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I can connect to my Jira server just fine if I type "localhost:8080" into my browser, yet I cannot connect to it if I replace "localhost" with my external IP address.

  • My Windows machine has a static local IP
  • My Windows firewall is completely disabled
  • I've set up port forwarding on my Google OnHub router (TP-Link)
    • Internal: 8080, External: 8080
  • I've turned off whitelisting in Jira settings
  • I've tried to change the port that the server runs on
  • The services can be seen on the ports from canyouseeme.org

I'm out of ideas. Maybe you have some?

codenaugh
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1 Answers1

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Your router doesn't support hairpin NAT, which is required for this type of communication (communication to a router's public IP from a system on its LAN network). Consumer devices like your Google router are not suited for use in business environments. Consider switching to a more capable device.

EEAA
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  • So that means no apache, xampp, or wamp/lamp servers too huh? Is this also known as NAT Loopback? Supposedly that feature is coming in an update to both of the OnTap routers. – codenaugh Apr 03 '17 at 02:51
  • Apache is fine, xampp etc are off-topic. – EEAA Apr 03 '17 at 03:28
  • Please excuse my ignorance, but what's the difference between an apache server running on my machine and a jira server running? Aren't they both just web server services using a port that one should be able to connect to externally? – codenaugh Apr 03 '17 at 03:33
  • That's correct. JIRA is a tomcat application, so in that case, tomcat is actually the webserver you're connecting to. – EEAA Apr 03 '17 at 03:49
  • Ok now, I'm really confused... You're saying that Tomcat servers will not work with my router, but Apache servers will? – codenaugh Apr 03 '17 at 16:42
  • I'm not sure where you got off track thinking that your web server has anything to do with this. It's your router that is the problem. – EEAA Apr 03 '17 at 17:26
  • You confused me when you said the apache server would work fine. If the problem is my router, I don't see why one type of server would work and another wouldn't. It shouldn't matter if it's tomcat or apache. – codenaugh Apr 04 '17 at 20:49
  • OK, back up. *You* are the one that brought up your webserver, in the first comment to my answer. From then on, I was just answering your questions. As I answered clearly above, this problem has **absolutely nothing** to do with your webserver, and has **everything** to do with your router. Again, I'm not the one that brought up your webserver. – EEAA Apr 04 '17 at 20:52
  • Jira is a tomcat webserver. wamp and xampp are apache webservers. That's my understanding. You said my router can't handle the Jira webserver's type of communication but that an apache webserver would be fine. If the problem is indeed my router why would one type of server be "fine" and the other not work? If I'm going to accept your answer as the actual answer, I would like to fully understand you, but you seem to have contradicted yourself by saying apache would work. Either that, or I'm totally misunderstand some difference in the webservers in question... – codenaugh Apr 04 '17 at 21:07
  • I said no such thing, sorry for the misunderstanding. When I said "this type of communication", I meant that your router cannot handle "hairpin" connections to its own public IP from inside your LAN. This is what "hairpin NAT" is. Most enterprise-capable routers support it but very few consumer-grade routers do. – EEAA Apr 04 '17 at 21:09
  • Oh I see. Thank you for the clarification of the "communication" and "hairpin". So that means that I should be able to access my JIRA server from an external network, but I also cannot do that, which is really the heart of my question – codenaugh Apr 05 '17 at 20:52
  • I now realize your answer is perfect for my question as asked... could you revise it to explain "hairpin NAT" and the "type of communication" please? I will accept it as the answer, and will ask a new question later about connecting to my Jira server from an external network. – codenaugh Apr 05 '17 at 20:55