Problem connecting remotely ... sometimes

[Terrible Toll]

I have FM Server 8 advanced running on an OSX server and it is serving website and databases through a router. I can connect flawlessly to the databases using PCs and Macs with different browsers when I am on my internal network, but I have problems connecting to it externally from the Internet. When I log on to http://abdm.dyndns.org:80/fmi/iwp/res/iwp_home.html from a Mac it works perfectly, but when I try it from a PC using Firefox or Explorer the port gets dropped off the address and I get the homepage header only with no links and no databases!

Is it a port problem? I have moved the router admin to a different port, but don't know how to change the port on FM server.

I will carry on looking, but I cannot find any information in the manual or elsewhere.

Any help would be greatly appreciated.

[Steven H. Blackwell]

Well first, I don't believe you need the Port 80 as part of the URL. Try removing it and see what happens.

Also, either of these URLs should be sufficient:

http://abdm.dyndns.org/fmi/iwp/res/iwp_home.html

or

http://abdm.dyndns.org/fmi/iwp

and both work for me to connect from Windows XP Pro.

BTW, you need better security on that site. Turn on database visibility.

Steven

[TerribleToll]

Thanks for taking a look. I seem to get the same trouble without the port number specified. Have you tried it using Firefox? That is what my client uses and they can't access it.

What's database visibility BTW? No mention of it in the manual. Besides I was concentrating on trying to make it visible at the moment, then I can make it safer once it works fully.

cheers - Anatole

Edited October 12, 2006 by Guest

[Steven H. Blackwell]

I used IE 6. What version of Firefox are you using? Not all versions of Firefox are supported.

In teh SAT Tool in the Security panel, the database visibility is the section about show all databases or show only those that the user is authorized to access. Do turn that option on to show only those databases the user is authorized to access.

Steven

[TerribleToll]

Only really interested in the latest versions of Firefox. It seems to work OK now that I have put in an opening for port 16080 in the router firewall. Don't know why, but it seems to work better.

Anyway, next week I move the whole thing to a better server with a fixed IP, so it will be a whole host of other problems. Thanks very much for your input.

[Steven H. Blackwell]

Only really interested in the latest versions of Firefox

OK, it may not fully work with the later versions. I believe it's for 1.x only, and not 1.5 or higher.

Steven

[Wim Decorte]

Up to 1.5 on both Windows and OSX, but not the new 2.0 Release Candidate. Although that one may work, I haven't tried.

Database visibility = file list filtering. It's a configuration option on FMS to only show the files that the user has an account in. When the IWP page opens the user will be asked for his credentials then, and will get a list of files that he can access. Not a list of all files hosted.

[TerribleToll]

Thanks for that - Anatole