RE: internet PTF service

[Chris Bipes <chris.bipes@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxx>]

I download iPTF's all the time.  My AS400 is NOT accessible from the
internet but can access the internet.  We block all inbound ports but not
outbound, yet.  My PC establishes a connection with IBM by being NAT 'Ted
thru the firewall, then I connect to the AS400 internally.  It works.  I
have never seen the AS400 establish a connection to IBM directly but only go
thru my PC.  We are on V5R1 of both OS400 and CAE.

Chris Bipes

-----Original Message-----
From: John Taylor


If your PC is acting as a router by forwarding traffic, then your 400 is
accessible from the internet. 

In my case, it wasn't the PC but a dedicated firewall/router performing
NAT. I'd give iPTF the IP address of the router, and the router would
then do the address translation to the 400's internal IP. 

Everything worked fine on the initial connection from iPTF to the 400,
but then came to a screeching halt because the 400 randomly assigns port
numbers for use by iPTF. Since they're randomly assigned, it was almost
certain that the 400 would pick a port number that was blocked by
default on the firewall. Of course, opening up all ports on the firewall
resolved the issue, but for obvious reasons, that wasn't practical.

In the end, the iPTF support person who was helping me determined that
there was no way of doing this through the firewall, and part of his
explanation revolved around this issue of the 400 needing to be
accessible from the internet.