Testing a connection to a remote InterMapper server

Q. I am using InterMapper RemoteAccess to establish a connection to the InterMapper server that is in a remote location behind a firewall. The firewall is configured with port forwarding to route all traffic for port 8181 to the InterMapper server's IP address. When I try to connect, I receive an error that the 'InterMapper server is not available'. If I use a VPN connection, I am able to connect successfully. Is there a way to test whether I am actually connected to the InterMapper server?

A. You can test the connection to the InterMapper server as follows:

Use telnet to connect to the InterMapper server:

telnet xx.xx.xx.xx 8181 
  

- Enter the command <KC_version id="0">0.9</KC_version>

- If you have connected to an InterMapper server, you should see a KR response, such as <KR id='0' response='200'>0.9</KR>.

Note that this doesn't work if you are using a secure protocol for the Remote server. For encrypted connections, use OpenSSL to connect to the InterMapper server:

openssl s_client -connect xx.xx.xx.xx:8181

Paste the <KC_version id="0">0.9</KC_version> command and type Return. You should see a <KR id=xxx> response to indicate that the server is responding.