[olug] Cox and Web Servers

[Trent Melcher]

Bill

Look like the only thing to do for now is change the port you run your web
server on to something other than port 80 and advertise it out to those
needed.  I use 3000 right now,  http://www.dawnandtrent.com:3000/ .
I have tried to play with the SRV records you can add to your DNS but with
no success.  I dont think there are too many SRV-cognizant web-browser out
there that support the SRV records yet.  Haven't done any research to see if
any do.  The concept behind the SRV records is nice, you can read up on this
in RFC 2052(obsoleted) http://rfc.sunsite.dk/rfc/rfc2052.html or RFC 2782
http://rfc.sunsite.dk/rfc/rfc2782.html.

Trent

-----Original Message-----
From: olug-admin at olug.org [mailto:olug-admin at olug.org]On Behalf Of
William E. Kempf
Sent: Wednesday, October 09, 2002 11:28 AM
To: olug at olug.org
Subject: Re: [olug] Cox and Web Servers


From: "Phil Brutsche" <phil at brutsche.us>
> A long time ago, in a galaxy far, far way, someone said...
>
> > How does everyone else work around Cox blocking port 80?
>
> Cox doesn't block port 80.  The block went away when we swiched to cox.net
> from home.com.

Nope, they are blocking again.  Check out
http://www.expressresponse.com/cgi-bin/cox_isp/displayfaq.cgi?search_input=N
ULL and the question about what ports they block.  And I've tested to verify
that this is true.

> > Specifically, is there some other port you'd recommend running on
> > instead, and is there some service similar to dyndns that would map an
> > URL transparently to this alternate port?
>
> Almost any port # you want (don't choose stuff like 25, 137-139, 111,
> etc), and yes.
>
> > Maybe it's just wishful thinking, but it seems like such a service could
> > be provided.  If not, short of paying Cox the ridiculous fees they want
> > for a business connection, which this isn't, is there any other way to
> > get Cox to open the port up, such as complaining to the right individual
> > about how this is a terrible business practice on their part.
>
> It's not terrible business practice.

Yes, it is.  They don't universally block port 80 (or the other ports), they
only do so for non-business accounts.  That's unreasonably restrictive, and
nothing but a ploy to milk their customers of more money.

> It's smart security, in the face of Nimda and Code Red.

That's a security issue for the user, and their responsibility if they
choose to run such servers.  That's not relevant to Cox.

Bill Kempf
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