FTP Server Setup

[cdcushman]

So i have spent the last 3 hours or so researching on my own and am stuck...
I have installed filezilla server
I have registered with dynDNS
I have forwarded ports 20 and 21 to what I though was the ftp server address
(the default for filezilla)
and now i am help confused on the next step to get my
ftp server up and running...
Anyone take the time to nudge me in the right direction please?

 

[ColKurtz]

The ftp server address is the ip address of the computer running filezilla server. Do an "ipconfig" on the filezilla server -- that is the address you will forware port 20 and 21 to.

Make it static, since rebooting can cause a DHCP address to change.

 

[cdcushman]

How do you make your ip address static?
Is that not something you have to change through your ISP?
I thought that was what dynDNS was for?
I'm pretty confused aparently.

 

[Atheus]

Okey dokey...

Your ISP provides the machine connected to your modem/phone line (the router, right?) with an IP address. This is a public IP address, meaning it can be accessed from the internet, and it's the one you want to tell dyndns about so it can associate the address with your chosen domain name. Find it by looking at your router's config page or by going to www.whatismyip.com

Your PCs have different IP addresses to the router. These are 'private' addresses accessable only on the local network, so if you want to make them accessable from the internet you must tell your router to 'forward' ports to one of those addresses. The addresses can be provided by the router (the same way the ISP's router provides your router) or set to be static. You can check the IP address of a windows PC by going Start --> Run --> type 'cmd' press enter --> type 'ipconfig /all' press enter. This will likely be the address provided by your router (therefore it can change at any time) so you want to make it static by going to Control Panel --> Network Connections --> Local Area Connection (right click) Properties --> TCP/IP Properties. It should be on the same subnet as the other local machines, so one PC is 192.168.0.2 you can make another 192.168.0.3

So people will type 'cdcushmansdomain.com' to access your FTP server. The domain name will be translated into your public IP, the connection request will be sent to your router, which will 'route' it to the local IP address you specify.

Got it? That was longer than intended, hope it was helpful.

 

[JackMDS]

May be this can Help, Connecting through the Internet to a Home / SOHO Computer / Server. Or How Do I find My Network on the Internet?

:sun:

 

[cdcushman]

Awesome! I'll try it on my lunch break... Another question:
When I start filezilla it asks what server address i want to connect too
(something like 171.0.0.1 and says if i intend to enter another address that i must enter a password. This step is also throwing me off. How does this relate to the previous discussion?

 

[Atheus]

From the documentation:

Q: I've just installed the server and after starting the interface, it asks for a server address.
A: Despite administrating the server on the local machine, the interface can also be used to administrate remote servers. But you will most likely want to administrate your local server. In this case enter 127.0.0.1 as server address. For the server port, you have to enter the same port number you did specify during installation for the admin port. (default: 14147)

127.0.0.1 means "this machine", so you can put that as the server address, or you can put the real 'private' address of the PC.

 

[cdcushman]

Well... I just got back from a failed attempt over lunch.
I went to network settings and attempted to change my wireless connection tcp/ip properties for my computer a static ip address.
unslelcted choose ip automatically and selected use 192.168.0.3
gateway 255.255.255.0 and default gateway of 192.168.0.1 as listed in the ipconfig.
I told my router to forward ports 20-21 to my computers new static address...
and it did not work. In addition i was unable to access the internet.

It almost felt as if i needed to tell my router to accept this new static computer ip, but that doesnt make much sence, since it could already handle a dynamic one. grrrrrrrrrrr what am i missing?

 

[cdcushman]

p.s. its cable modem -> wireless router (D-Link) -> . . . -> computer

 

[ColKurtz]

As far as your internet no longer working after setting to static, you probably need to manually add your DNS addresses (this has nothing to do with dydns). Switch the filezilla server back to DHCP, go to a dos prompt and type "ipconfig /all". Make a note of any and all DNS server addresses.

Now go back into your network -> tcp/ip settings, change it back to the static address, and where it says "preferred DNS server" put the DNS address in that you noted above. If there was more than one DNS server put the 2nd one in the "secondary DNS server" field.

That should take care of it.

As for the port forwarding not working, how did you test? You typically can't test an external connection from behind a router. In other words, if you were in your house and wanted to test your inbound connection (to ensure your port forwarding was working) you can't test it from another computer on the same router. You'll either have to test from work/friend's house/etc, or you could also test from a dial-up connection within your house.

 

[cdcushman]

That DNS stuff makes sense to me. Thanks! I'll try that tonight.
Another question.
Can you tie a local ftp server to a hosted domain name without tapping your alloted bandwidth. i.e. use my domain in place of something like dynDNS to point to my public IP. My host utilizes cpanel if that matters.

 

[cdcushman]

People outside my network can get in to my server by using my public IP address...
but the dynDNS <yourhostname>.dyndns.org does not work for them
Do you have to set up something on your routers firewall for dynDNS to work properly?
What else could it be?

 

[tami]

Originally posted by: cdcushman
That DNS stuff makes sense to me. Thanks! I'll try that tonight.
Another question.
Can you tie a local ftp server to a hosted domain name without tapping your alloted bandwidth. i.e. use my domain in place of something like dynDNS to point to my public IP. My host utilizes cpanel if that matters.

no, you can't tie your local ftp server (which resides on your local network, not on your hosting provider) to your hosting provider unless you moved all the files onto your host.

dyndns needs to be updated frequently. make sure nslookup resolves properly to the IP address. sometimes it takes awhile for the DNS to propagate.