Here is the situation:

A server with the site and debugger installed is on a corporate network, and is inaccessible from outside.
When I am connected to the network, I am unable to use remote debugging - the debugger gives an error.
When I am connected through the VPN, remote debugging works great.
What's wrong?

Here is my configuration in php.ini
debugger.enabled=on
debugger.profiler_enabled=on
debugger.hosts_allow=ALL
debugger.ports=7869, 10000/16

Is there any specific error you get? Perhaps you are running a firewall on your client machine in the network, making it impossible for the debugger to connect back? I'm just making assumptions as there isn't much information to work with...

Its standard:

Failed to start DBG session


Reason: connection to the client address 10.120.1.0:7869 is not allowed
Not sure what it means? Visit http://www.nusphere.com/dbg/ for troubleshooting.

Debugger request: "(null)"
Request found in: "(null)"
Target PHP version: "5.1.4"
Server API: "Apache 2.0 Handler"
Extensions API: "220051025"
Modules API: "20050922"
PHP API: "20041225"


Seems like an access issue on the part of the debugger - since everything works through the VPN?

Err, the client address is 10.120.1.0? Seems like impossible to me?
The debugger attempts to make a connection to port 7869 on that IP (which should be the IP of your workstation) and it can't
connect, it's there that something is going wrong I think.
Are you sure the "Debugger Host" in the PHPEd settings on your workstation (IDE > Run & Debug) is set to "clienthost" (or the IP of your workstation)?

I'll check the next time I'm on the network....
Thanks!

Address is correct for LAN.
What message "connection to the client address 10.120.1.0:7869 is not allowed" means is that either 10.120.1.0 address or 7869 port is somehow not allowed. Please double check php.ini on the server.


I do not see dbg.so (or php_dbg.dll)
Is it above or below the lines? In latter case, php will not properly update settings for the module. Feel free to submit it as a php bug there http://bugs.php.net

It's above those lines.

Once again, I am able to debug properly when connected to the network over VPN, but its painfully slow.
So it is working, but the issue, like you said is access...

I turned off my local firewall completely, and still have the same problem. So where should I look for the problem?

BTW, I am able to access other services on that server, like MySQL from my local computer, over VPN, or direct LAN connection. As far as I remember I didn't have to change any settings on the server to allow that.

If you have performance problems while connected through VPN, check VPN.
If you need to work without VPN, please proceed with instructions on how to install debuggre and troubleshoot the problems. All are listed there
http://forum.nusphere.com/howto-install-debugger-module-t576.html
http://forum.nusphere.com/tip-troubleshooting-debugger-communications-t579.html
From the error line shown below
connection to the client address 10.120.1.0:7869 is not allowed
it is clear that either port or address are not allowed. It can't be anything else. Either you have no approrpiate settings in appropriate php.ini or they are not in effect, for example if you forgot to restart apache after the changes were made.