Setting up external access - Windows and Smoothwall

[simpsonj]

I need to setup external access to one of our servers for our new Remote Backup Service, but I must confess I've never had to setup external access before, so I'm a little stumped!

 

I know our public IP range, is just a case of setting one of those IP addresses as an additional IP one of the NICs, and then setting up the NAT and Firewall rules on the Smoothwall?

 

Or am I best to plug a NIC from the server directly into a spare NIC interface on the physical Smoothwall and try and set it up from there?

 

Any help gratefully received

[johnpd]

Are you using the firewall purely at the smoothwall or do you have one top of the rack as well?

 

I’ve found firewall simple enough to setup with rules, but I turned ours off in catch all as we have a managed firewall service (however that may change soon)

[MatthewL]

What external access does the server require?

[simpsonj]

The Smoothwall is our firewall, yes.

 

The external access required is access from two IP ranges on port 9091 to the server.

 

Thanks for the replies!

[ijk]

First create an address object for the IP addresses that will be connecting to your system.

Network > Settings > Address Object Manager

Add a new address object

Give it a meaningful name

Add the IP addresses you have been provided (I think you can add ranges like this: 10.0.0.1-10.0.0.10)

Save changes

(You can also create one for the server they'll connect to)

 

Now create a new service Object

Network > Settings > Service Object Manager

Add a new service object

Give it a meaningful name

Select the correct protocol (TCP/UDP)

Enter the port number (9091)

Save changes

 

Now create a port forward rule

Network > Configuration > Port Forwards

Add a new port forward

Make sure Enabled is selected

From the list of client addresses, select the address object you created earlier and click Add

From the list of Local IPs, select the external address you want them to connect to

Now under Services, select the service object you created and click Add

& under Target IP addresses, either type and add the IP address of the server, or if you created an address object slect that and add it.

You can leave target port alone, or be explicit and enter 9091

Switch on Logging and IPS, which will help troubleshoot any connectivity problems.

Add a comment explaining what the forward is for.

Save changes

 

Your rule is now ready and you can pass to your provider for testing.

 

Ity's possible the target server may have a firewall enabled preventing connections to 9091, so you'll need to configure that too.

 

Good luck.