I just made a little chat programm with a server and a client in java. The client needs to connect to the server with the ip of the server. All my testing I did with the localhost (127.0.0.1) and everything went fine, but when I tested it later on with a friend of mine, I had to notice that if I put my ip address (I run the server, he runs the client) that it doesn't work.
Is there a way to set up a private little server on my pc to run my server on, or maybe another way to get it working?
EDIT:
Just found a tool called "Apache" to set up your own server, could that might be helpful?
EDIT: When I say it doesnt work I mean I get an IOException, because this fails:
public void connectToServer() throws IOException{
showMessage("Attemption to connect...");
connection = new Socket(InetAddress.getByName(serverIP), 6789);
showMessage("\nConnected to: " + connection.getInetAddress().getHostName());
}
There is a whole host of things that you need to look at before your application will work.
Firewalls on both ends (and anti-virus applications) need to allow
the programs to communicate
Your ISP needs to allow messages to be sent via your designated ports
Your router (and the clients) need to not-filter these messages.
As a start, see if you can ping each others IP addresses and take it from there.
I recommend you first try and disable your firewall. If you are using windows, here is the instruction for turning off windows firewall: Turn Windows Firewall on or off
If you are testing with someone outside of your local network, you may need to setup NAT on the router of the person hosting the server. You can access the router by typing in it's local IP address in the web browser. This is usually something like 192.168.1.1 or 192.168.1.254 but it will depend on the model and network setup.
Once you have connected you should find an option (usually under advanced) for "NAT" or "Port Forwarding". I suggest you do a google search with the router model and how to setup port forwarding.
You also need to be aware that some ISPs will block certain ports. I suggest testing on a common port such as port 80 (HTTP) since it's unlikely an ISP will block this (be aware that you will need to disable Skype or any local web servers to test this)
Related
I developed an application in my home machine. Now I want to show application that i made to client through WAN. I have TP-Link WiFi router at my home. Is it possible using port forwarding or other solution ?
Yes, you can use port forwarding to make your application accessible from the Internet. Essentially, what you want to do is redirect traffic coming into your public IP on port 80 to the internal machine running tomcat on port 8080.
There are public guides available for configuring port forwarding on different routers.
Edit: Port forwarding however might not be the only problem. There are other things to consider:
1. You should use a static external IP and map it to a DNS name, so users will be able to access the site by typing the name in the address bar.
2. You should make sure that the machine running tomcat allows external connections to port 8080, so these aren't blocked by the firewall.
First of all, i am a newbie in network programming. Few days ago, i wanted to test a simple java server(simple java echo server). I first tried running it in a university computer and then tried connecting through my laptop which is in a different network without any success. I assumed the network(private university network) didn't allow the connection. Next, i ran the server in my laptop expecting it to be public. I ran the server. I ran it in port 5000. Since the connection was through wifi i also did port forwarding so that my router would know where to forward the incoming requests. I even disabled the firewall just to test. Then there is a tool in the internet which i obtained from some other user in stackoverflow http://www.yougetsignal.com/tools/open-ports/ which can check if a port is open in a machine. I put my ipaddress and port number to see if it is reachable. It continued saying the port is closed. Although i don't have a good idea about networks, i called the ISP and asked if the issue was with the network being a private network and if it is possible to host server in my laptop, she concurred saying it was private network and what i am trying to do is not possible. I wanted to try it in some other computer. I met one good guy in stackoverflow who allowed me to run the server in his computer in taiwan. He disabled his firewall or added an exception, then ran the server. I then ran my client and it could successfully connect to his server. I was ecstatic.
So, my question and curiosity is how does isp blocking incoming connection work? Did the ISP really block the incoming connection to my server or could the problem be with some other things? Is it ever possible to host server in my laptop which is accessible to the world. I am still not content with the answer i got from the ISP which was it was private network so it was blocking..isn't internet basically the collection of private networks connected to each other so isn't everyone in one way or other part of a private network? Please help me with these dilemmas. Appreciate your effort and help a lot! :)
Your house probably has one global external IP assigned to you by your ISP. They will normally block commonly used ports incoming, such as 80 (HTTP), 22 (SSH), 23 (Telnet), 25 (SMTP), and 443 (HTTPS). The majority of the remaining ports should be open for you to use.
As you have one global IP, and multiple devices on your network, you need to tell your router which computer the incoming traffic on a given port needs to go to. This is called Port Forwarding. As you don't control the routers upstream from you at your university, you can't change anything while there. At home you can.
Port Forwarding is explained in depth here.
I suppose it depends on the ISP. I have been able to open ports before with mine, using port forwarding from my router.
As a technician who works for an ISP, I can also say that the tech support generally doesn't have a clue whenbit comes to port blocking or networking in general, they mostly follow a script and ask you if you have turned it off and on again. Maybe check that you are forwarding the port correctly?
I created a Battleship game in Java to work with Sockets and ServerSockets. The game works fine on LAN, but I would like to be able to play against someone on a completely different network. I understand port forwarding would be necessary, but would I have to forward the port on every client that is playing the game? Or would it only be necessary to forward the port on the router the server is using? Thanks.
Port forwarding is only required on the server. Any packets bound for the client will be auto-forwarded from the initial request thanks to the action on many NATs.
So, you only need to forward the port on the server. If using Socket and ServerSocket you need to forward TCP if your router gives you the choice. If using DatagramSockets, forward UDP at either of the endpoints.
(if you had to forward on clients, you most likely wouldn't have been reading this page without forwarding port 80)
To elaborate on what #hexafraction is saying, here's what you can do:
Build a server that any client can connect to. Clients can generally connect to anything they want. Firewalls usually place restrictions on information that can flow in, but not flow out. So if the clients know the server to connect to, they can connect to it without modifying their firewall and then the server will coordinate transferring the data between the clients.
I did this and all I had to do was forward the port I was using in my router to my local I.P. address. If you don't know your local ip address run a command prompt (assuming your using windows ) and run ipconfig to figure it out. If your at home using a wireless router access it by browser to 192.168.1.1 Hope this helps!
I made application with java using socket. My computer is the server and my phone(android ) is the client. Only what i trying to do is to forward String from phone to client PC.
Everything works fine when i configure my router and open the port i using. i don't want every time when costumer will install my application will need to open port in the router.
I thought about using remote server that will run my server code. but i didn't find server that can do that . i don't want to make my pc a server for all costumers.
How does all the chats companies do it without open port?
You must look into UPnP. This is what /most/ if not /all/ torrent clients use to allow foreign connections, without forwarding ports. How chat clients do it is a different scenario. They use hacks such as firewall hole-punching using UDP (with an external server) http://www.h-online.com/security/features/How-Skype-Co-get-round-firewalls-747197.html see this link for details on UDP hole punching.
Also see this article http://www.codeproject.com/Articles/13285/Using-UPnP-for-Programmatic-Port-Forwardings-and-N for usage of UPnP. But this is in C++, but I think you will understand.
EDIT: http://4thline.org/projects/cling/ I found this. I think it can help you.
You had to open port probably because of your routers firewall :). If you already opened let us say port 9090 then every client app (android phone) will be able to connect to it :). Of course if somebody wants to install server on their own pc they would problably forward some ports and disable some firewalls. If you want server with no special requriements lookup VPS'es. :)
I created a small chat program, that works flawlessly when client & server are run on the same computer (and probably network, too).
However, as soon as I try to connect to another computer over the internet, the socket connection simply times out.
Is this because of firewalls / routers, etc?
And how can I connect a ServerSocket & Socket over the internet?
However, as soon as I try to connect to another computer over the internet, the socket connection simply times out. Is this because of firewalls / routers, etc?
Yes, most likely. You're running into the NAT problem: essentially, the same externally visible IP address maps to many internally visible endpoints, and external endpoint doesn't know which internal endpoint to give your socket request to.
The easiest way around this is to have both your clients connect to a third party which both of them can see, and then have the third party mediate the communication. This is how most instant-messaging protocols work, for example.
If you have no way to control a third-party entity like that, an alternative to directly connect two clients is to have both clients open up an agreed-upon port, and then map communications on that port to their own internal endpoint. This provides the missing link that the externally visible endpoint (e.g. your home router) needs to deliver the communication to its intended destination.
If your server is behind a NAT router box (and most home computers are, especially if you use WiFi), then it won't be reachable from the outside unless you set up your router to port forward to that server.
What's the IP of your server computer? If it's 192.168.x.x or 10.x.x.x, then it's a non-routable address and can't be reached from outside.
Assuming with running on the same computer you mean that you tell the client the server is at 127.0.0.1 / localhost, it shouldn't be a problem in your code but because of firewalls or routers. If your server is behind a router performing masquerading (i.e., the server doesn't have a public but private IP address like 192.168.x.y for instance), you have to configure the router to pass a connection from the internet to the computer running the server.
Another reason why it doesn't work might be the way you bind your server to the interface. If you specify 127.0.0.1 there, the server will only listen for requests coming from the same system. If you don't specify an address, it will listen on all interfaces.
Edit Your comment indicates that you indeed have the NAT problem like others said. Configuring your router accordingly is probably the easiest solution.
First, test to see if it really works on a LAN; it sounds like you're just assuming it does.
If it works on your local network, perhaps it's failing because the server lacks a public IP, and is running behind a NAT'ing router.