SignalR self-host: Windows firewall settings?

Question

I have a SignalR self-hosted server application. Whether run as a console application or as a Windows Service, it accepts traffic under all usual firewall rules required in our environment except for one--the SignalR service is only reachable when the "Programs and Services" assignment in the firewall inbound rule is set to "All programs that meet the specified conditions" rather than "This program." For operation in the production environment, however, this rule will be required.

I'm guessing one of the DLLs for SignalR or OWIN might need to be chosen for "This Program" rather than the self hosted server application executable. Is it one of these, or something else entirely? What should the "This Program:" field in the properties for the inbound rule be set to?

I should add that when the server application is installed and run as a service, choosing "Apply to this service" with the appropriate service selected also does not work, nor does "Apply to services only", even when the settings are otherwise set to allow "all programs that meet the specified conditions." Just where exactly does the firewall consider the self hosting to be operating? — UtopiaLtd

UtopiaLtd UtopiaLtd · Accepted Answer · 2013-04-17T17:07:44

After further investigation, it turns out the actual web listening was being hosted by the System process. As explained in answers to another question, apparently all HTTP listening winds up going through the System process.

Setting the application in the rule to "System" worked for this.

SignalR self-host: Windows firewall settings?

1 Answers