Ok, I'm running a custom built server app for something that i'm making. But thatz beside the point. Its in Java, and my code works. I put it on my Red Hat 9 system, and install JRE 1.5. I try to run it, and it works fine. Then, I go to my router, and configure my port forwording, exactly how I used to when I had windows XP on the system. When the computer was running windows XP in the exact same configuration, users on the internet could access it fine. Now that itz under red hat, it will not. It works fine from inside my LAN, just not from the outside. I'm guessing it's a some hidden "security" feature of Linux that thinks its being smart. Anyway, I selected no firewall on the install, so why the heck is it blocking outside connection attempts? I consider myself pretty good with computers (I can use Java, Perl, HTML, PHP, C, VB 6 though I mainly use Java), and so far Linux has been a rollercoaster. If I can't get this to work, i'll be heading back for ground I'm more familiar with, Windows XP.

well, I'm heading back to windows. I'm fairly convinced that windows is far better than Linux in terms of reliability and speed.

I would just install Linux without any firewall, unless its a prerequisite, but I am fairly sure that its a option in the set-up menu

I didn't select a firewall, that was the frustrating thing . O well, im back in familiar territory, but thanx for the reply