Windows XP SP2 Firewall issues with ActiveX

[greg_quinn]

Our web application (that gets installed on a client's network server) has a few activeX controls that connect directly to a MySQL database running on Port 20101.

Now all was working fine until the server (Being a Windows XP Professional PC) got SP2 installed on it.

ActiveX controls no longer worked. So I added Port 20101 as an exception on the windows firewall, both TCP and UDP. But now the behaviour is still spontaneous, one day it works, another day the controls don't work.

If I turn off the firewall completely, the controls always work. So why don't the exceptions work correctly like they should?

Please help on this, this is very frustrating!

[Dave Sell]

perhaps it is using a pool of ports (a range of ports), more than just 1 port. Is that possible?

[greg_quinn]

Yeah that is possible, I ran a netstat check and it seems quite a few ports are being used. But we've only had this problem in an enviroment that doesn't have a DNS.

I think the problem also occurs when the server dials up toi the internet, its IP changes and that caues probs.

Anyway, we've decided to let our software only be run from a proper server OS, Windows XP has been a bit of a nightmare to maintain with all these Service Pack 2 features and other goodies...

[Dave Sell]

Originally posted by greg_quinn
Anyway, we've decided to let our software only be run from a proper server OS, Windows XP has been a bit of a nightmare to maintain with all these Service Pack 2 features and other goodies...

Which OS did you choose?

[greg_quinn]

Either Windows 2000 Server or Windows 2003 Server...