External SMB access not working

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Level 2

426 points

External SMB access not working

Hi Everyone,

I have a Lion Server setup running behind an AirPort Extreme which acts as our firewall and router. I'm having an issue getting external SMB (Windows File Sharing as it's called now) working. AFP works just fine for everyone, while SMB is only working on the internal network. Externally, AFP works just fine, but SMB results in the standard "Server cannot be contacted, etc." error - on both Macs and Windows machines.

I have tried numerous times to add a port mapping for SMB within the Server app and within the AirPort Utility. It doesn't work in either spot. I've restarted the APE too many times to count, and the same with the server itself. Anyone have any ideas? Have the SMB ports changed in Lion? Any help would be greatly appreciated - I'm pulling my hair out at this point!

Thanks,

-MRCUR

Mac OS X (10.7.1)

Posted on Sep 21, 2011 5:47 PM

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Answer 1

Sep 22, 2011 1:25 AM in response to MRCUR

Which ports have you forwarded? 137, 138, 139, 445 TCP&UDP?

I would advise to not share AFP and SMB directly to the internet. Instead configure the VPN service and go through that tunnel for accessing the files! AFP and SMB isn't secured in a single way. So build up a secure VPN tunnel for it.

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Answer 2

MRCUR Author

Level 2

426 points

Sep 22, 2011 6:18 AM in response to Stress Test

Hi Stress Test,

Yes, I am forwarding all of those ports to the server. Still not working. Below are two screenshots of the error I receive (on a Mac, Windows is similar), and the port forwarding setup.

Error - http://cl.ly/0y272x2q3h2m1V2v0O02

Port setup - http://cl.ly/280K0q2z1o3w273M3t0S

I would like to implement VPN at some point, but for now, this is how my client is used to accessing their server remotely. I can only change so much at a time with them.

Thanks for the assistance,

-MRCUR

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Answer 3

MRCUR Author

Level 2

426 points

Sep 26, 2011 9:24 AM in response to MRCUR

Anyone have any ideas?

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Answer 4

Sep 27, 2011 4:13 AM in response to MRCUR

Can you check that ports from outside? Open Terminal.app (Applications > Utilities) and insert

nc -v <ip-address> <port>

like

nc -v publicserver.mycompany.com 137

Do that with the 4 ports. Do you have success on all 4 ports, and have a look if they could be reached from the internet.

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Answer 5

MRCUR Author

Level 2

426 points

Sep 27, 2011 6:39 AM in response to Stress Test

Just checked all four ports over the Internet, and only 445 succeeded. All the others returned "connection refused". Any ideas why the AirPort would only be forwarding one of the four ports I have set up? It certainly seems like this is an issue with the AirPort and not Lion Server at this point.

Thanks,

-MRCUR

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Answer 6

Sep 27, 2011 8:38 AM in response to MRCUR

Just tried it with my server:

Local server: 445 succeeded, the other not, but connecting to the server is fine 😕

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Answer 7

MRCUR Author

Level 2

426 points

Sep 27, 2011 8:41 AM in response to Stress Test

Hmm, this is quite puzzling then. We might just have to do without SMB then.

Thanks,

-MRCUR

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Answer 8

Sep 27, 2011 8:49 AM in response to MRCUR

Yes very wired. Will have a look if there's an other possibility and return here.

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Answer 9

Oct 13, 2011 3:52 AM in response to MRCUR

Doesn't look like this was fixed in 10.7.2 (Damnit!). I have been using http://www.mucommander.com/ since my Lion upgrade.

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Answer 10

Oct 13, 2011 7:08 AM in response to rgkeating

So outside your local network I assume you're using VPN? Surely, as in all other Samba instances VPN is required to connect to a SMB share.

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Answer 11

MRCUR Author

Level 2

426 points

Oct 13, 2011 7:19 AM in response to rgkeating

I haven't yet upgraded to 10.7.2, but I doubt that'll fix it. We'll see... At this point I've just told the users not to expect Windows access from outside of the local network. I would gladly move to VPN, but that lovely service ALSO won't work on Lion...

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Answer 12

MRCUR Author

Level 2

426 points

Oct 13, 2011 7:20 AM in response to rickblackdog

No, I have no VPN going (partly because it's a hassle for the users, and because it won't run on Lion for some reason). This worked previously on Snow Leopard Server by simply opening up the required ports in the router/firewall and pointing them to the server. This no longer works with Lion Server.

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Answer 13

Feb 21, 2012 8:50 PM in response to MRCUR

Has anyone been able to figure this out? I'm running into the exact same issue. I cannot get SMB file sharing to work on a Mac Mini Lion server (10.7.3) with port forwarding done by an Airport Extreme. (Actually, in my case, it's a Time Capsule, but the built-in file sharing's been disabled.)

I've been able to get AFP (via port 548) working. But ports 137-139 and 445, though they are forwarded by the AEX, simply don't connect. I keep getting the "server does not exist..." error message like the original poster.

As has been mentioned earlier, if I'm connected via VPN, it works fine. Unfortunately, that's not the ultimate solution for me in this case. And it *should* work without. Testing the "nc -v hostname.com 139" test mentioned above fails for all ports, 137-139 and 445. But it works fine for port 548. I know all the ports, both TCP and UDP are forwarded. So it pretty much has to be the SMB server running on Lion Server.

I'd love to hear if anyone's got this solved...

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Answer 14

MRCUR Author

Level 2

426 points

Feb 22, 2012 5:59 AM in response to Joe_Rhodes

Hi Joe,

This is indeed working for me now. Unfortunately I don't know exactly when it started working or what caused it to work. I've only been made aware that it is working in the past few weeks.

I'm now running AirPort firmware 7.6.1, which may have done. I'm also running Lion Server 10.7.3, which may have done it. I'm really not sure, but I would recommend updating to both of those if you haven't already and giving it another go.

-MRCUR

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Answer 15

Mar 9, 2012 2:38 PM in response to Joe_Rhodes

Joe_Rhodes:

Are you still seeing this issue with Airport 7.6.1 and Mac OS X Server 10.7.3?

Can you check and see what is listening?

netstat -an -f inet | grep LISTEN

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