Problem remote accessing service on a server

[b4u]

Hi,

I have a Windows Server 2003 SBS with one service up and running.

The OS installation is out of the box, with SP1 applied.

I have another machine, with Windows XP Professional, which has a program that tries to access the service.

I have an option to locate the service, where I'm told I have to put the machine name, example, SERVER001 (that is what the help info tells me). The default value is a dot "." which would refer to localhost machine, and that works if I have the service up and running in the local machine.

But I want to access the service on the server, which is named "server01". Now, when I put the name "server01", it just says it can't find it.

So what I'm thinking is if there is something on the Windows Server 2003 SBS that may be blocking a service access from remote machine, if so, where can I see/change it?

I first thought about windows firewall, but when I try to access it, I receive a message stating I can't run firewall because the service "Windows Firewall/ICS" is not running. So this is a straight Win2003 installation, and no firewall is running, so why can't I access the service from remote machine?

PS: This service is a proprietary software component, so I can't even point to or provide some info, this is really all I have.

So any tip on accessing service from remote machine, or is this even possible?

Thanks

 

[RebateMonger]

At first glance, your "it just says it can't find it" sounds like a name resolution issue.
1) Do you have name resolution from your SBS Server?
2) Is your remote PC blocking outgoing connections (3rd party firewall installed)?
You should be using SBS as your DHCP Server. And you should be using SBS your DNS Server FOR EVERY DEVICE IN YOUR OFFICE, including the SBS Server itself. There should be NO MENTION of any other DNS Server on any PC in your office.

If you DO have name resolution, then you can look at the services listening on your SBS server at the Command Prompt on your Server:

"netstat -ano"

will list all listening services, their PID, and what IP address and port they are using.

Looking at the PIDs, you can probably figure out which is the Service you are having problems with. The software maker certainly SHOULD be able to tell you what Port they use, too.

From the remote PC, you should be able to connect to the service from the Command Prompt:

"telnet server01 xx" ( where xx is the Port you are testing)

The response at the command prompt will indicate whether you were able to connect to the listening Service.

SBS 2003 doesn't install a firewall unless it's in 2-NIC mode.

 

[b4u]

Thank you for the tips.

The network is composed of 2 machines (Win2003SBS and WinXPPro) on VMWare, so no other machines are available.

When I access \\server01\some_shared_folder it works fine, so I can assume naming resolution is working.

Also I didn't look at DHCP nor DNS settings, as this is a initial installation, so I assumed everything is fine. But I'll check this.

For the tips on telnet-ing the port, I'll try to do that ... and see the result, thanks.

I'll also try to access inserting the IP, instead of server01.


Fingers Crossed ...


Thanks for help. Any more tips are welcome ...

 

[Nothinman]

When I access \\server01\some_shared_folder it works fine, so I can assume naming resolution is working.

That's a bad assumption, it could've located the other box via NetBIOS broadcasting which won't work for apps that use TCP/IP and expect DNS resolution to work.

You could try adding the machine to your hosts file if you don't want to setup DNS, but I'd personally just go straight to DNS since it's so simple to setup.

 

[RebateMonger]

Originally posted by: Nothinman
You could try adding the machine to your hosts file if you don't want to setup DNS, but I'd personally just go straight to DNS since it's so simple to setup.

SBS sets up DNS by default, so there's really no reason not to use it. And when PCs are joined to the SBS Domain via the "ConnectComputer" wizard, their networking properties are set automatically to use SBS's DNS server. It's REALLY hard to mess it up when using the wizards. (But I see it messed up all the time by people who should know better.)

 

[b4u]

Hi again,

What should be the best way to determine which port the service is listening on?

Stopping the service and starting, together with comparing the output from "netstat -ano" doesn't show me any differences that allow me to conclude on port usage.

For example, looking at:

Proto Local Address Foreign Address State PID
TCP 127.0.0.1:1117 127.0.0.1:1116 ESTABLISHED 3464

The process id would be 3464, but the port would be the Foreign Address one, in this case 1116?

Thanks

 

[RebateMonger]

If you stop a service that's listening on a given Port, you'll instantly see a change in the netstat -ano result.

The only time you won't see a change is when there's ANOTHER PROCESS that's listening to that same port, not allowing this new service access to the port. Only one process can control a TCP port. If there's something else already there, the new service won't "hear" anything.