Okay, I know it's not a POV-Ray question, but I did read the FAQ, and the
tutorial for Outlook Express didn't work for me.  I need a little help.

I followed the tutorial up to the point where I added news.povray.org to my list
and attempted to subscribe to various groups.  After a few seconds, I was
presented with the message "Unable to Connect to Server".  No additional
information.  I tried all kinds of changes, but nothing helped.

I am trying to connect from my work location, behind a corporate firewall, using
Outlook express.  I am able to connect to other newsgroups out there (such as
Microsoft) without problem.

Any suggestions?

Thanks,

Eric

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On Fri, 08 May 2009 13:27:08 -0400, EricG wrote:

> I am trying to connect from my work location, behind a corporate
> firewall, using Outlook express.  I am able to connect to other
> newsgroups out there (such as Microsoft) without problem.
> 
> Any suggestions?

From your workstation, what happens if you open a command prompt and 
enter:

telnet news.povray.org 119

?

Jim

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First,

Connecting To news.povray.org...

Then, after quite a while,

Could not open connection to the host, on port 119: Connect failed

That's it

Jim Henderson <nos### [at] nospamcom> wrote:
> On Fri, 08 May 2009 13:27:08 -0400, EricG wrote:
>
> > I am trying to connect from my work location, behind a corporate
> > firewall, using Outlook express.  I am able to connect to other
> > newsgroups out there (such as Microsoft) without problem.
> >
> > Any suggestions?
>
> From your workstation, what happens if you open a command prompt and
> enter:
>
> telnet news.povray.org 119
>
> ?
>
> Jim

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On Fri, 08 May 2009 13:47:08 -0400, EricG wrote:

> First,
> 
> Connecting To news.povray.org...
> 
> Then, after quite a while,
> 
> Could not open connection to the host, on port 119: Connect failed
> 
> That's it

Sounds like your firewall is blocking the port, then.  For the other news 
servers, do you connect on port 119 or on the secure NNTP port (in the 
500's, I forget exactly which)?

Jim

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I tried the same telnet command with msnews.microsoft.com, and it worked just
fine.  I can't detect any difference in the way the two newsgroups are set up
in Outlook express.  They are both using port 119.

Can a firewall filter certain NGs out (maybe that have ".org" in them instead of
".com")?

Eric

Jim Henderson <nos### [at] nospamcom> wrote:
>
> Sounds like your firewall is blocking the port, then.  For the other news
> servers, do you connect on port 119 or on the secure NNTP port (in the
> 500's, I forget exactly which)?
>
> Jim

Post a reply to this message

On Fri, 08 May 2009 14:38:24 -0400, EricG wrote:

> I tried the same telnet command with msnews.microsoft.com, and it worked
> just fine.  I can't detect any difference in the way the two newsgroups
> are set up in Outlook express.  They are both using port 119.

If you can't telnet to the port on the server, it's not an Outlook 
configuration issue - it's a communications issue.  So as long as you've 
spelled the server's name correctly (and it is news.povray.org, so it 
seems that that can be ruled out), there isn't anything you can change in 
Outlook that will correct the problem.

Think of it like driving a car to an island.  If there's exactly one 
route on the roads to get to the island (over a bridge) and the bridge 
isn't open, the type of (non-amphibious) car you're driving won't matter, 
because the fundamental problem is that the bridge is closed.

So the first step is to get the bridge opened.

> Can a firewall filter certain NGs out (maybe that have ".org" in them
> instead of ".com")?

Possibly; you'd have to ask your firewall administrator.

Jim

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Thanks for your inputs.  I'll try talking to the help desk to see if they have
anything to add.  It shouldn't be this hard...

As long as I can use the web interface, I guess it doesn't matter that much.

Eric

Jim Henderson <nos### [at] nospamcom> wrote:
> On Fri, 08 May 2009 14:38:24 -0400, EricG wrote:
>
> > I tried the same telnet command with msnews.microsoft.com, and it worked
> > just fine.  I can't detect any difference in the way the two newsgroups
> > are set up in Outlook express.  They are both using port 119.
>
> If you can't telnet to the port on the server, it's not an Outlook
> configuration issue - it's a communications issue.  So as long as you've
> spelled the server's name correctly (and it is news.povray.org, so it
> seems that that can be ruled out), there isn't anything you can change in
> Outlook that will correct the problem.
>
> Think of it like driving a car to an island.  If there's exactly one
> route on the roads to get to the island (over a bridge) and the bridge
> isn't open, the type of (non-amphibious) car you're driving won't matter,
> because the fundamental problem is that the bridge is closed.
>
> So the first step is to get the bridge opened.
>
> > Can a firewall filter certain NGs out (maybe that have ".org" in them
> > instead of ".com")?
>
> Possibly; you'd have to ask your firewall administrator.
>
> Jim

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On Fri, 08 May 2009 15:05:52 -0400, EricG wrote:

> Thanks for your inputs.  I'll try talking to the help desk to see if
> they have anything to add.  It shouldn't be this hard...

Glad to help out, Eric. :-)

Jim

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Jim Henderson <nos### [at] nospamcom> wrote:
> > Can a firewall filter certain NGs out (maybe that have ".org" in them
> > instead of ".com")?
>
> Possibly; you'd have to ask your firewall administrator.

If even telnet to the port won't work, it cannot be a NG-specific filter, can
it?

So looks like the whole NG server is deliberately filtered out (or, more likely,
not deliberately "filtered in").

Post a reply to this message

On Sat, 09 May 2009 08:18:45 -0400, clipka wrote:

> Jim Henderson <nos### [at] nospamcom> wrote:
>> > Can a firewall filter certain NGs out (maybe that have ".org" in them
>> > instead of ".com")?
>>
>> Possibly; you'd have to ask your firewall administrator.
> 
> If even telnet to the port won't work, it cannot be a NG-specific
> filter, can it?
> 
> So looks like the whole NG server is deliberately filtered out (or, more
> likely, not deliberately "filtered in").

Not group-specific, the entire server is blocked, either intentionally or 
not.

I took Eric's post to mean "news server" because he mentioned ".org" vs. 
".com" - that would be server-based rather than group-based, since the 
group doesn't have the server's name or DNS entry in it.

Thinking about it a little more, I wonder what would happen if he used 
the server's IP address rather than the DNS name.

Jim

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