Bright Box port forwarding not working...

First time on here, but it looks like there are knowledgeable people on here that might be able to resolve my problem with an Orange Bright Box router running the latest EE updates.

I'm trying to set up a local home network using an Apple Server (v.2) on a Mac Mini (OS X 10.8.3) plugged into the router. This server has a static IP address on the router and the computer. The software firewall on the Mac Mini is switched off.

Another iMac is also plugged into the router and a couple of Apple laptops connect wirelessly.

Access to interent & email is no problem from any computer via any connection.

My issus is that I need to open several ports to allow the Apple Push Notifications to have unrestricted inbound/outbound access in order to push notifications linked to the network. All the devices are correctly registered in the 'Device Manager' sections of the 'Profile Manager'.

As an example, I am trying to open ports 2195 & 2196. I have the following in the NAT > Port Forwarding section of the admin pages for this router (accessed via 192.168.1.1):

LAN IP Address: Static IP of the server;
Protocol Type: TCP & UPD (just in case);
LAN Port: 2196 (or 2196 on a separate line);
Public Port: 2196 (or as above);
Enable: is ticked.

I have saved these settings and used 'Canyouseeme.org' Open Port Check Tool to check the required ports, but several are still showing as not visible.

I have set in NAT > Port Triggers the following for these ports:

Trigger Port: 2195;
Trigger Type: TCP;
Public Port: 3000-65535 (I read that the APN server uses high port numbers...);
Public Type: TCP;
Enable: is ticked.

This has also been saved.

What am I doing wrong?

Push notifications to devices seem to be getting through, but notifications to users or user groups is very flaky and patchy (and not working at all today).

How do I open these ports? This is driving me mad at the moment (along with several other issues related to setting up the server...)

I've followed all the instructions I can find, but with no success on any of the ports. I'm trying to open 25, 80, 110, 443, 5223, 2195, 2196 & 1640 - ones in bold are not working in the open port check tool mentioned (are there any more to open?)

It's a shame the Port Forwarding website has not got around to giving configuration details for the Everything Everywhere �Astoria networks� Bright Box wireless router.

http://portforward.com/english/routers/port_forwardi...

http://help.ee.co.uk/system/selfservice.controller?A...

Is your Bright Box router configured with static IP address for Ethernet and wireless?
I don�t use the Bright Box reserved IP address option, you don't always know the MAC address it asks for, I set blocks of static IP addresses as below�

Configure EE Bright Box router DHCP range...

Lease time: Forever
Start IP: 192.168.1.21
End IP: 192.168.1.250
This will give you 25 LAN static IP addresses 1 to 20 and 251 to 255.

Looking at other routers I have the port forwarding settings for 2Wire, 3Com and Netgear, you only need to configure port forwarding. Go... Advanced Set-Up > Accept > NAT > Port Forwarding.

I�m wondering if the firewall Intrusion Detection has something to do with blocking the ports, experiment with it. Go� Advanced Set-Up > Accept > Firewall > Intrusion Detection.

http://portforward.com/networking/staticip.htm

http://portforward.com/help/portcheck.htm

Edited by deleted (Tue 02-Apr-13 17:03:39)

Thank you for taking the time to respond. I'll respond to your points as best I can.

I had not been able to identify what make of router the Bright Box was - so thank you for that information. I'll see what I can dig up on it.

The router is not configured with a static IP address (I don't see the need as the network is internal with the exception of internet and Apple Notification Server), but the server has been allocated a static IP address and the router told this address under 'Address Reservations' in 'DHCP' section.

I'm confused over your comment "You don't always know the MAC address it asks for" as I have the Mac address of the internal server already set with the Mac address, and this doesn't change (AFAIK).

On the DHCP page, I already had a reserved range of 192.168.1.20 - 192.168.1.190. But I have now set the 'Lease Time' to 'Forever' as you suggested.

I have Port Forwarding for all the ports I know of for the Apple services I need. I'm stuck as to why the ones I have set are still not being seen externally...

Is it correct to set the LAN address to that reserved for my server and the LAN Port & Public Port to the same number (e.g.5223)?

I tried turning the firewall off completely, restarting the router and testing the ports again, but still not registering that they can be seen. I've done similar with the 'Intrusion Detection' you referred to. And still no joy.

If you can offer any further advice based upon this feedback, I would be most appreciative as I really cannot see any reason why these ports won't 'open' on this router (or is it my ISP - Orange - blocking them?)

In reply to a post by KBPhoto:

or is it my ISP - Orange - blocking them?

In reference to e-gain.s3.amazonaws.com/external/content/Ts%20and%20Cs/BSG%20KFI%20...:

Name of broadband product: �Unlimited� Broadband and Fibre Broadband plans
Use and availability of services, content, application and protocols on this product
Are any services, content, applications or protocols always blocked on this product?* Yes
If so what?
The only restriction we�ve put in place is an email setting that helps protect our customers against unsolicited emails, also known as spam.
(For the techies amongst you we stop connections to non-EE SMTP servers on port 25, and block NetBIOS)

In reply to a post by KBPhoto:

I've followed all the instructions I can find, but with no success on any of the ports. I'm trying to open 25, 80, 110, 443, 5223, 2195, 2196 & 1640 - ones in bold are not working in the open port check tool mentioned (are there any more to open?)

I configured my Bright Box router DHCP server range to create the (LAN) Local Area Network static IP addresses required.

DHCP server range
Start IP: 192.168.1.112
End IP: 192.168.1.250

Then checked the ports you say would not open and the results are as below�

Port (25) Check Result: Your port is NOT OPEN or not reachable!
Port (110)Check Result: Your port is OPEN on this computer!
Port (5223) Check Result: Your port is OPEN on this computer!
Port (2195) Check Result: Your port is OPEN on this computer!
Port (2196) Check Result: Your port is OPEN on this computer!

I checked port (25) again� Protocol TCP.
Port (25) Check Result: Your port is NOT OPEN or not reachable!
As XRaySpeX has indicated EE/Orange block port (25).

I checked port (25) again... Protocol UDP.
Port (25) Check Result: Your port is OPEN on this computer!

To obtain these results, I carried out no IP Address Reservations it was done from the router port forwarding page settings.

http://portforward.com/help/portcheck.htm

Edited by deleted (Fri 05-Apr-13 15:36:51)

In reply to a post by E7er:

Port (25) Check Result: Your port is NOT OPEN or not reachable!
As XraySpeX has indicated EE/Orange block port (25).

You may be confusing incoming and outgoing ports. Orange block port 25 outgoing to prevent you sending spam on other ISPs' SMTP servers. I believe you are testing your own incoming port. But if you are testing it by sending outwards and back upon yourself Orange will block it (if that makes sense).

In reply to a post by XRaySpeX:

In reply to a post by E7er:

Port (25) Check Result: Your port is NOT OPEN or not reachable!
As XraySpeX has indicated EE/Orange block port (25).

You may be confusing incoming and outgoing ports. Orange block port 25 outgoing to prevent you sending spam on other ISPs' SMTP servers. I believe you are testing your own incoming port. But if you are testing it by sending outwards and back upon yourself Orange will block it (if that makes sense).

Thanks for the info, I'm learning more and more as I go along thanks to thinkbroadband website and Wikipedia.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/TCP_and_UDP_port

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_TCP_and_UDP_por...