How to open specific ports in OS X Firewall (10.9.4)

Thanks Kappy for your reply.

The built-in Firewall is switched off, so that should not hinder PMS. I checked wether there was an exception for PMS when the firewall was switched on and there is; incoming connections are accepted for PMS, even when the firewall is switched on.

Also, the server has a static IP-address, of course, as it handles a few other services for client computers: my AEX has several reserved IP-addresses for network computers based on their MAC-addresses and this has never let me down. The Port Mapping to the server is correct and corresponds to the static IP-address of the server. Somehow OS X server (or something) seems to hinder or block the Port Mapping, as another Port Mapping to a second PMS running on a Synology NAS works just fine. I even experimented by editing/switching the IP-addresses of the server and the NAS in the Port Mapping: the Port Mapping that points to the server does not open up, whereas the Port Mapping to the NAS is registered with every Port Scan that I make, on every edit.

So, for instance if I open external port 32401 up to point at the static IP of the NAS and port 32402 at static IP of the server, only port 32401 registers as opened upon a port scan. If I switch 32401 to point at the server and 32402 at the NAS, then only 32402 is found 'open' by a port scan. BTW, both internal ports are both set at 32400 as the PMS-software expects incoming connections at this port.

So if it is not the adaptive firewall, and Port Mapping seems to work for one network client , then why not for the computer running OS X Server? Any ideas or advices are very welcome.

Thanks!

Thanks Linc Davis for your reply.

My server has a static IP-address based on IP-reservations in my AEX. See for further info my response to user Kappy.

Thanks

@Linc Davis:

Yes, I can access the media locally via PMS without problems. PMS broadcasts within my LAN without Plex clients having to authenticate (using MyPlex). I have even accessed media from outside of LAN, but then immediately (or after a few seconds) the Plex client freezes/hangs as the PMS on OS X Server is not only disconnected from MyPlex, but also becomes inaccessible when I try to VPN back in to my server. I know for a fact that at these 'freezes' the AEX remains up and running, because the PMS on my Synology NAS is still accessible. The server however looks to be shut out from outside access: no VPN service for a while, privately hosted websites are down and network shares that were mounted prior to the freeze are ejected (indicating a network freeze within the LAN also).

In my troubleshooting I tried to remove the PMS configuration in increments to see what happens:

1. log PMS out of MyPlex, with PMS still running and port forwarding on the AEX still active;

2. log PMS out of MyPlex AND remove PMS from MyPlex dashboard to stop looking for it at the registered port;

3. close down PMS altogether, but with port forwarding still active;

4. all of the above and remove port mapping to my server.

Only with step 4 I seem to have a stable connection to my server as it remains accessible via VPN. I have been troubleshooting this from outside of my network and it has been a tiresome exercise, getting shut out from my network for a few minutes up till a few hours (no VPN). Today I will start to troubleshoot from inside the LAN.

Any ideas what to look for are welcome. All the logs on my server are quite comprehensive and I am out of my depth what to look for in them.

Cheerz,

Jannem

In the meantime I have been troubleshooting this problem onsite (within the LAN).

@Linc Davis: to answer your question about VPN, I can and could access my server via VPN. The server is running the VPN service and always has been functioning properly. However after the the configuration of the Port Mappings in AEX and the connection with MyPlex, VPN dropped out as soon as the server got connected to via MyPlex. Troubleshooting on site learned that it was not just VPN that went down, but that the networking of the server went down altogether as screen sharing or ARD was not possible either. So, I powered down the server, relocated it to connect it to a physical screen (I had been accessing the server through ARD from the beginning) to investigate further. Surprisingly, after the shutdown and physical relocation, the problem did not occur and hasn't done so ever since.

At this moment I really can not say what caused the problem in the first place and what caused it to disappear. The full power-down and restart of services, must have done the trick, but it still does not explain why. For now, I keep a close eye on this and will report back to this thread as soon as the problem re-occurs, if ever.

Thanks for reading and thinking along!

Jannem