HELP! Setting up FTP on my LAN so i can access it remotely??

[Ender510]

I've tried setting up WarFTP server and other FTP server on my server. I have the smc barricade. I've opened up the FTP port that I plan on using. I've tried ftping to my computer remotely, but cannot get through. It connects, does the user/pw fine, but then it starts trying to go to some internal IP.. like the IP of the computer, 192.168.123.xxx .. and it doesn't make it. What is the problem and how can I set this up?

Thanks in advance everyone..

 

[DarkSlayer]

Turning off passive transfer usually helps. It will be in the program you use to connect to your ftp.

 

[Ender510]

i've tried that.. and it connects at least, but it cant get past the 'ls' part of it.. it works when i'm on a computer within the LAN.. but externally, it does not.. any suggestions?

I have the SMC barricade and blackice on the server..

 

[MSantiago]

Few options here:

You can take the system that FTP is running on and set that as the DMZ client in your router. The computer will behave like it's outside of the firewall. No PASV compatibility needed.

If you want to keep the computer behind the router, set up port triggering on port 21 and point it to the 192.168.123.xxx. You'll also need to use PASV compatibility with this.

 

[Fokks]

Here are some instructions for setting it up through a Linksys cable modem router...

http://linksysftp.dyndns.org/

It should be pretty similar... hope that helps.

 

[Ender510]

Originally posted by: MSantiago
Few options here:

You can take the system that FTP is running on and set that as the DMZ client in your router. The computer will behave like it's outside of the firewall. No PASV compatibility needed.

If you want to keep the computer behind the router, set up port triggering on port 21 and point it to the 192.168.123.xxx. You'll also need to use PASV compatibility with this.

Can you elaborate on this please? I would like to keep the FTP behind the router.. what does 'port triggering port 21' do? Thank you..

 

[MSantiago]

I haven't played around with the SMC model you're using, but pretty much all routers support port triggering (may also be called port forwarding on your router). Whenever the router gets a request on a certain port, it'll forward those packets to the IP you give it. FTP control messages are sent via port 21, so you need to have all of those packets sent to the computer behind the router that's running the FTP server. FTP also uses a random port to send data through. Since the port is randomly determined, you can't set up port triggering for it. To get around this, you'll need to make sure that clients have PASV mode enabled.

 

[Ender510]

Thanks for the information and additional tips..

How about if I don't want to use the standard port 21? I have setup warftp server to use 30xxx port or something like that.. so where would I set this up? thanx again..

 

[MSantiago]

Ports other than 21 won't be a problem at all. Just double check the port that your FTP server is using and set up the router's port forwarding for 30xxx to point to 192.168.123.xxx (with xxx being the address of the computer running the FTP server). Also, when you try to connect to your FTP server, you need to explicitly point it to port 30xxx. Usually there's a text box in the connection dialog box that lets you add in a port number.

And as a final note -- when connecting to your FTP server remotely, be sure to type in your router's IP. 192.168.xxx.xxx is an internal network ID; if you try to connect to this, you'll never reach your server.

 

[Ender510]

Okay, I setup the port forwarding.. however, it still hangs on the 'ls' command.. i tried turning pasv on AND off on my ftp client. any other suggestions?

I am using the 'Virtual Server' screen on the SMC Barricade..

The columns it has are:

ID, Service Ports, Server IP, Enable Checkbox

xx, 30xx, 192.168.123.xxx, check

That is the only option..

any other suggestions? Thx again..

 

[Ender510]

I found some more details that outline the problem I am having.. but am still having some trouble in setting this up to work. Here is what is happening as described on the site:

Testing the FTP server is a little problematic. If you connect to the private IP address (192.168.123.1 for example) then it should work fine. However if you connect using the public IP address (the IP address all the users on the Internet would use) then you will find that it stops working on the first data connection (typically a directory listing). What you would expect to happen is:-

Client issues PORT command to server.
SMC translates PORT parameters to it?s IP address and a chosen port.
Server connects to supplied IP address and port by SMC.
SMC redirects the data to the original IP address and port originally specified by the client.

--

I got this from:
http://www.gbnetwork.co.uk/smcftpd/

Any help? =)