Trying to set up an FTP Server

threeofspades

I have set up an FTP Server on my PC using Serv-U FTP Server. I have a broadband connection and use a Linksys WRT54G to send the signal around the house. I have set the router to allow FTP traffic through it but when i get my mates to try to access my server they are unable to do so ( they are situated somewhere else in the city). I set my PC up with a static ip address ( at least i think i did) but it has the address 192.168.1.100 which does not seem like a proper address. Also my mates are unable to ping that address. I got them to ping my router ip address and they are able to do so. So it seems that they can get as far as my router but once they are there they cannot find my ip address within the network. Does anyone know how i can fix this issue please?:)

aidan_walsh

192.x.y.z are private range addresses, and won't be visible from the outside. If you want to set up a static ip, it would have to be on the router. Most of the providers don't allow this.

Tar.Aldarion

How do you know if your provider does?

irlrobins

Tar wrote:

How do you know if your provider does?

They would prob state it in the features of each package. And they would also tell you what your ip address is in your welcome package.

In general, home DSL accounts don't have static ip addresses. IBB Breeze has static ip, as does Metro I think. NTL is dynamic too.

Edit: Your ISP may also block servers running on the standard http (80) and ftp (21) ports. Check your terms and conditions.

Rollo Tamasi

since you're using a router, the router will obtain an IP address and will continue to use it untill you reboot the router so it's not that much of an issue not having a static IP address. I have a dynamic IP with eircom and i have been using my IP as a home server for the past week.

Browse to your router (http://192.168.1.1) and log in, look for the "Port forwarding/Port triggering" section on the left. Select Port forwarding. Select FTP from the drop down list, put 192.168.1.100 in as the server IP address. Get your friend to FTP to the routers IP. et viola, they should now be connected to your PC

^ that's it in a nutshell

irlrobins

Rollo Tamasi wrote:

the router will obtain an IP address and will continue to use it untill you reboot the router

Not strictly true. If he has DSL, modem will obtain an ip address on first connect. IT wil get a lease on this ip and when that expires it will attempt to renew. It may or may not get the same ip address.

Ponster

You just need a dynamic IP solution such as no-ip.com

I've been with them for 2 years now and never had a problem.

They give you a new address (ptegan.myftp.org in my case) and a piece of software updates your address at every change of IP.

threeofspades

Thanks for all the quick replies. Aprreciate it. I have IBB Breeze account so the initial ip address i was given is a static one. The address i was given by IBB is set up as the router's ip address. I have set the router up to allow FTP access (using the guidelines from portforward.com for the Linksys router). So i think (not positive) that the router is all set up for allowing FTP traffic through. So perhaps the issue lies with my IP address on the FTP Server/PC? As you say aidan, the ip address 192.168.x.x is a private address so it can't be viewed from the outside. So in order for my FTP server to be connected to from the outside it needs to have the address provided by my ISP. But how do i set the FTP Server/PC up with an address that can be viewed from the outside, while at the same time having the router have a different ip address?

irlrobins

The port forwarding you have set up should direct any ftp traffic to your WAN ip (IBB ip) to the private ip of the PC that is running the server.

So lets for example say your static ip from IBB is 1.2.3.4. Anyone connecting to your FTP server should use this ip address to do so.
When their ftp request reaches the router, it will use the port forwarding rules you have set up to forward this request to the PC running the server (that has a private ip address 192.168.1.x).

Again, I'd check to see that IBB don't block traffic on port 21. You could try using another port if so.

threeofspades

Thanks for that irlrobins. I understand what you are saying and it makes sense to me. I will test that out. Unfort i'm off on holidays until next tuesday so can't test it until then. But once i check it out i will post my results results back up on this thread. Thank you again everyone. Will post reply soon.

threeofspades

You were spot on irlrobins! I was getting my mates to put in my private address in their FTP client. I got them to put in the static ip address i was given by my ISP and they could connect. But they keep getting kicked off after a few seconds but i think i just need to change some settings on the ServU FTP Server to allow them to stay connected. If i can't figure it out i'll post up the error on this board to give ye guys another challenge!! Thanks again everyone for all your help.:D