I am confused how my computer can be a server, client,
database server all at the same time. I am new to Visual
Studio .Net.

Hi anonymous,

This is a common confusion because people often think of servers as
computers. However, a server is actually software (often running on its own
computer but not necessarily so). In the case of vs .net, the server
software (IIS) is running on your computer. This means that it is listening
to various "ports" for messages. If you are connected to the Internet,
others can actually access your computer's IIS through port 80 (http) for
example. Another port is "local host" which is listening for activity on the
same computer that is hosting IIS.

The MSDE (SQL Server) software is doing the same thing -- it is listening to
various ports for calls to its services. The default installation generally
turns off ports to the outside world for security reasons but it still
listens to the local calls.

So when you are using vs .net, the same computer is running both the IIS
server software and the MSDE server software, both listening on the local
machine for calls to their services.

Hope this helps.

bill burrows

<anonymous (AT) discussions (DOT) microsoft.com> wrote

Hi!

William Burrows [MVP] (burrowsREMOVEME@u.washington.edu) wrote about "Re: server IIS, server SQL, LocalHost":
developer PC with VS .NET on it against tampering from the outside?
-On one hand, you need a running IIS on your PC to locally develop & test
WEB applications, on the other hand you sometimes need access to the outer
Internet-world to download some updates & stuff, but don't want to become
vulnerable.
Installing a personal firewall (like Kerio and the like) and block port 80
would keep the hackers outside, but shut down the IIS for internal WEB
application development as well, ain't it?

Thanks,
Kai

Kai,

I am not aware of any way to stop access to port 80 short of disconnecting
from the Internet if you want to do local development. You could block port
80 while on the internet (or stop IIS), then when you want to do web
development, you could disconnect from the Internet and unblock port 80 or
start IIS. I know this is not a good scenario.

However, if you have all the security patches installed and a good firewall
running, I don't think you need to worry too much about having port 80 open.

bill burrows

"Kai Rohrbacher" <myelectronicdustbin (AT) gmx (DOT) de> wrote

"Kai Rohrbacher" <myelectronicdustbin (AT) gmx (DOT) de> wrote

Hey Kai,

I run Sygate Personal Firewall and it blocks port 80 from outside requests,
but I am also able to run asp.net web apps locally for dev.
Additionally, I configured IIS to disable Anonymous access and allow access
with Windows Authentication. This also blocks outside requests
while letting me dev. locally.

Ron