Samba ftp server

Some weeks ago, I bought on ebay an USB/LAN combo box in which I put a 200
GB 3.5" HD.

It has several capabilities:
Maintenance via USB.
An IP address (which I chose fixed) is allocated to the box, so the access
is possible via the network (wired and WiFi).
A Samba server is embedded in order to access it via ftp. Filezilla works
fine as far as I remain within my home network.

What I'd like is to access it through the Internet. Every time the gateway
connects to Internet, ADSL Autoconnect sends the dynamic IP address to an
email box. I tried to connect an external computer to mine via ftp to the IP
address I receive by e-mail but nothing happens and there are no option in
Filezilla to deal with. Especially I think I've to establish a link
somewhere to route the data to the HD box.

What am I missing ?

TIA

(E-Mail Removed) declared for all the world to hear...
> Some weeks ago, I bought on ebay an USB/LAN combo box in which I put a 200
> GB 3.5" HD.
>
> It has several capabilities:
> Maintenance via USB.
> An IP address (which I chose fixed) is allocated to the box, so the access
> is possible via the network (wired and WiFi).
> A Samba server is embedded in order to access it via ftp. Filezilla works
> fine as far as I remain within my home network.
>
> What I'd like is to access it through the Internet. Every time the gateway
> connects to Internet, ADSL Autoconnect sends the dynamic IP address to an
> email box. I tried to connect an external computer to mine via ftp to the IP
> address I receive by e-mail but nothing happens and there are no option in
> Filezilla to deal with. Especially I think I've to establish a link
> somewhere to route the data to the HD box.
>
> What am I missing ?

Port forwarding on your router.
--
Regards
Jon

Soni tempori elseu romani yeof helsforo nisson ol sefini ill des Wed, 6 Dec
2006 23:28:18 +0100, sefini jorgo geanyet des mani yeof do
uk.comp.home-networking, yawatina tan reek esk "frischmoutt"
<(E-Mail Removed)> fornis do marikano es bono tan el:

>A Samba server is embedded in order to access it via ftp. Filezilla works
>fine as far as I remain within my home network.

Uh, samba is for SMB ("Windows file sharing"), not FTP, which is separate.

deKay
--
Lofi Gaming - http://lofi-gaming.org.uk
Gaming Diary - http://lofi-gaming.org.uk/diary
Blog - http://lofi-gaming.org.uk/blog
My computer runs at 3.5MHz and I'm proud of that

frischmoutt <(E-Mail Removed)> wrote:
> Some weeks ago, I bought on ebay an USB/LAN combo box in which I put a 200
> GB 3.5" HD.
>
> It has several capabilities:
> Maintenance via USB.
> An IP address (which I chose fixed) is allocated to the box, so the access
> is possible via the network (wired and WiFi).
> A Samba server is embedded in order to access it via ftp. Filezilla works
> fine as far as I remain within my home network.
>
That doesn't make sense, Samba is *not* the same as FTP. If it acts
as a Samba server then you can mount the drive as a Windows shared
network drive. If it's an FTP server then you need an FTP client to
connect to it (though Windows Explorer can make an FTP connection look
like a shared drive).

> What I'd like is to access it through the Internet. Every time the gateway
> connects to Internet, ADSL Autoconnect sends the dynamic IP address to an
> email box. I tried to connect an external computer to mine via ftp to the IP
> address I receive by e-mail but nothing happens and there are no option in
> Filezilla to deal with. Especially I think I've to establish a link
> somewhere to route the data to the HD box.
>
> What am I missing ?
>
The difference between Samba and FTP for a start, I suspect. :-)

--
Chris Green

In message <45774811$0$27405$(E-Mail Removed)>, frischmoutt
<(E-Mail Removed)> writes
>Some weeks ago, I bought on ebay an USB/LAN combo box in which I put a 200
>GB 3.5" HD.
>
>It has several capabilities:
>Maintenance via USB.
>An IP address (which I chose fixed) is allocated to the box, so the access
>is possible via the network (wired and WiFi).
>A Samba server is embedded in order to access it via ftp. Filezilla works
>fine as far as I remain within my home network.

As other have noted, Samba and FTP are different. It's quite possible
that the device has both Samba (also known as SMB) and also FTP. You
need to know which you are going to use before you can enable Internet
access.

>
>What I'd like is to access it through the Internet. Every time the gateway
>connects to Internet, ADSL Autoconnect sends the dynamic IP address to an
>email box. I tried to connect an external computer to mine via ftp to the IP
>address I receive by e-mail but nothing happens and there are no option in
>Filezilla to deal with. Especially I think I've to establish a link
>somewhere to route the data to the HD box.

What you need to do is to set up your router to pass traffic arriving on
its external interface to the right machine on its internal network.
This is done by port-forwarding.

Each type of service uses different ports on the interface. So for
instance FTP usually uses ports 21 and 22 while SMB usually uses ports
137 and 139. If your device uses FTP then you need to forward traffic
arriving at port 21 on the external interface of the router to port 21
of the disk box. Similarly for whatever other ports you require.

Bear in mind that there are people who scan the Internet looking for
machines with FTP server ports open. They will then attempt to hack the
servers. If you really want to set up an FTP server then port-forwarding
will do it. But I suggest that you think long and hard before doing it,
and that you make sure that you have adequate security systems in place.
My suggestion would be that you consider using a spare PC running one of
the Linux firewall distros as a further barrier. That would let you do
things like setting up port-knocking security.


--
Bernard Peek
back in search of cognoscenti

<(E-Mail Removed)> a écrit dans le message news:
4577de40$0$631$(E-Mail Removed)...
> frischmoutt <(E-Mail Removed)> wrote:
> > Some weeks ago, I bought on ebay an USB/LAN combo box in which I put a
200
> > GB 3.5" HD.
> >
> > It has several capabilities:
> > Maintenance via USB.
> > An IP address (which I chose fixed) is allocated to the box, so the
access
> > is possible via the network (wired and WiFi).
> > A Samba server is embedded in order to access it via ftp. Filezilla
works
> > fine as far as I remain within my home network.
> >
> That doesn't make sense, Samba is *not* the same as FTP. If it acts
> as a Samba server then you can mount the drive as a Windows shared
> network drive. If it's an FTP server then you need an FTP client to
> connect to it (though Windows Explorer can make an FTP connection look
> like a shared drive).
>
> > What I'd like is to access it through the Internet. Every time the
gateway
> > connects to Internet, ADSL Autoconnect sends the dynamic IP address to
an
> > email box. I tried to connect an external computer to mine via ftp to
the IP
> > address I receive by e-mail but nothing happens and there are no option
in
> > Filezilla to deal with. Especially I think I've to establish a link
> > somewhere to route the data to the HD box.
> >
> > What am I missing ?
> >
> The difference between Samba and FTP for a start, I suspect. :-)

Two people corrected. Obviously I made an error !
SAMBA is for sharing the disk under the network.
FTP is for accessing the disk with an ftp client.
In fact it has both capabilities, with associated securities, separately
managed.

Anyway, this doesn't change the question. It seems that I need to configure
the gateway.

Thanks

"Bernard Peek" <(E-Mail Removed)> a écrit dans le message news:
n9soeiLRh$(E-Mail Removed)...
> In message <45774811$0$27405$(E-Mail Removed)>, frischmoutt
> <(E-Mail Removed)> writes
> >Some weeks ago, I bought on ebay an USB/LAN combo box in which I put a
200
> >GB 3.5" HD.
> >
> >It has several capabilities:
> >Maintenance via USB.
> >An IP address (which I chose fixed) is allocated to the box, so the
access
> >is possible via the network (wired and WiFi).
> >A Samba server is embedded in order to access it via ftp. Filezilla works
> >fine as far as I remain within my home network.
>
> As other have noted, Samba and FTP are different. It's quite possible
> that the device has both Samba (also known as SMB) and also FTP. You
> need to know which you are going to use before you can enable Internet
> access.
>
> >
> >What I'd like is to access it through the Internet. Every time the
gateway
> >connects to Internet, ADSL Autoconnect sends the dynamic IP address to an
> >email box. I tried to connect an external computer to mine via ftp to the
IP
> >address I receive by e-mail but nothing happens and there are no option
in
> >Filezilla to deal with. Especially I think I've to establish a link
> >somewhere to route the data to the HD box.
>
> What you need to do is to set up your router to pass traffic arriving on
> its external interface to the right machine on its internal network.
> This is done by port-forwarding.
>
> Each type of service uses different ports on the interface. So for
> instance FTP usually uses ports 21 and 22 while SMB usually uses ports
> 137 and 139. If your device uses FTP then you need to forward traffic
> arriving at port 21 on the external interface of the router to port 21
> of the disk box. Similarly for whatever other ports you require.
>
> Bear in mind that there are people who scan the Internet looking for
> machines with FTP server ports open. They will then attempt to hack the
> servers. If you really want to set up an FTP server then port-forwarding
> will do it. But I suggest that you think long and hard before doing it,
> and that you make sure that you have adequate security systems in place.
> My suggestion would be that you consider using a spare PC running one of
> the Linux firewall distros as a further barrier. That would let you do
> things like setting up port-knocking security.
> --
> Bernard Peek
> back in search of cognoscenti

Thanks a lot Bernard for your reply. May I ask a little bit more ?

In fact, this for experimentation purpose only. At least for the moment.
I access to internet through a gateway which is connected to an USB/ADSL. I
don't use any router. The gateway runs under Win98, protected by ZoneAlarm
4.5. Internet is shared by the windows Internet Connection Sharing module. A
small network is connected to this computer.

Do I need to edit the properties of the network neighbourhood of the gateway
and change something ?
Domestic TCI/IP properties ? gateway IP address ? WINS configuration ?

I would probably find the answer with the help of Google. Certainly not
within a short while and also with lotta more information than I need !

Thanks for the warnings. I'm aware of the dangers but not competent enough
yet. The reason why I need to experiment first. Linux will be the next step!

Bye

"frischmoutt" <(E-Mail Removed)> wrote in message
news:45774811$0$27405$(E-Mail Removed)...
> Some weeks ago, I bought on ebay an USB/LAN combo box in which I put a
> 200 GB 3.5" HD.
[snip]
> What I'd like is to access it through the Internet.

As others have noted, you need to forward appropriate ports on the router.
What no one has pointed out (as far as I can see) is that when running an
FTP server behind a NAT router, it can be tricky or even impossible to
configure things so that "passive" data transfers work.

Unfortunately, many FTP clients default to using passive transfers because
they are more likely to work if the client is behind a firewall and/or NAT
router.

You mentioned Filezilla; I haven't got it on this PC but I have used it in
the past and expect you can force it to use passive transfers. I strongly
recommend using it to test (from another Internet connection).

Alex

In message <45788a98$0$5080$(E-Mail Removed)>, frischmoutt
<(E-Mail Removed)> writes


>Thanks a lot Bernard for your reply. May I ask a little bit more ?

I've got free time right now (unless anyone out there needs an IT
Manager in a hurry.)

>
>In fact, this for experimentation purpose only. At least for the moment.
>I access to internet through a gateway which is connected to an USB/ADSL. I
>don't use any router. The gateway runs under Win98, protected by ZoneAlarm
>4.5. Internet is shared by the windows Internet Connection Sharing module. A
>small network is connected to this computer.

OK.

>
>Do I need to edit the properties of the network neighbourhood of the gateway
>and change something ?
>Domestic TCI/IP properties ? gateway IP address ? WINS configuration ?

I haven't used Internet Connection Sharing so I'm going to have to guess
some of this.

ICS sets up the Windows machine as the gateway, and sets its IP address
to 192.168.0.1 and that's quite difficult to change. I believe it also
sets up a DHCP server so that the gateway can issue IP addresses and
other settings to client machines.

Every other machine on your network must have an address
192.168.0.something. The something has to be a number between 2 and 254.
You can either set these up manually or allow the gateway to assign a
number. When a networked machine powers up it can look for a DHCP server
on the network, and get its settings from that. So your Windows box has
to be powered up first with ICS running, then the other machines
afterwards.

If you choose to set the other systems up manually then you need to set
their IP addresses to an unused number in the 192.168.0.* range. Set
their gateway, WINS server and DNS server addresses to 192.168.0.1 and
their net mask to 255.255.255.0.

>I would probably find the answer with the help of Google. Certainly not
>within a short while and also with lotta more information than I need !
>
>Thanks for the warnings. I'm aware of the dangers but not competent enough
>yet. The reason why I need to experiment first. Linux will be the next step!

I'm not advising you to use a general-purpose Linux system, but a
dedicated Linux firewall system. It's your data and your decision, but I
would say that what you learn from setting up a Smoothwall of IPCop
firewall would be very valuable. I think you should learn that much
before you set up an internet-facing server.

If you allow an unprotected machine to be connected to the Internet then
it is likely to be compromised and will probably become part of
someone's botnet. That makes it a danger to every other Internet user.
Please don't do it.



--
Bernard Peek
back in search of cognoscenti

"Bernard Peek" <(E-Mail Removed)> a écrit dans le message news:
(E-Mail Removed)...
> In message <45788a98$0$5080$(E-Mail Removed)>, frischmoutt
> <(E-Mail Removed)> writes
>
>
> >Thanks a lot Bernard for your reply. May I ask a little bit more ?
>
> I've got free time right now (unless anyone out there needs an IT
> Manager in a hurry.)

<grin>


> >
> >In fact, this for experimentation purpose only. At least for the moment.
> >I access to internet through a gateway which is connected to an USB/ADSL.
I
> >don't use any router. The gateway runs under Win98, protected by
ZoneAlarm
> >4.5. Internet is shared by the windows Internet Connection Sharing
module. A
> >small network is connected to this computer.
>
> OK.
> >
> >Do I need to edit the properties of the network neighbourhood of the
gateway
> >and change something ?
> >Domestic TCI/IP properties ? gateway IP address ? WINS configuration ?
>
> I haven't used Internet Connection Sharing so I'm going to have to guess
> some of this.
>
> ICS sets up the Windows machine as the gateway, and sets its IP address
> to 192.168.0.1 and that's quite difficult to change. I believe it also
> sets up a DHCP server so that the gateway can issue IP addresses and
> other settings to client machines.

Almost correct. I don't like standards so I didn't use DHCP and the gateway
computer's address is 192.168.0.32.
The LANstorage is at 192.168.0.3.


> Every other machine on your network must have an address
> 192.168.0.something. The something has to be a number between 2 and 254.

Correct


> You can either set these up manually or allow the gateway to assign a
> number. When a networked machine powers up it can look for a DHCP server
> on the network, and get its settings from that. So your Windows box has
> to be powered up first with ICS running, then the other machines
> afterwards.

It has an assigned IP address. So it isn't necessary to take care of the
order.


> If you choose to set the other systems up manually then you need to set
> their IP addresses to an unused number in the 192.168.0.* range. Set
> their gateway, WINS server and DNS server addresses to 192.168.0.1 and
> their net mask to 255.255.255.0.

OK,
About the gateway, the DNS are my Intermet Provider's ones.
I didn't change anything for the moment.
No WINS and no gateway on the gateway of course.

On the other computers, The DNS are also my IP's ones, no WINS and the
gateway parms are configurated to have the gateway computer address. e.g.:
192.168.0.32.
The PDA is configurated in the same way when it connects to the WiFi access
point. In fact the WiFi AP is completely transparent.

I think the only modifications I have to do for accessing the LANstorage
through ftp is within the network neighbourhood of the gateway computer.
So, if I understand well, I shall put the LANstorage IP address
(192.168.0.3) in the gateway computer's DNS and WINS. This way will make it
transparent from accessing the LAN storage through Internet. Is that correct
?


> >I would probably find the answer with the help of Google. Certainly not
> >within a short while and also with lotta more information than I need !
> >
> >Thanks for the warnings. I'm aware of the dangers but not competent
enough
> >yet. The reason why I need to experiment first. Linux will be the next
step!
>
> I'm not advising you to use a general-purpose Linux system, but a
> dedicated Linux firewall system. It's your data and your decision, but I
> would say that what you learn from setting up a Smoothwall of IPCop
> firewall would be very valuable. I think you should learn that much
> before you set up an internet-facing server.
>
> If you allow an unprotected machine to be connected to the Internet then
> it is likely to be compromised and will probably become part of
> someone's botnet. That makes it a danger to every other Internet user.
> Please don't do it.

OK, I'll follow your recomms.


> Bernard Peek
> back in search of cognoscenti

Thanks again for your valuable reply.