Connection problems from inside LAN

Hi. I've got a server on my home computer (Subversion in this case - but what server/port it is doesn't matter for this problem). My home network just consists of an ADSL router, my computer, and my laptop.

I can connect to the server remotely no problem. If I try and connect to the server from within the network (from either the laptop or the computer which is running the server software), then I get ...

"No connection could be made because the target machine actively refused it."

I can connect to the server from my main machine okay if I replace the ip address with "localhost".

I've tried checking my logs on my router - and it's not reporting anything going in or out of the LAN. I've tried disabling all firewalls on my computer. Nothing makes a difference.

Any ideas what's happening?

Cheers for any info,

- Dan

Reply to
Dan
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sounds like a DNS issue to me...

RedForeman

Reply to
RedForeman

Are there any tests I can do to see if it is a DNS issue? Or any ideas on what I can try to fix it?

Thanks again,

- Dan

Reply to
Dan

Well... not really tests, just document your settings and keep them consistent...

if your DSL modem is doing DHCP, then leave it to do that....

typical settings DSL Router Settings WAN IP XXX.XXX.XXX.XXX LAN IP 192.168.1.1 DHCP pool of 192.168.1.10-25 DNS - point to external DNS of ISP(call ISP and ask what DNS addresses they use.)

Internal PCs should have IPs of 192.168.1.10-25, subnet 255.255.255.0, gateway 192.168.1.1, DNS could be either your 192.168.1.1, or your external DNS provided by your ISP.... Most Routers will have 2 entries for DNS... both should be external. Your internal clients should use 1, the routers internal address(192.168.1.1) and 2, the external address provided by your ISP....

RedForeman

Reply to
RedForeman

To prove it is a DNS issue, you first test connectivity by using the ip address in place of the name. If you connect using ip address and fail using the correct name, you know you have a DNS issue.

Of course it is a bit hard getting ip address when DNS is dead. You might want to get some ip address for testing before you have a dns outage.

It is also handy to have a third party to look up an ip address. Say

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Linux stores DNS resolver ip addresses in /etc/resolv.conf Your ISP provides those addresses as part of a DHCP lease.

If you like you could add a third entry of a free Public DNS ip to your list of DNS servers which gives you a fallback if the ISP's servers fail.

Downside of keeping a hardcopy of ip addresses, is they might change. You can solve that problem by having a batch/cron job check them and mail you a message when it sees a change.

No knowledge of scripting language.

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Reply to
Bit Twister

Using the IP address, I get exactly the same error. Does this mean that it's not a DNS issue? If not, any other ideas?

Reply to
Dan

Which IP address do you use?

PLease give a bit more description of your network.

Does the server have an internal address, which is different from the external? If yes and you try to use the external address from within the local network, that may not work, depending on the router you use.

Cheers, Jens

Reply to
Jens Hoffmann

I used the router's external IP address. On my laptop, I need to use the external ip because I could be using it on the LAN - but I could also be using it remotely too.

My router has an external ip and an internal ip. The internal ip is

192.168.0.1. It also has DHCP enabled. My main computer (which is the server), has an ip of 192.168.0.2. This is static, as I have ports mapped going externally to this computer - so I don't want the IP to change. The router's DHCP range goes from 192.168.0.3 to 192.168.0.99. My laptop uses DHCP - but is normally 192.168.0.3.

This may be the problem then. Do you know why this won't work? And if there's any workarounds?

Reply to
Dan

Hi,

Most Routers do not like to send a packet back the same way they received it. Usually this situation hints at loops, which are not very healthy in most situations.

In the local network simply use the local address. If you want to use a name (careful, confusion ahead!) then try to tinker with the name resolution. Split DNS comes to mind (careful, confusion ahead).

You might succeed with entries in the local host file, but (did I tell you about confusion?) if you move your laptop to the outside, you will have to manually change the entries.

Cheers, Jens

Reply to
Jens Hoffmann

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