FTP server on home network

I want to run an FTP server on my PC so I can access certain files and
directories when I'm out and about.

I can set the server up fine, but I can't suss out how to get the server
seen 'beyond' the router.

At present, the server is seen on my internal LAN IP - 192.168.0.10, on
port 21

Don't i need to show it on my WAN IP, the one assigned by my ISP (which
is a static one as i'm on ADSL)?

I have a Draytek 2600 router.

I often upload to my personal webspace using an FTP utility via port 21,
so I don't want to interfere with that

How can I ensure I can see the FTP server from the outside world, and
not cause problems with my web page uploading by mixing up port
forwarding et al?

In article <(E-Mail Removed)> ,
(E-Mail Removed), a.k.a Tx2 says...


> I want to run an FTP server on my PC so I can access certain files and
> directories when I'm out and about.
>
> I can set the server up fine, but I can't suss out how to get the server
> seen 'beyond' the router.
>
> At present, the server is seen on my internal LAN IP - 192.168.0.10, on
> port 21
>
> Don't i need to show it on my WAN IP, the one assigned by my ISP (which
> is a static one as i'm on ADSL)?
>
> I have a Draytek 2600 router.
>
> I often upload to my personal webspace using an FTP utility via port 21,
> so I don't want to interfere with that
>
> How can I ensure I can see the FTP server from the outside world, and
> not cause problems with my web page uploading by mixing up port
> forwarding et al?


Of course should mention i'm using the Gene6 FTP server (evaluation)
found at http://www.gene6.com/

"Tx2" <(E-Mail Removed)> wrote in message
news:(E-Mail Removed) t...
>
> I want to run an FTP server on my PC so I can access certain files and
> directories when I'm out and about.
>
> I can set the server up fine, but I can't suss out how to get the server
> seen 'beyond' the router.
>
> At present, the server is seen on my internal LAN IP - 192.168.0.10, on
> port 21
>
> Don't i need to show it on my WAN IP, the one assigned by my ISP (which
> is a static one as i'm on ADSL)?
>
> I have a Draytek 2600 router.
>
> I often upload to my personal webspace using an FTP utility via port 21,
> so I don't want to interfere with that
>
> How can I ensure I can see the FTP server from the outside world, and
> not cause problems with my web page uploading by mixing up port
> forwarding et al?

I am no expert but I have played about with FTP servers in the past.

Of course for an FTP session instigated from your network no port forwarding
is required
For incoming traffic you need to punch a hole in the routers firewall at
Port 21, I cant see how this will affect your outgoing Port 21 traffic, let
alone any other port.

What I don’t understand is what you mean when you say you don’t want to
expose your (static) external IP. Do you have multiple IP’s?

Surely there must be an external IP involved?

As I said I am not an expert, maybe I have misunderstood your problem.


--
Graham.

%Profound_observation%

--
Graham.



%Profound_observation%

"Tx2" <(E-Mail Removed)> wrote in message
news:(E-Mail Removed) t...
> I want to run an FTP server on my PC so I can access certain files and
> directories when I'm out and about.
[snip]
> I have a Draytek 2600 router.

Do you just need access to the files, or do you need to be able to upload
files too? If the former, forget FTP and use a web server. If the latter,
have you considered SSH and SFTP?

Running an FTP is server behind a NAT router can be problematic. In most
cases, simply configuring the router to forward TCP port 21 to the server's
IP address allows so-called "active" transfers to work, but getting
"passive" transfers to work normally requires specific support in the server
software and additional ports forwarding.

[snip]
> How can I ensure I can see the FTP server from the outside world, and
> not cause problems with my web page uploading by mixing up port
> forwarding et al?

You need a machine "outside" to test, such as a friend's. There shouldn't be
any problem for outgoing FTP use in any case, although limitations of some
routers can cause apparently mysterious failures if you use the additional
port forwarding I mentioned above.

Alex

In article <(E-Mail Removed)>, (E-Mail Removed), a.k.a Alex
Fraser says...


> Do you just need access to the files, or do you need to be able to upload
> files too?

Mainly the former, but i'd like to keep my options open.

It's mainly when i'm out and about and think, "gah! that .pdf doc would
be useful right now" ....

Likewise, if i 'uncover' a useful file on the web etc, it'd be useful to
be able to remotely transfer it onto my PC

> If the former, forget FTP and use a web server.

If i knew how to do this ... ?

> If the latter, have you considered SSH and SFTP?

Again, i know nothing about this.

> Running an FTP is server behind a NAT router can be problematic. In most
> cases, simply configuring the router to forward TCP port 21 to the server's
> IP address allows so-called "active" transfers to work, but getting
> "passive" transfers to work normally requires specific support in the server
> software and additional ports forwarding.

OK, i see i am going to hit problems here.
Can you enlarge on the web server side of things?

In article <(E-Mail Removed)>, (E-Mail Removed), a.k.a Graham
says...

[...]

> What I don?t understand is what you mean when you say you don?t want to
> expose your (static) external IP.

Neither do i, i didn't say this?

> Do you have multiple IP?s?

No, static x 1 via my ISP

> Surely there must be an external IP involved?

Yes, my WAN IP

> As I said I am not an expert, maybe I have misunderstood your problem

Maybe you did ;-)

On Mon, 22 Nov 2004 08:45:52 -0000, Tx2
<(E-Mail Removed)> strung together this:

>It's mainly when i'm out and about and think, "gah! that .pdf doc would
>be useful right now" ....
>
I wanted to acheive a similar goal to you and thought about FTP.
I then decided it was easier to run a webserver and access the files I
need from that, to make it slightly easier I've just been building a
website for the business so have incorporated the files I want into
this.

>Likewise, if i 'uncover' a useful file on the web etc, it'd be useful to
>be able to remotely transfer it onto my PC
>
That was what I wanted, but as it doesn't happen too often I'm not
missing that feature. If I do happen to stumble across something that
I need I'll usually just email myself the link and upload when I'm
back at home.

>> If the former, forget FTP and use a web server.
>
>If i knew how to do this ... ?

Probably easier to set up than FTP, although I'm still working on the
security side of things. I suppose it depends how publicly available
you want your files.
Obviously access is easier on my part as I'm using a domain and
external webserver. If I were setting up my own webserver, (which I
did start to do), I'd continue down the route of IPCop which is
reasonably easy to setup.
--

SJW
A.C.S. Ltd
Please reply to group or use 'usenet' in email subject

In article <(E-Mail Removed)>,
(E-Mail Removed), a.k.a Lurch says...


> I wanted to acheive a similar goal to you and thought about FTP.
> I then decided it was easier to run a webserver and access the files I
> need from that, to make it slightly easier I've just been building a
> website for the business so have incorporated the files I want into
> this

The problem i have is that the files i want will either be .pdf files
(engineering manuals) or an app or util i need at that moment in time.

I have a laptop i use, but more often than not (although not always) i'm
rushing out the door with toast in one hand, and laptop in t'other, and
haven't updated the files from the desktop to the laptop!

Some of these files are quite large, so data transfer quotas might
become an issue if using a hosted server, along with the actual size of
files taking up storage space.

The preferred option is for me to access them directly on the PC, but i
can see this is starting to get a touch more complicated for the time i
can spend on setting it up

:-(

On Mon, 22 Nov 2004 09:59:52 -0000, Tx2
<(E-Mail Removed)> strung together this:

>The preferred option is for me to access them directly on the PC, but i
>can see this is starting to get a touch more complicated for the time i
>can spend on setting it up
>
That's pretty much what happened to my project, fantastic idea but not
as easy as I first thought, although my complication was more in the
dynamic IP area.
I think from the sounds of what you are trying to acheive a VPN into
your home network would probably be a sensible solution. This is what
I originally wanted to do with my setup so I could access all files on
all machines at home. I gave up on that one because of the dynamic IP
thing again.
--

SJW
A.C.S. Ltd
Please reply to group or use 'usenet' in email subject

"Tx2" <(E-Mail Removed)> wrote in message
news:(E-Mail Removed) t...
> In article <(E-Mail Removed)>, (E-Mail Removed), a.k.a Alex
> Fraser says...
>
> > Do you just need access to the files, or do you need to be able to
> > upload files too?
>
> Mainly the former, but i'd like to keep my options open.
>
> It's mainly when i'm out and about and think, "gah! that .pdf doc would
> be useful right now" ....
>
> Likewise, if i 'uncover' a useful file on the web etc, it'd be useful to
> be able to remotely transfer it onto my PC
>
> > If the former, forget FTP and use a web server.
>
> If i knew how to do this ... ?

It's a bit more difficult than setting up an FTP server, because the latter
has a more specific function. I'd recommend using Apache
(http://www.apache.org/httpd/) but you should be prepared to spend some time
reading the documentation.

You could even use server-side scripting to allow you to upload files,
although in most cases I expect Lurch's suggestion of emailing a link would
suffice. For a file that is not too large, you could simply email the file
itself.

> > If the latter, have you considered SSH and SFTP?
>
> Again, i know nothing about this.

Sadly, nor do I, as far as Windows goes... looking around, the situation is
not exactly what I'd call ideal. http://sshwindows.sourceforge.net/ looks
easiest as far as setting things up goes, and might be worth a try. You'll
also need a client; I use FileZilla (http://filezilla.sourceforge.net/) for
Windows.

The reason I suggested the two alternatives is that the potential problems I
described with FTP do not apply: only a single port needs to be forwarded.
The disadvantage of a web server is that, unlike FTP and SSH, it is not so
organised for authenticated access (but it can do it).

Alex