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Author Topic: External FTP Connectivity  (Read 8599 times)

jaycast

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External FTP Connectivity
« on: January 10, 2009, 03:40:45 PM »

I'm having problems accessing the FTP server externally from various FTP clients as well as IE and Firefox.  It seems that I connect just fine, but the file system never loads--it just hangs.  In IE/WinExplorer, I eventually get a timeout notification.

I tried then using the Command-line FTP and could connect successfully as before, however when attempting to list directory contents, I'm hit with a "425 No data connection" error.

Now, as my ISP blocks port 21, I am using one of the alternate ports the DNS-321 will accept.  The alt port (5999) has been set in both my router and the DNS-321 itself.  Additionally, I have confirmed that when I access NAS through my internal IP (192.168.1.???:5999), I can browse its contents just fine. 

I'm pretty stumped with what could be causing my FTP issues.  Any help would be appreciated!

Thanks
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nrf

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Re: External FTP Connectivity
« Reply #1 on: January 10, 2009, 03:50:34 PM »

you may need 'passive' mode for this to work in some cases.
nrf
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jaycast

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Re: External FTP Connectivity
« Reply #2 on: January 10, 2009, 09:50:46 PM »

Thanks for the tip.  Unfortunately, passive mode is enabled in my FTP clients by default.  :(
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fordem

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Re: External FTP Connectivity
« Reply #3 on: January 11, 2009, 02:03:42 PM »

Thanks for the tip.  Unfortunately, passive mode is enabled in my FTP clients by default.  :(

Does the DNS-321 support passive mode?  I doubt it.
Did you configure a range of ports to be used as data channel ports on the DNS-321?
Did you configure the same range of ports to be forwarded to the DNS-321?

The reason I'm not willing to come right out and state that the DNS-321 does not support passive ftp is that I don't really know, I don't have one - it's older sibling the DNS-323 (which I do have) does not.

Even if the DNS-321 supports passive ftp, it won't work unless you configure it correctly - so if you did not complete the other steps I listed, you need to do that, before it will work - it's not just as simple as configuring the ftp client only.

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RAID1 is for disk redundancy - NOT data backup - don't confuse the two.

jaycast

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Re: External FTP Connectivity
« Reply #4 on: January 11, 2009, 08:05:07 PM »

To answer your questions, the config utility on the DNS-321 does not allow for a range of ports to be specified, only one given port.  That said, I could only forward that given port on my router, rather than a range.  I find it hard to believe that a product that is specifically targeting home users would not have passive capability and that I am the only one with this problem or scenario.  I'm pretty sure I've covered all my bases on the client side, router side, and the NAS config side--unless there is still one element that I am overlooking.
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fordem

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Re: External FTP Connectivity
« Reply #5 on: January 12, 2009, 04:54:11 AM »

If the config utility does not allow a range of ports to be specified then it does not support passive ftp - which is sort of what I expected.

You're not the only with the problem and not the only one in disbelief - however - the problem is not caused by the DNS-321 per se, it's caused by the inability of the client side NAT router to recognise the incoming data connection as belonging to the outgoing control connection, which in turn stems from the fact that you are using a non-standard ftp port in order to sneak around an ISP restriction.

In short the root cause is that your ISP does not permit the hosting on a ftp server and so blocks port 21.
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RAID1 is for disk redundancy - NOT data backup - don't confuse the two.

jaycast

  • Guest
Re: External FTP Connectivity
« Reply #6 on: January 12, 2009, 06:51:50 AM »

The last post left me with little hope of solving my problem.  In an act of desperation, I reviewed my ISP's list of blocked ports and it turns out 21 is not on the list.  Suffice to say, all is now working well with the default 21 port.

So for now I will walk away sheepishly...although I'm still unnerved that the DNS-321 firmware wouldn't offer port range support for Passive mode when I can get the same configuration working just fine on my desktop running FileZilla Server /w my current router.

Nonetheless, thanks for the advice!
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