Need help breaking through the firewall!

So here's the story... I fire up Second Life a couple days ago, get hooked on it while at work (during slow times, of course), and BAM then install a new firewall of some sort today that won't let SL go through. You know as well as I do that there's no way the IT guy is going to open up a socket for this purpose.

The question is: Is there a way I can reroute SL through an http proxy somehow? I can get to the rest of the web just fine, and if I can somehow piggyback SL out the door that way it may solve my problem. I know basically jack about this kind of stuff, so any replies should be in layman's terms.

I'm on a mac, using OSX, and use Vidalia/Tor to anonymize myself.

Yes, I know I shouldn't be playing at work at all anyway, but that's beside the point. It's a matter of principle!

Someone's got their priorities straight!

On a more serious note, I wish I could help you. My gut says no....but I have little to go on besides that feeling...

I don't know much about this, but I'm gonna take a shot in the dark and ask a question:

Couldn't a port and/or IP be opened up through a firewall to allow content?

If your company Installed Software to prevent you from reaching Non work related Material on their network, it is because they don't WANT you to access it, you Should remember that using a work computer for Non work related web surfing Can be grounds for termination in Most companies.
I sympathize, but err on the side of caution and Don't try to circumvent thier Firewall. SL isn't really worth losing your job over (Now you just KNOW i'm going to get Flamed for saying that. Lol).

Angel.

You're right, Angel. I should just surrender to the inevitable. Certainly not worth getting canned.

and btw tor isn't suited for network intense stuffs like sl

Hey, I think if someone asks, it's their deal to take the risk.

I had the same issue at my work. Here's what I did:

Our IT department has a dedicated DSL line that we use for testing purposes, that's not behind the firewall. I just asked for a jack to be run to my office to the DSL line.... "cause I need to test".

Problem solved

Have any openings there?? lol

It truly does suck. I get totally addicted to SL, and before I can even buy land I've got 2-dozen friends who are great to hang around with, then WHAM... company changes ownership, infrastructure is altered, and I lose my toehold on a fun new world.

Well, you Could use the time you save Not Playing SL to REALLY excel at your Job, Get promoted, get Raises,Bonuses, a Fringe benefit Package, then when you can afford it, Buy a newcomputer, and sign up for Internet at Home then Log into SL to escape the Rat Race that enables you to actually be in SL in the first place.

Just a thought.

Angel.

Sorry to necropost, but... That DSL line I had run last year? Its dead now, and I'm back behind our standard firewall as of this morning

Has anyone come up with a creative way of running SL on a more 'mainstream' port, like 80?

I got myself on an unmonitored VLAN at least, but it looks like all the non-mainstream ports like 13000 are blocked Anyone have any ideas on how I could get around restricted ports?

Having 13000, or other high ports opened up isn't an option, unfortunately.

Have you tried setting the port number to something other than 13000 in the Preferences of SL?

Didn't libsl have some kind of proxy server or something? If not, it shouldn't be too hard to write one or find a free/shareware one to run on your home machine. Would likely do nasty things to your ping but that's probably your only option, if you can't bribe somebody into unlocking the ports at work.

For the OP, who seems to be long gone, they probably didn't install a new firewall, they probably saw a spike in traffic on the SL ports and blocked them. This would an excellent time to take a hint.

@Bubba - tried that, unfortunately it'll only let you put in ports in the 13000-13050 range - none of which work

@Meade - I hadn't considered a libsl proxy solution. I dont care about high ping times... as long as I can *connect*, I dont care how laggy it is

I've poked around the libsl site, and see no reference or mention of any sort of proxy I could use in this sort of application. Could someone link me?

Seems to be http://www.libsecondlife.org/wiki/SLProxy , though I'm not sure it will do the trick for you..

Pretty much all the ways of getting around a firewall require the use of a friendly server on the outside of the firewall proxying your traffic for you (such as via an ssh tunnel). The short answer is, unless you are a compter geek, it is probably less trouble and effort to just go back to work.

I'm an x-geek thats in management now, so while I understand the lingo, my useful technical skills are starting to grow stale. Most of my experience revolves around pre-SUSE Novell products

- so yeah, you're probably right & I should just give up SL at the office /cry

err don't get caught but you need a proxy server and those are not very safe there are a lot on the net though but if your trying to run SL at work and your being blocked I would just stay blocked.

(safer if you want to keep your job..)


basically the proxy server you use their ip address instead of your own and connect to that which wont be blocked by the employer (supposedly) and then from there you connect to sl so the employer is seeing the ip of the proxy server not SL, but again if he has it blocked I would not be going about finding ways around the block if I were you ..

Oh, you're one of the bosses. Well, that's a different kettle of fish. In that case you need to hire a your local free lance SL enabled computer geek at an astronomical rate to maintain 'external data services'. Then you can both SL your company's wave of rising consultant fees and falling employee productivity right into bankruptcy. [Disclaimer: This advice is offered with tounge firmly in cheek. Only evil overlords and government officals should attempt such high-level corruption]

Delegate!!!

Just get your SL fix on the forums during the work day - many do.