Cannot access Confluence through browser when Windows Firewall is on

[Chris Murphy]

Hi folks,

Running into an issue whereby Windows Firewall is blocking my users from accessing my Confluence instance available on our intranet.

Confluence is installed on a Windows Server 2016 machine and running as a service.
The HTTP port being used is 8453, and connector port 8090. 
When enabling the Domain Profile firewall within Windows Firewall, users can no longer access the Confluence instance in a browser (they receive timeout or connection refused errors). On the actual machine itself, Confluence is still accessible when the firewall is on.

Ports 8453, 8090, and 8000 have been allowed through the firewall within Inbound Routes.

I've used WinDump to track the ports being used by Confluence and can confirm that only 8453 and 8090 appear in that dump and are not properly received by the server.

Any ideas?

[Zak Laughton]

Hi Chris,

That is strange that the firewall seems to be blocking access to the application, even though the ports are open. Here are a few initial things I'd look into:

• Check the Event Viewer for any telling events or errors during the connection attempt.
• Enable firewall logs, see if any helpful messages show when trying to connect (How to Track Firewall Activity with the Windows Firewall Log)

I hope this helps! Let us know if you find anything interesting.

-Zak