running an email SERVER at home.

i had some clown [foxriver.net] report me as a spammer when he signed up for my email mailing list. my isp investigated me and saw that i wasn't running anything commercial so they flagged my account as being okay.

not only THAT, but what he reported was on a commercial hosted server. i had an unrelated bbs running at home.

anyways, if you are running a server you probably should buy business internet access.

that's the way it is.

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Re: Re: Connection Refused
By: MRO to Nightfox on Thu Mar 02 2023 06:16 pm

>> Why is that? Running a BBS is just a hobby for us, and our BBS is
>> technically a server.

MR> because what you are buying isnt intended to be used in that way.
MR> that's why some isps block ports. that's why most of the residential ips
MR> are on spam block lists. so you cant spam people by running an email
MR> SERVER at home.

MR> anyways, if you are running a server you probably should buy business
MR> internet access.

My BBS is a hobby. I'm not running a business from home.

Nightfox

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Re: Re: Connection Refused
By: Nightfox to MRO on Thu Mar 02 2023 07:16 pm

>
> MR> anyways, if you are running a server you probably should buy business
> MR> internet access.
>
> My BBS is a hobby. I'm not running a business from home.
>

yeah but you are providing services to other people and doing something out of the norm. so that's how they see it.
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Re: Re: Connection Refused
By: MRO to poindexter FORTRAN on Thu Mar 02 2023 03:14 pm

> Ni>> If port 23 isn't letting people through, maybe your ISP is
> Ni>> blocking that port, I'd guess.

>> I hope not. It's bad enough having ISPs blanket-block SMTP, if they
>> start blocking telnet that would really suck.

MR> i can understand why they would block it. if you have residential you
MR> should not be running servers.

Lots of ISPs do it for "security". There are a lot of old wifi routers out there that just allowed telnet access via the public IP, and most people didn't change the default login.

DaiTengu

....Sometimes a cigar is just a cigar.

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Re: Re: Connection Refused
By: Nightfox to MRO on Thu Mar 02 2023 03:45 pm

> Ni>>> If port 23 isn't letting people through, maybe your ISP is
> Ni>>> blocking that port, I'd guess.

>>> I hope not. It's bad enough having ISPs blanket-block SMTP, if
>>> they start blocking telnet that would really suck.

MR>> i can understand why they would block it. if you have residential
MR>> you should not be running servers.

Ni> Why is that? Running a BBS is just a hobby for us, and our BBS is
Ni> technically a server.

Ni> The only reason I can think why we "shouldn't run servers" with
Ni> residential internet is because ISPs would want to make more money by
Ni> charging more for "business" internet service, which doesn't have the
Ni> restrictions that their residential internet service has.

ISPs have been blocking ports for years. The public line is that it's "for security". Lots of old wifi routers left port 23 open with a default login/pass. SMTP is disallowed because an ISP doesn't want to risk having their IP address space associated with spam.

I get quite a few bots/worms trying to log into my BBS every day on port 23, so I guess I can see why they would want to do this.

Some ISPs will also block 80, 443, 21, 22, and 53 as well.

Those are the ISPs That will then try to upsell you to business class to get those ports unblocked.

DaiTengu

....Distrust your first impressions; they are invariably too favorable.

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Re: Re: Connection Refused
By: DaiTengu to Nightfox on Fri Mar 03 2023 10:57 am

> ISPs have been blocking ports for years. The public line is that it's "for
> security". Lots of old wifi routers left port 23 open with a default
> login/pass. SMTP is disallowed because an ISP doesn't want to risk having
> their IP address space associated with spam.
>
> I get quite a few bots/worms trying to log into my BBS every day on port 23,
> so I guess I can see why they would want to do this.
>
> Some ISPs will also block 80, 443, 21, 22, and 53 as well.
>
> Those are the ISPs That will then try to upsell you to business class to get
> those ports unblocked.
>

their points are valid. i've talked to techs at my isp who weren't dumb asses about it. when you finally get forwarded to a local number from the indians.

with me they were okay with me running a website and the other stuff because it was free. i dont think they knew i had email and forwarded through them.

but i understand their side. especially from a security standpoint. hobbyst users usually don't know how to safeguard their system. some don't even know how to open a port. there was a guy that was on dovenet for years that could never figure out how to forward his router correctly. he asked many times.
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Re: Re: Connection Refused
By: DaiTengu to Nightfox on Fri Mar 03 2023 10:57 am

Da> ISPs have been blocking ports for years.
Da> SMTP is disallowed because an ISP doesn't want to risk having
Da> their IP address space associated with spam.

I'm aware.

Da> The public line is that it's "for
Da> security". Lots of old wifi routers left port 23 open with a default
Da> login/pass.

What would you be telnetting to (what was port 23 open to)? The router itself? I could see a router providing access to a command-line for administration, but it would probably be best on a non-standard port, and probably not open to the public.
I've seen some 3rd-party router firmware have an option to allow remote configuration via its web interface though.. I had a router with Tomato firmware that had an option for that. You could disable it though so it would only be available via your internal network.

Da> I get quite a few bots/worms trying to log into my BBS every day on port
Da> 23, so I guess I can see why they would want to do this.

I know some ISPs block certain ports, but at least since I started running Synchronet in 2007, I haven't had an ISP that blocked port 23 or the other standard ports (except maybe SMTP).

Nightfox

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Re: Re: Connection Refused
By: Grease to Tracker1 on Wed Mar 01 2023 17:28:00

Tr>> Aside: If you're on a residential (especially cable) internet
Tr>> provider connection, many/most providers block common server ports
Tr>> from inbound connections. Try a higher/alternate port, such as 2323
Tr>> and see if that works instead... you can probably just change the
Tr>> port forward in your router to listen on 2323 and forward to the
Tr>> host on 23, so you don't need to change the BBS's config.

Gr> Sorry to hijack. I may have this same problem. Port 23 is not letting
Gr> traffic in. I know all routers are different, but in a generic way, how do
Gr> you do this?

I'd just use 2323 for telnet, if that was my main interest. In your router, where you configure port forwarding, just change the listening port to 2323, and the destination ip/port to your internal address, and port 23. You can usually configure both separately.

If you are comfortable with Linux, I'd suggest using a VPS host. This is what I'm actually running on myself (4gb linux host on DigitalOcean, but there are less expensive options). If you really want to run locally, you can use a gateway service like ngrok, which will route an accessible IP to your internal system for use.


--
Michael J. Ryan
+o roughneckbbs.com
tracker1@roughneckbbs.com

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Re: Re: Connection Refused
By: poindexter FORTRAN to Nightfox on Thu Mar 02 2023 05:51:00

Ni>> If port 23 isn't letting people through, maybe your ISP is blocking
Ni>> that port, I'd guess.

PF> I hope not. It's bad enough having ISPs blanket-block SMTP, if they
PF> start blocking telnet that would really suck.

I'm not aware of any ISP blocking outbound port 23... most cable internet providers block inbound though. I know a lot of ISPs do block outbound port 25, but most mail providers have TLS/Submit open for authenticated smtp use.


--
Michael J. Ryan
+o roughneckbbs.com
tracker1@roughneckbbs.com

---
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Re: Re: Connection Refused
By: Nightfox to MRO on Thu Mar 02 2023 15:45:08

Ni> The only reason I can think why we "shouldn't run servers" with
Ni> residential internet is because ISPs would want to make more money by
Ni> charging more for "business" internet service, which doesn't have the
Ni> restrictions that their residential internet service has.

That generally seems to be the case... and for the price difference, at least for me... it's cheaper to just pay for a VPS to run the BBS on separately.


--
Michael J. Ryan
+o roughneckbbs.com
tracker1@roughneckbbs.com

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