I have been running a server on my home PC for almost a year now without altering any of the settings. Recently I bought another PC and connected it to internet through the one holding the server using the shared connection option offered by Network Setup Wizard (I'm using Windows XP SP2). Now the server can only be accessed from the PC hosting it - attempting it from anywhere else gets connection timeout. Any ideas on how to fix it?
Its a NAT issue...the Internet Connection Sharing (ICS) you are using is blocking out the ports for inbound connecion(internal routing) and maybe a firewall is also in place. If you are on ADSL (I think so), configure your ADSL router to connect to the ISP. Enable NAT from the router. Set the IP addresses of the two PCs manually and gateway as router IP. Then in DMZ settings, add the local IP of the PC hosting the webserver. Remember to install security s/w on the webserver.
I have cable not DSL, sorry - should have mentioned. I do not even possess a router - the two PCs are connected with a crossover cable. Anyway, I just found the problem (yes - literally in the middle of writing this post). Apparently Windows decided my shared internet connection should be firewalled, nevermind the other firewall already in place. Now after disabling windows firewall from the advanced(!) connection settings, the server is back online and I have a hunch that less urgent problems (like printer sharing not working) may be caused by the same problem. Thank You for Your time.