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Server - Bind to specific IP address

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Jeff X, User (Posts: 9)

Aug 03, 2022 9:28:04 pm EDT

It's not clear to me what the IP-filter option is used for, in the RU server config. Is that option used to filter external IP's that connect to the server or is this where you can set which IP(s) you want to bind the RU server to?

I want the RU server to listen on port 443 but I want to bind the RU server to a single IP address. I do not want RU server listening on all IP addresses, on the Windows server. Can this be done? I have other services that listen on port 443, on specific IP's.

Pauline, Support (Posts: 2776)

Aug 04, 2022 3:51:51 pm EDT

Hello Jeff,

Thank you for your message.

The port-level IP filter is a new feature that was introduced in Remote Utilities starting version 7. It allows you to assign individual IP filters for each port and also assign different roles for each port, i.e. you can set up different ports on your RU Server for the address book sync, authentication and even assign different ports for Viewers and Hosts connecting to your Server.

I want the RU server to listen on port 443 but I want to bind the RU server to a single IP address. I do not want RU server listening on all IP addresses, on the Windows server. Can this be done? I have other services that listen on port 443, on specific IP's.

Yes, you can set up your RU Server to listen on a preferred port to a single IP address or even a range of addresses. For more information please see this blog post that introduces the feature in details. In addition, this guide on setting up IP filters might also be useful.

Hope that helps.

Jeff X, User (Posts: 9)

Aug 04, 2022 4:15:43 pm EDT

Support level: Free or trial

Thank you for your response but I don't think we're talking about the same thing.

I have read both articles that you linked to and it appears to me that that type of IP filtering is referring to the IP addresses of viewers, hosts and agents that connect to the RU server. Is my assumption correct?

Pauline, Support (Posts: 2776)

Aug 04, 2022 7:15:47 pm EDT

Hello Jeff,

I have read both articles that you linked to and it appears to me that that type of IP filtering is referring to the IP addresses of viewers, hosts and agents that connect to the RU server. Is my assumption correct?

Not exactly - please note that you can set the IP filter to listen to a range of IP addresses, not only one specific Host/Viewer at a certain IP address. However, you can set the filter to a specific IP address as well - it doesn't have to be an IP of a specific Host machine, just that the Server would be restricted to this address and a Host with another IP address wouldn't be able to connect.
Please also note that you can set up both global IP filters that would apply to all Server's communication as well as individual IP filters for each port used by your custom RU Server. For example, you can achieve the initial scenario that you've described by setting up your RU Server communication port to 443 and then add your preferred single IP address to a white list in a Global IP filter - this way your RU Server won't allow Viewers or Hosts to connect from other IP addresses.

Hope that helps.

Jeff X, User (Posts: 9)

Aug 04, 2022 8:13:36 pm EDT

Support level: Free or trial

My original question has nothing to do with limiting connections FROM external IP addresses regardless of them being local or public. I'm referring to the IP addresses assigned to my Windows server on which RU server is installed.

When you install a service, such as RU server, it usually "binds" to all IP addresses assigned to the computer (i.e., 0.0.0.0:443). I have multiple IP addresses assigned to my Windows server's network interface. I do not want RU server binding to all of the server's IP addresses because I have other services listening on port 443 on some of the other IP addresses. I want SU server to bind to and listen on only one of the IP addresses such as: 192.168.1.2:443.

Maybe this will help you understand what I'm asking: https://networkengineering.stackexchange.com/questions/59836/bind-to-specific-address

Edited:Jeff X - Aug 04, 2022 8:15:54 pm EDT

Conrad Sallian, Support (Posts: 2953)

Aug 05, 2022 9:14:56 am EDT

Hello Jeff,

Neither RU Server nor Host provides IP address binding. There used to be one on the Host long time ago, but we removed that feature because it was no longer necessary.

Thanks.

Jeff X, User (Posts: 9)

Aug 05, 2022 10:01:36 am EDT

Support level: Free or trial

Conrad Sallian wrote:
Neither RU Server nor Host provides IP address binding. There used to be one on the Host long time ago, but we removed that feature because it was no longer necessary.

It's very necessary if you have multiple services listening to the same port (443 in my use case), on the same Windows server.

I consider RU to be polished and feature rich but I'm very surprised that you cannot limit which IP(s) that the RU server binds to and listens on. That's pretty basic functionality for most socket based, commercial software.

So I'm interpreting your answer to mean that I would have to install RU server on a separate Windows PC/server instance in order to have RU server listen on port 443 because I have other services already listening on port 443. In other words, RU server binds to all IP's assigned to the PC/server that it is installed upon. Is this correct?

Edited:Jeff X - Aug 05, 2022 10:06:46 am EDT

Pauline, Support (Posts: 2776)

Aug 05, 2022 12:55:41 pm EDT

Hello Jeff,

Yes, you need to have port 443, 5655 or any other custom port opened and not used by another software on your RU Server machine. For more information please also see this page.

Hope that helps.

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