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Odd connection problem, or, how many hops will MUSHClient make?

Posted by Rayearth on Sun 27 May 2001 04:44 AM — 15 posts, 55,108 views.

Rayearth USA #0
Okay; so, here's the deal. I'm trying to connect to a MU* that exists on a machine where I have a shell account. Eudora pings the machine just fine; I can get my mail. Windows Telnet works just fine; I can telnet to the machine, log in to my shell account, then log in to the game from there.

MUSHClient won't do it. "Network unreachable."

I try tracerouting the machine. Traceroute can't get there in 30 hops; it takes 31. Ping gets there in 18 hops.

Does MUSHClient only make X number of hops towards a machine before it gives up? If so, is there anything to be done to make that a settable option, or what not?

Or is there something else I can do?
Nick Gammon Australia Forum Administrator #1

There is no specific setting, however I think that the Winsock routines default to timing out after a smallish time (10 seconds or so). You may need to tweak your Registry to get it to work properly.

You could visit this web page about registry entries pertaining to TCP/IP. Maybe some of these might help:

Parameters Configurable Using the Registry Editor

Amended on Mon 28 May 2001 03:43 AM by Nick Gammon
Rayearth USA #2
Hmm. Unfortunately, none of the stuff in the help page you posted helps; none of it appears in my registry, at least, not where it's supposed to be.

Since I was stupid and forgot to mention: I'm on Windows 98 SE; my connection is a shared T1 line via Ethernet, using a 3com 10/100 PCI Ethernet card. Don't know if that makes a difference, though.
Nick Gammon Australia Forum Administrator #3
Quote:

I try tracerouting the machine. Traceroute can't get there in 30 hops; it takes 31. Ping gets there in 18 hops.


How do you know that ping gets there in 18 hops?

Both ping and traceroute (and TCP for that matter) should be taking the same route, a route which itself might change as parts of the network go up or down, or are considered faster by the routers.

A possibility that I didn't think of before was that there might be a firewall stopping you, either at your end or the server end.

When you tried MUSHclient did you telnet to the machine (port 23) and then go to the MUD, or connect directly to the MUD's port?

It is possible they are allowing in ICMP requests (pings) and port 23 but not whatever port the MUD is on.

I would try port 23 to see what happens.

Rayearth USA #4
The ping information came by way of a friend; apparently the TTL information was related to the hop information... I'm not sure how accurate it is.

Further testing shows that I can connect to port 23; just not 6464. (I've emailed the server admin about it). I don't think it's firewalled, though... I can't think of any reason it would be on their end. Plus, others can connect to the MU* just fine.
Nick Gammon Australia Forum Administrator #5
Sounds like a firewall somewhere. MUSHclient certainly doesn't prohibit any ports in particular.

Another test would be to telnet (using Microsoft's telnet) to port 6464. That would rule out, one way or the other, whether it is anything to do with MUSHclient.

Also, if you give me the server address I can try it myself, which might help clear up which end the firewall is at.
Rayearth USA #6
Mmm. Okay, the address is foobar.noderunner.net 6464.

And yes, it is not possible (for me) to telnet to the address with Windows telnet. It's all very strange.
Nick Gammon Australia Forum Administrator #7
I connected OK with MUSHclient, here it the connection screen:


    ______   .______   .______,  ______     .____,  .__    __,
  (^`    '~).)     |,  |      ~)(^`    '~).)^~    ^~== '(..)` |
 |` .)^~(.__(^~)`   | .)  ==|  |` .)^~(.__(^ .(^~), ~)   '`   |
 |  |         (^ || ~)|       .)  |       |  |    |  |  ,  .  |
 |, ~)__(^^~(.|      '==  (^^~~), ~)__(^^~(. '(..)` .)  (^~)  |
  (.,    ..)~)  (^~), ~)  |     (.,    ..)~)__    __==  |  |  |
    ^~^~^~   '^~`   ^~^~^~`       ^~^~^~     '^~^~`  '^~`  '^~`

                 |   | |^~` (^~)  (^|  |  |  |~)
                  | |  |^~` (^|   ~),  |  |  '(.
                  \ `  |__, | \   (.|  '__`  |.)

                 .______________________________
                (^        |        '|   (^   ..)
                |   ======|   (^(.  |      .(^
                (.        |   | |   |    '~),
                (^^~^~^~  |   | |   |   ,   ~)__
                (.________(.__| |__(.____==____.)




Thus, there must be a firewall somewhere between you and the MUD. If you are at a school or office they might have one, if you are at home it is possible that your ISP has blocked certain ports for some reason.

You can always telnet in using MUSHclient (to port 23) and then connect to the MUD - won't that work OK?
Amended on Mon 28 May 2001 08:50 PM by Nick Gammon
Rayearth USA #8
It works, but the echo of my commands to the output screen is disorienting to say the least. :) Plus, connecting that way seems unduly slow.
Nick Gammon Australia Forum Administrator #9
You should be able to turn echoing off at your Unix shell, try typing:


stty -echo


As for the slowness, if you can work out the firewall problem it will go away, unfortunately the way you are doing it the shell (telnet) is effectively processing everything twice.
Rayearth USA #10
Hmm. Well, stty -echo does indeed kill the echo... until I actually make connection with the MUSH. Then it starts echoing things again...
Nick Gammon Australia Forum Administrator #11
How annoying. Better try to work out the firewall problem. :)
Rayearth USA #12
I am. According to the helpdesk of UCI ResNet (which naturally handles the residential networking), port 6464 -isn't- blocked. Frown. Double frown. So, apparently, the port isn't block ed at either end.
Nick Gammon Australia Forum Administrator #13
I assume you haven't installed some sort of personal firewall? I know that sounds obvious, bear with me. :)

All I can suggest is work it out in conjunction with a friend or two. It obviously isn't directly a MUSHclient problem as you have the same problem with telnet.

Try getting a friend to set up a server on port 6464 and try to connect to that (you can use the PennMUSH download, that lets you set the port number).

Or get them to download my "portinfo" program which is a small program that echoes a message on a nominated port.

See: http://www.gammon.com.au/utilities/portinfo.htm

If you can't get to them either I think you can make a case that the port *is* blocked. However if you can, then get the friend to try the MUD itself.

One way or the other you should be able to narrow down what part of the network is doing it.
Rayearth USA #14
No, no personal firewall. Though I've been considering one. Hmm. I'll try getting a friend to help me test.