Windows Server 2012 - Checking port status and adding exception

  • Execute the following command and look for a ":3306" listener (you did not mention UDP/TCP). This will confirm there is something running on the port.
    netstat -a -n
  • After this, if you are expecting incoming connections on this port and feel that the firewall may be blocking them, you could start windows firewall logging and check the logs for dropped connections
    • Go to the Windows Firewall, Advanced settings
    • Click on the Settings button next to "Local Area Connection"
    • Select "Log dropped packets"
    • Look at the log file location (if not present define one)
    • Click OK
    • Now, when the connection attempt is made (assuming you know when this is done), look at the log file for a drop on port 3306.
    • If this is seen, you will want to add an exception for this port.
  • There is one more command to check the firewall state
    (Update for Windows 7 users -- as referred by Nick below -- use netsh advfirewall firewall)
    netsh firewall show state
    • this will list the blocked ports as well as active listening ports with application associations
  • This command will dump the Windows firewall configuration detail
    netsh firewall show config