Ping Request

I have DCHP enabled on my laptop which is connecented to a router where Internet access is gained.

From an operational point of view nothing seems amiss, Internet access OK, can see all other
computers on the network and email works just fine.

Running Xp Pro the ipconfilg utility reports my IP address as 192.168.254.36 but the odd thing is I
can't ping that address wheras all other PCs on the network will give a ping result. From my laptop
I can also get a result for 127.0.0.1

Other computers on the LAN can ping my IP address OK

In depth research shows the problem lies with Norton Internet Security, since if I turn the security
off, then ping request [from my laptop] for my IP address are OK. The configuration in the NIS
Personal Firewall gives the LAN trusted status for 192,168.254.1 to 192.168.254.254

I would like to resolve this issue and wondered if anyone in this Newsgroup could offer suggestions
or a solution. Like I say it doesn't seem to be a problem but clearly something is not quite right.

David Bradley

"David Bradley" <(E-Mail Removed)> wrote in message
news:(E-Mail Removed)...
> I have DCHP enabled on my laptop which is connecented to a router where
Internet access is gained.
>
> From an operational point of view nothing seems amiss, Internet access OK,
can see all other
> computers on the network and email works just fine.
>
> Running Xp Pro the ipconfilg utility reports my IP address as
192.168.254.36 but the odd thing is I
> can't ping that address wheras all other PCs on the network will give a
ping result. From my laptop
> I can also get a result for 127.0.0.1
>
> Other computers on the LAN can ping my IP address OK
>
> In depth research shows the problem lies with Norton Internet Security,
since if I turn the security
> off, then ping request [from my laptop] for my IP address are OK. The
configuration in the NIS
> Personal Firewall gives the LAN trusted status for 192,168.254.1 to
192.168.254.254
>
> I would like to resolve this issue and wondered if anyone in this
Newsgroup could offer suggestions
> or a solution. Like I say it doesn't seem to be a problem but clearly
something is not quite right.
>
> David Bradley
>
>
Ok what is the problem. Peronaly all my servers and PCs ignore ping
requests.

Ian

On Sun, 1 May 2005 08:46:40 +0100, "Ian" <spam"AT"bathfordhill.co.uk> wrote:

>
>"David Bradley" <(E-Mail Removed)> wrote in message
>news:(E-Mail Removed).. .
>> I have DCHP enabled on my laptop which is connecented to a router where
>Internet access is gained.
>>
>> From an operational point of view nothing seems amiss, Internet access OK,
>can see all other
>> computers on the network and email works just fine.
>>
>> Running Xp Pro the ipconfilg utility reports my IP address as
>192.168.254.36 but the odd thing is I
>> can't ping that address wheras all other PCs on the network will give a
>ping result. From my laptop
>> I can also get a result for 127.0.0.1
>>
>> Other computers on the LAN can ping my IP address OK
>>
>> In depth research shows the problem lies with Norton Internet Security,
>since if I turn the security
>> off, then ping request [from my laptop] for my IP address are OK. The
>configuration in the NIS
>> Personal Firewall gives the LAN trusted status for 192,168.254.1 to
>192.168.254.254
>>
>> I would like to resolve this issue and wondered if anyone in this
>Newsgroup could offer suggestions
>> or a solution. Like I say it doesn't seem to be a problem but clearly
>something is not quite right.
>>
>> David Bradley
>>
>>
>Ok what is the problem. Peronaly all my servers and PCs ignore ping
>requests.
>
>Ian
>

As you know a ping command sends ICMP echo request message to verify that TCP/IP is configured
correctly and that a TCP/IP host is available. When setting up a local area network for the first
time this is a useful tool to determine the status of the connection and confirms that the
configuration is correct and that the cabling is sound. A further network diagnostic tool that also
helps is "netsh diag gui" where expections are that every test is passed.

Once you have established that all is indeed well, then you should have the choice to inhibit ping
requests, and indeed there are certain merits in not "advertising" the presence of a server or PC.
However whether the facility is on or off, the choice of doing so should be with the end user. The
software package Norton Internet Security decides that the default is that the facility is turned
off. I don't have a problem with that but I do expect to be able to configure the software to be
able to turn the facility on. I was only asking how; not that you, or anyone else, ignores ping
requests.

If there is a solution to this issue I would be very grateful to learn of the steps to be taken to
suit my needs. If it can't be done other than turning the Firewall off then NIS will be
deinstallend and another product used that will allow me to do this.

David Bradley

On 01 May 2005 09:16, David Bradley <(E-Mail Removed)> wrote:

>If it can't be done other than turning the Firewall off then NIS will be
>deinstallend and another product used that will allow me to do this.

Since it is likely to be a quiet weekend, and this is more of a LAN query
than about broadband, why not ask in uk.comp.home-networking.

Also, you might want to alter the line length from 100 down to about 78 or
so, to allow someone no badly wrapped text to quote. You should find it
on Options, Posting Preferences, (General is the tab which displays
initially, and it is at the top, right hand side). Peter M.

--
Plus.Net <http://tinyurl.com/5jpa4>
I recommend them and save some cash.

With a guarantee allowing new users to migrate if they're unhappy!

As far as I can see this is a complete non issue. If you want to ping
test to verify that your adapter is working - do it from another computer
which you have already said works.
On the laptop itself, all the 192.168.254.36 ping does is redirect to
127.0.0.1 so just ping that. Either way, that only proves that the
loopback is working, not the NIC connection to the outside world. The
only way to do that is to ping from another computer.

I can only assume that Norton is stopping the redirect to 127.0.0.1 based
on a security principal from ingress/egress policies.

Logically, all traffic coming in on the 192.168.254.36 address *should*
being coming from the wire and being passed to the computer's stack for
processing.

Norton is seeing traffic coming not from the wire but from the stack and
saying "hold on a minute, that's not supposed to happen". Therefore it
blocks it.

If for some reason you think you still need this 'feature/bug' then you
go delve into the firewall rules and explicitly allow ping from all
addresses, not just the trusted network.

--
Colin
*Drop DEAD from the email address to reply*

On 01 May 2005 10:18:38 GMT, cw <(E-Mail Removed)> wrote:

>As far as I can see this is a complete non issue. If you want to ping
>test to verify that your adapter is working - do it from another computer
>which you have already said works.
>On the laptop itself, all the 192.168.254.36 ping does is redirect to
>127.0.0.1 so just ping that. Either way, that only proves that the
>loopback is working, not the NIC connection to the outside world. The
>only way to do that is to ping from another computer.
>
>I can only assume that Norton is stopping the redirect to 127.0.0.1 based
>on a security principal from ingress/egress policies.
>
>Logically, all traffic coming in on the 192.168.254.36 address *should*
>being coming from the wire and being passed to the computer's stack for
>processing.
>
>Norton is seeing traffic coming not from the wire but from the stack and
>saying "hold on a minute, that's not supposed to happen". Therefore it
>blocks it.
>
>If for some reason you think you still need this 'feature/bug' then you
>go delve into the firewall rules and explicitly allow ping from all
>addresses, not just the trusted network.

Many thanks to Peter M and cw for their responses. As requested I have
changed my line length to 78, I suppose the 100 was a default but the change
makes no difference to me, so happy to oblige.

As for pinging yourself I was not aware of any "problems" until I used the
Network Diagnostics of Xp Pro which reported that the Network Adaptor had
FAILED; paging down the results there is another line that reads:
IP ADDRESS = 192.168.254.36 (FAILED) so it was not unreasonable to believe a
problem existed and, as already stated, was tracked down to NIS being
installed on the laptop. A pretty extensive delve into the firewall rules
indicated to me that other than turning off the firewall, ping results for
your own IP would not be resolved.

To my simple mind we have a bug here, either the software for Network
Diagnostics needs tweaking by Bill Gates or NIS should be changed so that it
allows self pinging of your own IP number. A non issue this maybe but
demonstrates how flaky software can be to cause unnecessary alarm and
despondency.

David Bradley

David Bradley <(E-Mail Removed)> wrote in
news:(E-Mail Removed):

> or NIS should be changed so that it
> allows self pinging of your own IP number

NIS, or its configuration, appears to be the prime suspect here. It
is a good idea IME to temporarily switch off firewalls on LAN systems
when diagnosing connectivity problems.