Accessing windows 2003 firewall settings with RRAS enabled

Question

Windows Server 2003 (VPS)

Trying to install MySQL, but the service isn't starting - suspect the port is being blocked by the firewall.

One of my Google searches lead me to http://www.tek-tips.com/viewthread.cfm?qid=1117967&page=1 which seems to indicate I need to change my RRAS settings in order to access the firewall settings.

I've set up the RRAS so I can VPN into another network, so I'm reluctant to change them without understanding what the impact will be.

• Is there a way to access the windows firewall settings without modifying RRAS settings?
• How do I check if the firewall is even running?
• Is the RRAS change (disable NAT?) going to cause problems with my VPN connection?

-Adam

Solution 1

Windows Firewall/ICS and RRAS often don't play nice with each other. It has something to do with an IPNAT.sys conflict as mentioned in that article. If you don't want Windows Firewall running on that box at all, your best bet will be to do the following:

Disable RRAS (temporarily) by going to Administrative Tools -> RRAS, right click on your server name, click 'Disable...'

Go to your server's network connections, open up the properties box, click on the 'Advanced' tab, click on the 'Settings...' button for Windows Firewall. Turn Windows Firewall off. Click ok, etc.

Go back to the RRAS config window, right click on your server name again, click 'Enable...' and test things out.

Solution 2

If you enable RRAS, you cannot use the windows firewall (not without considerable hacking anyway). Instead you can use the RRAS firewall - the basic firewall, which I suspect is enabled here. To open ports in that firewall:

• Go to RRAS MMC, then browse to server name/IP Routing/NAT/Basic Firewall
• On the services and ports tab click add.
• Enter the required information for the MYSQL port (default 3306)