Tru64 and Netscape

[Chris Umpleby]

Hi, I am new to Tru64 and would like help in configuring Tru54 with Netscape. I would like to point out that we have a 3rd party application on the same box that uses apache (port 80) and Tomcat (port 8080). When trying to connect to the internet either through a proxy or direct connection we cannot connect (believe this is beacuse of the above applications using port 80 and 8080. We can connect to a secure page using https and port 443 fine. Can somebody please help as to how we could get http working using netscape? Thanx

[Steven Schweda]

> believe this is beacuse [...]

No, Netscape does not care if you are running
a Web server on the same system. If you can
reach the outside world on port 443 but not
port 80, I'd suspect that a firewall
somewhere is blocking your access.

For a fairly simple, non-Netscape test, try
Telnet:

telnet 80
GET / HTTP/1.0


This should do roughly what your Web browser
does when pointed to "http://host/". If it
times out, then there's a basic connectivity
problem, not a Netscape problem.

Should we assume that Netscape works properly
when aimed at the Web server on the system
it's running on? Other Web servers on the
LAN (if there are any)?

[Chris Umpleby]

Thanks for the quick reply, i have tried this and we get "Unable to connect to remote host. Connection refused" when using port 80. AS mentioned earlier we have a 3rd party software installed on the same box (EB2, which has 2 services apache -uses port 80 and tomcat - uses port 8080) Would this stop us from us port 80 or 8080 for HTTP to the outside world?

[Steven Schweda]

As I said, before, no, you can run a Web
browser and a Web server on the same system.
People do it all the time, on all kinds of
systems, including Tru64.

"Connection refused" normally means that
there is no service provided at the
destination for the port requested. In this
case, there's no Web server running on the
system to which you're trying to connect.

To what are you trying to connect? Can a Web
browser on some other system connect there?
Is there supposed to be someone listening to
port 80 on that system? (A clever firewall
could probably produce this effect, but it's
not what I'd expect from one.)

It might help to see some of the actual URLs
or commands you're using.

[Chris Umpleby]

HTTP and HTTPS and going through a direct connection to the internet. HTTP configured on port 80 and HTTPS configured on 443. we have used a telnet test to 192.6.126.144 443 works fine, 192.6.126.144 80 fails. I still believe that the 3rd party software on the box using port 80 is stoppping netscape using port 80 for Web Access, port 80 has been reserved for Apache NOT HTTP traffic.

[Steven Schweda]

> I still believe [...]

I have no way and no intense desire to stop
you from believing whatever you wish to
believe. If you believe that running a Web
server on a system precludes using a Web
browser on that system, then you are about as
wrong as wrong could be, but in matters like
this you have a right to be wrong, and I
wouldn't dream of denying you that right.

The fact that a Web server (like Apache) is
_listening_ on port 80 does not stop any
program on the same system from trying to
open a connection to port 80 on that or any
other system, no matter what you believe.

I can certainly get to 192.6.126.144 from my
system (209.98.249.184) using HTTP or HTTPS
(although the Web page is not very exciting).

Things I (still) don't know:

1. How your "direct connection to the
internet" is made. I go through a DSL line
to an ISP.

2. Whether you can get to any other system
using HTTP (Netscape, Telnet, wget, ...).

3. Whether you can get to your own system
using HTTP (Netscape, Telnet, wget, ...).

4. The IP address of your system.

5. When you say things like "Apache NOT HTTP
traffic", what do you think Apache does, if
not "HTTP traffic"?

6. If you know so much, what are you doing
here?

[Pieter 't Hart]

Chris,
In addition to Steven's answers
both apache and tomcat are programs intended for http/https traffic (webservices).
This is regardless of which port is used.
Most commonly for http is port 80, but you can configure any other port. Same for hhtps and port 443.

You specify apache is configured for port 80 and tomcat for port 8080. so they should both be ready for http trafic incomming on these ports.
If you try from the same box as where apache is running "telnet localhost 80" and get no response, then either apache is not running or it is not configured to use this port.
If you do get response locally, try connecting from a client on the same network without using a proxy.

I confirm Stevens answer that precense of these programs on the box should not stop you from connecting to a remote webserver.
The netscape client selects a free port on the local system to contact port 80 outgoing on the remote system (internet), this has no relation with the local application using port 80 incomming on the local system.
So there must be another reason why https is allowed and http not!

When using a proxy it could be incompatibility between the proxy-software and netscape on the Tru64-box. Or the Tru64 box is not allowed by the proxy (ip-range? DNSlookup?)

[Al Licause]

When applications such as web servers listen on particular ports...80, 8080, etc, those are incoming ports.

When you run a web browser on a client it attempts to connect to those ports but uses a different port for it's outgoing connection.

Try running tcpdump on your system and you can see for yourself which ports are being used by these connections and whether or not anything is actually responding from the remote system.