FTP and Samba Problems

[xerox22]

So I got a 250 gig network drive the other day to hook up in my router and create a FTP and SAMBA filesharing system except I'm having trouble getting all that going. For starters, I'm using XP Pro, a netgear router.
Anyways, I've got the newtork drived mapped out on my oc thats hard wired to the router however I can't the my laptop which is also connected to the same network to map that hardrive. I've shut off all the firewalls and it still is having trouble mapping it. Secondly and most importantly to my system I really wanted FTP ability with the network attached drive. I'll set up FTP in the drive options and it let me access it by typing in my IP form my pc thats hardwired but I can't reach it via FTP on any other computers. I've forwarded port 21 for FTP and even forward 80 for web hosting. But I still can't seem to get access to it. I hope somebody can help me.
RECAP:
Necessary ports have been opened
it is mapped on my pc that is hardwired
i can't map it to a wireless device in the network
ThOUGHTS:
do i need software to be running this as an FTP server, does it need to be running all the time and if so where can i get this. i tried downloading one before but it didn't help my problem

Email or PM me if you have any ideas
******@osu.edu

Edit: Do not put your e-mail address on public webpages. -- Nodsu

 

[Nodsu]

First. All your client computers and the NAS appliance are on the LAN side of the router. So get rid of all the port forwardings you made on the router - they are useless.

Can you ping the NAS device from the clients?

"trouble mapping" means what? Are all your devices in the same workgroup? Do you have the relevant services and protocols installed/enabled in the client machines? You need client for microsoft networking, NetBIOS, workstation service.

Check the NAS setup for any access control settings. Perhaps you have to explicitly enable IP ranges that are allowed to access the device.

 

[xerox22]

Umm yeah there all part of the same network (workgroup). I'm now able to access my NAS from a wireless laptop as long as I am in the network. Once I got outside my network and type its address I am no longer able to access it. Even via FTP. I've tried this several times. I was told that by port forward on the router it would essentially make a tunnel to each device. Maybe thats not the way it works I'm not sure. I have a spare switch around if you think that'll help. I'm simply trying to set up an FTP server or a remote connection to my computer. A friend of mine said that it might be easier to do it by remote desktop. And again I can use remote desktop when my private network but once I go outside of that i can't. Thats y I thought you had to forward ports. I read an article that remote desktp port was 3389. Let me know if you have any new ideas now that you have more info. Also, in the NAS device. FTP is enabled and is has and IP address but that address is still under LAN from the router like you said because is is DHCP assigned by the router. Let me know thanks for your help.

 

[Nodsu]

So you want to have FTP access to your storage box over the internet?

IMO that is a bad idea. FTP is inherently insecure and once someone intercepts your password, your data is there for them to download or corrupt. Of course, you may be able to restrict the users accessing the thing from the internet in the NAS configuration.

 

[DelJo63]

apparently you wish to something like

Internet.clients---- your NAS --lan.router --- some server
...........................................................|
...........................................................+ -- some.other.lan.clients

Get the Lan side running first, then work on the Internet acces thru your NAS.

If all your LAN systems are Win/XP, then you don't need the SAMBA stuff.
I'll guess one system is Linux so then you'll need the SAMBA client loaded and
configured (there's a sample confg file on this site...search for it).

The server decision is the place to start. If you have Linux, then this is natural.
FTPd and SSHd are available and usually preloaded in the distro.
Otherwise, you'll need Windows Server software which is not loaded
on the XP/home or Pro editions.

As Nodsu notes, FTP is a risk. Move your access to SSH which supports the
FTP and Telnet protocols, you'll sleep better at night. If you insist upon FTP,
lean to use the PASSIVE command immediately after loggin-in. This avoids
the need to open the FTP data port(20).

Once your Lan systems can share files and printing, then you can config
the NAS to port forward the FTP port 21 (or the SSH port 22) to your LAN Server.
Don't forget to open port 22 on the server filewall too.
*do not* forward the file/print sharing ports 139,445.

 

[xerox22]

I've given up on including my Linux computer with all this. With that said. I have configured everything coreetly within my LAN network. I just can't seem to get it to be reached from the outside. Can you give me some simple steps as to how to do that. I've got serv-u server software. And I'm not sure at all how to use passive FTP as suppose to the other kind. Thanks for your help thus far. If you think a remote connection to my host computer would be easier to do just let me know and explain how I should set it up.

 

[Nodsu]

If you want to use active FTP through your router, then all you need is port 21 forwarded to the FTP server. That is assuming you are not restricting outgoing connections.

If you want to set up a passive FTP server, then you need one of:
1) a smart router that understands FTP and opens ports as the server reports them
2) a uPnP-capable router and FTP server. The server opens the ports it needs.
3) you forward a port range to the server and tell it to use only that range for passive connections.

If you are testing internet access from your LAN (you connect from a computer on your LAN to your own WAN address), then keep in mind that many routers do not support loopback connections (back to itself). You should test with a system that is actually located outside your network.

Now forget all the above because FTP is insecure

Set up a SSH server on one of your computers and forward port 22 to it. Use the SFTP protocol to access any files on the SSH host.