Svr 2003 stopped accepting incoming RDP & FTP connections after SP

Hi

I have a Server 2003 machine with dual nics running RRAS and MS FTP Server
(it's also a domain controller). RRAS is configured with some RDP port
forwards under the NAT configuration for remote RDP access to other machines
on the network. Since Server 2003 SP2 and a bunch of other updates were
applied automatically I can no longer get an RDP connection directly to the
server from outside the network. Also, the FTP server no longer accepts
connections. When an FTP connection is made to the public IP address of the
server I get the FTP login prompt and it allows me to enter a username.
However, as soon as the username is entered the FTP Server closes the
connection. There are also some MSFTPSVC warnings in the event log to do with
120 second inactivity timeouts.

I can establish RDP connections to the other machines on the network so RRAS
is obviously working to a point. So, I'm able to get remote access to the
server by RDP to a workstation then RDP to the server from there!

I'm pretty sure it's related to either service pack 2 or one of the updates
which were installed yesterday (automatically) as the problem showed up
yesterday after these were installed!

Has anyone experienced this or got any suggestions?

Thanks in advance!

Yes, SP2 tightened up the security on such things and caused a few things
to stop working.

This is a very bad idea anyway. You should not have RRAS running on a DC
and you should not have your DC directly connected to the Internet. You
should have a hardware router or a dedicated firewall/router (such as ISA
server) as your Internet gateway. Even a dedicated RRAS router would be an
improvement.

"Tiran Irani" <(E-Mail Removed)> wrote in message
news:100720AC-FCEB-4EFF-9F28-(E-Mail Removed)...
> Hi
>
> I have a Server 2003 machine with dual nics running RRAS and MS FTP Server
> (it's also a domain controller). RRAS is configured with some RDP port
> forwards under the NAT configuration for remote RDP access to other
> machines
> on the network. Since Server 2003 SP2 and a bunch of other updates were
> applied automatically I can no longer get an RDP connection directly to
> the
> server from outside the network. Also, the FTP server no longer accepts
> connections. When an FTP connection is made to the public IP address of
> the
> server I get the FTP login prompt and it allows me to enter a username.
> However, as soon as the username is entered the FTP Server closes the
> connection. There are also some MSFTPSVC warnings in the event log to do
> with
> 120 second inactivity timeouts.
>
> I can establish RDP connections to the other machines on the network so
> RRAS
> is obviously working to a point. So, I'm able to get remote access to the
> server by RDP to a workstation then RDP to the server from there!
>
> I'm pretty sure it's related to either service pack 2 or one of the
> updates
> which were installed yesterday (automatically) as the problem showed up
> yesterday after these were installed!
>
> Has anyone experienced this or got any suggestions?
>
> Thanks in advance!
>

This is somewhat common on SBS 2003 with two NICs. This is similar to your
setup.

http://support.microsoft.com/kb/555912

http://blogs.technet.com/sbs/archive...p2-on-sbs.aspx

In a nutshell update your NIC drivers then apply the following update.

http://support.microsoft.com/kb/936594/

--
Kerry Brown
MS-MVP - Windows Desktop Experience: Systems Administration

"Tiran Irani" <(E-Mail Removed)> wrote in message
news:100720AC-FCEB-4EFF-9F28-(E-Mail Removed)...
> Hi
>
> I have a Server 2003 machine with dual nics running RRAS and MS FTP Server
> (it's also a domain controller). RRAS is configured with some RDP port
> forwards under the NAT configuration for remote RDP access to other
> machines
> on the network. Since Server 2003 SP2 and a bunch of other updates were
> applied automatically I can no longer get an RDP connection directly to
> the
> server from outside the network. Also, the FTP server no longer accepts
> connections. When an FTP connection is made to the public IP address of
> the
> server I get the FTP login prompt and it allows me to enter a username.
> However, as soon as the username is entered the FTP Server closes the
> connection. There are also some MSFTPSVC warnings in the event log to do
> with
> 120 second inactivity timeouts.
>
> I can establish RDP connections to the other machines on the network so
> RRAS
> is obviously working to a point. So, I'm able to get remote access to the
> server by RDP to a workstation then RDP to the server from there!
>
> I'm pretty sure it's related to either service pack 2 or one of the
> updates
> which were installed yesterday (automatically) as the problem showed up
> yesterday after these were installed!
>
> Has anyone experienced this or got any suggestions?
>
> Thanks in advance!
>

I am aware that this isnt the best scenario and I'm in discussions with my
client at the moment to resolve this.

Do you have any specifics on what may be going on here?

Thanks

"Bill Grant" wrote:

> Yes, SP2 tightened up the security on such things and caused a few things
> to stop working.
>
> This is a very bad idea anyway. You should not have RRAS running on a DC
> and you should not have your DC directly connected to the Internet. You
> should have a hardware router or a dedicated firewall/router (such as ISA
> server) as your Internet gateway. Even a dedicated RRAS router would be an
> improvement.
>
> "Tiran Irani" <(E-Mail Removed)> wrote in message
> news:100720AC-FCEB-4EFF-9F28-(E-Mail Removed)...
> > Hi
> >
> > I have a Server 2003 machine with dual nics running RRAS and MS FTP Server
> > (it's also a domain controller). RRAS is configured with some RDP port
> > forwards under the NAT configuration for remote RDP access to other
> > machines
> > on the network. Since Server 2003 SP2 and a bunch of other updates were
> > applied automatically I can no longer get an RDP connection directly to
> > the
> > server from outside the network. Also, the FTP server no longer accepts
> > connections. When an FTP connection is made to the public IP address of
> > the
> > server I get the FTP login prompt and it allows me to enter a username.
> > However, as soon as the username is entered the FTP Server closes the
> > connection. There are also some MSFTPSVC warnings in the event log to do
> > with
> > 120 second inactivity timeouts.
> >
> > I can establish RDP connections to the other machines on the network so
> > RRAS
> > is obviously working to a point. So, I'm able to get remote access to the
> > server by RDP to a workstation then RDP to the server from there!
> >
> > I'm pretty sure it's related to either service pack 2 or one of the
> > updates
> > which were installed yesterday (automatically) as the problem showed up
> > yesterday after these were installed!
> >
> > Has anyone experienced this or got any suggestions?
> >
> > Thanks in advance!
> >
>