ConnectionRefused (0x274d)

Question

_{Monday, November 21, 2016 2:39 AM}

I'm hosting my own website on my Windows 10 (Home Version 1607 build 14393.447, IIS version 10) PC using port 8110. I can access without any issue from any PC on my LAN. But externally (meaning using my external IP address), I cannot get to it.

I installed Fiddler and this is what it reports:

[Fiddler] The connection to '(my external IP address)' failed.
Error: ConnectionRefused (0x274d).
System.Net.Sockets.SocketException No connection could be made because the target machine actively refused it (my external IP address):8110

I checked my firewall, port 8110 is open.  I turned off my firewall and antivirus software, still didn't work.

I installed Port Forward Network Utility, stopped my website in IIS, ran the Port Forward Network Utility, used the Port Checker on 8110, it came back and said my port 8110 is open.

I checked that the port forwarding on my router is forwarding 8110 to the correct PC.

I checked my bindings - all unassigned for 8110 going to my website on that PC.  Like I said, locally (on my LAN), I have no problem accessing the website on port 8110.

I checked the Basic Settings in IIS for the site, the connect as is set to "Application user (pass-through authentication) - I tested it, got the green check mark - said it is using Pass-Through authentication ((my site name) - ApplicationPoolIdentity)

I did "ipconfig /flushdns" on all my PCs

The only thing that changed recently is AT&T replaced my router.  I got a new external IP address.  I went to whatsmyip.org, checked my external IP it reports to the IP the AT&T router says I have - they match.  I'm using that same IP with :8110 appended and I cannot reach my site.  All my other forwarded ports are working (for other types of traffic - not http).  The Port Forward Network Utility says the port is open on the PC where I'm hosting my site so AT&T is not blocking that port.  They don't even block port 80 because I checked that as well.  I'm using 8110 only because my prior ISP did block port 80 because they considered you a business if you hosted a website and wanted to charge about double the rate for internet service.  So I've always hosted my sites on 8110.  My site was working with AT&T previously.  But something corrupted my applicationHost.config file (IIS kept giving me errors that said that) so I went to "Turn Windows features on or off", and removed (turned off) "Internet Information Services" - rebooted my computer as instructed, then went back to "Turn Windows features on or off" and added (turned on) "Internet Information Services" - rebooted my computer as instructed, then started IIS and re-added my website, set the bindings (no more errors about the applicationHost.config being corrupted), and I'm able to access the site locally no problem.  But I cannot access externally using http.  HOWEVER, under c:\inetpub\logs\LogFiles\W3SVC2 I see files with names like u_ex161121 (that's today's - 11/21/2016) with a very recent time stamp (like right now) and I open it and I see entries in it that say IP 66.249.79.181 Googlebot-Image/1.0 - 200 0 0 7107 is "getting" my images - so I assume from that, SOMETHING is working from external connections - but not the normal http activity.

I feel like I'm overlooking some simple setting in IIS.  I know it's NOT a firewall issue, it's not a port forwarding issue, I don't think it's a binding issue - my site works perfectly fine on the LAN.

Does anyone have any idea what it could be?  I've spent SO many hours on this already - I don't know what else to try.  I have researched this like crazy on the Internet and tried everything I could find that might apply and so far, nothing has resolved it.

UPDATE: My site is accessible from the outside world!  BUT for some reason when I use the external IP address on my LAN to test my site, I get the problem I described above.  It wasn't until I was away from home and used my phone to try to access my site did I discover I could actually get it to.  But once I got back home (connected to my LAN via Wi-Fi), once again I could not connect to it using the external IP address.  It only works via the internal IP address on the LAN.  I never had this problem before.

Update: I figured it out by reading the AT&T community forum where people were complaining about the same issue of not being able to access their sites by the domain name from within their LAN.   The router I recently received from AT&T is a Pace 5268AC - it does not support NAT loop back which is what would allow me to access my web site by its domain name from systems within my LAN.  I contacted AT&T, they confirmed that the Pace 5268AC does not support NAT loop back so they ordered a different make/model for me to use that will still support A/C at 5GHz for my wireless devices, will support the download speed I have subscribed to, AND more importantly, supports NAT loop back.  If in the future I have no choice but to use one of their routers that doesn't support NAT loop back, at least now I know what the other options are - like adding my domain name to my local hosts files, or adding another router that supports NAT loop back and making that the primary DHCP router, or firing up my own DNS server if I want yet another system on my LAN.

So my issue is resolved once I receive the new router from AT&T.  So do I delete this post or what?

All replies (1)

_{Tuesday, November 22, 2016 1:36 PM}

Glad to hear you got this resolved and thanks for the information.

If you you post a reply with 'fixed with new router that supported NAT loop back' and mark that as they answer that will leave the thread here for others and maybe a help to others.