Web hosting behind a router

[Lonestar567]

I'm trying to host a website behind my router.
I've forwarded the port 80 to the internal IP (192.168.1.6)
but no luck
I've forwarded the ext. port 80 to internal port 81 in the router...
no luck
Finally, i DMZed to 192.168.1.6
and it worked.
I don't understand what could be wrong.

-Any ideas?

 

[ToeJam13]

I've forwarded the port 80 to the internal IP (192.168.1.6) but no luck. I've forwarded the ext. port 80 to internal port 81 in the router... no luck. Finally, i DMZed to 192.168.1.6 and it worked. I don't understand what could be wrong.

It sounds like you had everything correct for the single port NAT. What kind of Internet Router/Personal Firewall are you using?

Double check that both your external listening port and internal target port are both set to TCP port 80.

If your firewall has any kind of filters or access control lists (ACLs), make sure they allow inbound TCP port 80. It could be that setting an internal server to be the DMZ address bypasses these filters, whereas a single port NAT does not.

Try using a client that's on the external side of your firewall to test. When you use a client on the internal side of your firewall to access the external NAT you created, you're attempting to do what's called a "NAT bounce-back". Some Internet Routers and Personal Firewalls aren't smart enough to handle this, and flake out.

 

[Lonestar567]

The router i'm using is a Linksys BEFSR41 (ver.1 or 2 - not sure)

Had a question about the internal and external both listening to port 80.
Shouldn't the external listen to 80 and then the internal listen to 81 since i told the server computer to listen to that port.
The only reason i did this was because i heard from a friend that they couldnt' get their server to work unless they did that.

I'm not aware of any Filter or ACL's running on the router with the exception of one.
There is an option to "Block WAN requests" and its enabled.
I read it and it said it makes external requests to get data impossible. This seems like it may be masking my port forwarding. Any ideas?

Thanks ToeJam13

 

[ToeJam13]

Here is a snippit from your Linksys manual:

PORT RANGE FORWARDING

If you need to forward all ports to one PC, click the DMZ tab.

If you need to forward an individual port to different PCs, complete the following fields:

Application: Enter the name of the application.

Start and End: Enter the number or range of external ports(s) used by the server or Internet application. Check with the Internet application software documentation for more information.

Protocol: Select the protocol TCP or UDP, or select Both.

IP Address: Enter the IP address of the server that you want the Internet users to be able to access. To find the IP address, go to ?Appendix D: Finding the MAC Address and IP Address for Your Ethernet Adapter.?

Enabled: Check the Enabled box to enable the services you have defined. Port Range Forwarding will not function if the Enabled button is left unchecked. This is disabled (unchecked) by default.

When finished making your changes on this tab, click the Save Settings button to save these changes, or click the Cancel Changes button to undo your changes. For further help on this tab, click the Help button.

So, for web services, I'd try something like this:
Application: HTTP
Start & End: 80-80
Protocol: TCP
IP Address: 192.168.1.6
Enabled: Yes
Block WAN Requests: Disable

Shouldn't the external listen to 80 and then the internal listen to 81

No.

Unless you want to use port 80 on 192.168.1.6 for some other reason, its just easier to keep everything on their default ports. You're not getting into a conflict because we are talking about two port 80 instances... one on the external side, one on the internal side.