samba - Jan 2007 - Port Problem

Hi Everyone,

Hope I have sent this to the correct list.  I have been struggling away  
with a weird problem all evening and have not had any joy on google so  
thought I would try here.

The problem in a nutshell is as follows:

(Internal Network) Windows XP (Client) ---> Fedora Core4 (Samba  
Server)     Both shared areas and printers work from windows client.
(External Network) Windows XP (Client) ---> firewall --> (Internal  
Network) Fedora Core4 (samba Server)   Only shared areas work, printers  
won't connect (Says something about either the printer name is wrong or it  
has lost its connection to the server - nothing in server logs that I can  
see).

The problem therefore is that although I can see the printers from the  
client on the internal samba server I cannot actually connect to them via  
Add Printer in Windows XP.  I have opened up ports 135-139,445 through the  
firewall and these seem fine (using nmap to check that they are indeed  
open).

 From the internal network everything from the windows machine works which  
leads me to believe that the Samba Configuration is fine (hence I have not  
included it here - if I am wrong in this assumption then please let me  
know and I will post it), and that there is a port somewhere on the  
firewall that still needs opening to enable the external windows machine  
to properly connect to the printers.

Can anyone point me in the correct direction?

I am using CUPS on the samba server to print ( do I need the CUPS port  
also accessible through the firewall? ) and nothing in either the samba  
logs or cups logs suggests they even get any connection attempts from the  
external windows machine for use of the printer (does any one know of a  
way to log attempts to connect to the printer in samba?).  I have also put  
a trace on the firewall to see if I can see any extra ports required but I  
the only ones I see are 139 and 445 coming from the external windows  
client.

If I can give any more details let me know.

Thanks for your help,


Tom



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Dr. Thomas McCallum
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> Only shared areas work, printers won't connect (Says something about
> either the printer name is wrong or it has lost its connection to the
> server - nothing in server logs that I can see).
That is a bit odd - are you sure all ports are making it from one PC to
the other?  Nothing is being dropped somewhere along the way?

Can you access the print$ share, where the printer drivers are stored?
If nothing else, maybe you could try running Ethereal and compare
what happens with the internal vs external connections.
> The problem therefore is that although I can see the printers from
> the client on the internal samba server I cannot actually connect to
> them via Add Printer in Windows XP.
The way I normally do it is run \\server and double-click on the
printer - does that also fail?
> From the internal network everything from the windows machine works
> which leads me to believe that the Samba Configuration is fine
Assuming there are no issues with 'hosts allow' or other access
restrictions.
> I am using CUPS on the samba server to print ( do I need the CUPS
> port also accessible through the firewall? )
No, the Samba server connects to CUPS - as long as the client PC can
connect to the Samba server on the ports you've listed all should be
fine.

Cheers,
Adam.