opening port 1024 for ubuntu linux?

[dgood]

I need to open the port I mentioned (1024) for Thunderbird to work correctly. I"m not sure which part I need, or how to do it in general. Any ideas?

[DMB2000uk]

Sorry, not my field, though maybe this bump will let ken or another linux user help you out.

Dan

[kenc51]

You shouldn't have to open any ports! Thunderbird needs a port from the LAN side, not the WAN side!

When a program requires a a server/pc to reply on a certain port, the router/PC will automatically do this.

Typical senario:
Computer A visits a website --> then PC A sends a request to the server running the site (using it's IP address) via port 80 and "asks" "can I view your info relating to port 80 please?"
The router, or OS on the PC also says, "please reply back to IP address x.x.x.x on port (insert random port No. here).

When the PC / Router gets the reply, it knows the IP address and the port it should reply back on. IF they IP and port is correct, it accepts this information and you get to see the webpage on the server.
The PC / Router stores this info in it's routing table, this data is then deleted when the transaction is complete.

My point is, the transaction is initiated by the PC not from a remote location. A firewall will only block unsolicited requests from the WAN side, not something you request!

If your having problems with E-Mail on port 1024, the try telnet the server. This should work and eliminates Thunderbird as the issue.

Type the following in a command prompt

telnet enter name of mail server here 1024

You should get a prompt with "OK + a bunch of numbers"
Then type
user your username --> Press enter
pass your password ---> Press enter

It should then login. You can type "list" to get a list of your mail header info

I don't think this is a firewall issue though!

[dgood]

I'm not sure I understood what you said. all I know is when I try to use webmail with thunderbird in ubuntu I can't. So I can't access my e-mails at all in linux via that. I was looking through the webmail settings and it says something like warning: some OS' block port 1024. So I assumed linux does naturally. I really just wanted to know how to open ports in the thing manually. Thunderbird works fine on vista with webmail. Hopefully that clears up my problem.
EDIT: It says some OS's block ports below 1024 so i have the find the pop/imap ports I believe 110 and something else 25 for smtp.

[kenc51]

POP3 is 25
SMTP is 110
IMAP is 143
IMAP with SSL is 993

You can install "Bulldog Firewall" and see if it has your port blocked. If you're using IMAP for mail, then having the port closed can cause problems as IMAP allows you to "sync" with your mailbox on the server (if you delete the mail in thunderbird, it's then deleted on the server, same for mark as read etc)

Bulldog is an easy to use GUI for IPtables (The firewall built into the Linux kernel)
Another option is to go to, http://www.grc.com and do a port scan.
The port can also be blocked by your router. If it is, goto portforward.com.

[dgood]

I wonder if the program just works different on linux. It says it can't access local host

[kenc51]

I wonder if the program just works different on linux. It says it can't access local host

Local host is YOU!
IP 127.0.0.1

Can you telnet the mail server?