Please enable port setting for FTP

The latest My Book Live / Duo firmware has an “Enable FTP” option only, which uses port 21, and cannot be changed. If a customer has more than one My Book Live / Duo on their LAN, only one can be usable for FTP, since the My Book Live firmware is lacking this very basic and standard port configuration feature. Why punish a customer for being loyal? That makes no sense.

Please enable a user configurable port setting for the FTP server in a future firmware update.

That makes no sense.

Every MBL has a unique IP, so using the same port number is not a problem.

I have four MBLs on my network, and of course, it has no issue with FTP…

Many LANs, including my own, need port forwarding enabled in the router in order to work externally (from the Internet). So that means FTP doesn’t work if I connect to it from the Internet unless the router forwards ports 20-21 to the My Book Live IP. So, since all My Book Live’s are locked at ports 20-21, that means it can only forward external FTP requests to one My Book Live. I would need another port range for a second or third or forth My Book Live, which I can’t specify in the My Book Live.

My message was to Western Digital. It was a request to please enable port range configuration (a very basic and standard feature) for FTP in a firmware update for the My Book Live / Duo. Not for a 17,000+ poster to reply with “That makes no sense.” That is not helpful, and not user friendly.

TaneOrbs wrote:

My message was to Western Digital.

This isn’t Western Digital’s suggestion forum.   That’s here:   http://community.wdc.com/t5/Network-Product-Ideas/idb-p/network_ideas

TaneOrbs wrote:

[I] need port forwarding enabled in the router in order to work externally (from the Internet). …Not for a 17,000+ poster to reply with “That makes no sense.” That is not helpful, and not user friendly… 

It DIDN’T make sense.  :smileyvery-happy:  NOW it makes sense, but this was your first mention of trying to access it via the internet.  Maybe you should have opened with that?  How can someone help you when you don’t ask the question you actually meant to ask?

TaneOrbs wrote:

I would need another port range for a second or third or forth My Book Live

Every router I’ve ever seen allows you to set a different external port numbers, while still using the same internal port number.   ANY router worth its salt should be able to do that.  Routers that can’t are seriosuly disadvantaged, as that’s a primary function of NAT / Port Forwarding.

I’ve got two routers on my network, and, of course, they both support that type of function:

Almost all Linksys/Cisco routers will look similar to this:

Three MBLs using FTP on a different port (port 20 for MBL1, 30 for MBL2, etc.)

Similar setup, but much more powerful options, on most Actiontec routers:

Same thing.   Using port 30 for the external port for MBL at 10.0.0.11 (port 20 on the inside.)

All WD routers can do similar settings.  Yours can’t?

TaneOrbs wrote:

It was a request to please enable port range configuration (a very basic and standard feature) 

I’d argue that point – Yeah, many higher end NAS boxes have that capability, but not many “entry” level boxes, which the WD’s certainly are…

Finally, if you’re up to it, you can simply modify the vsftp.conf file in the MBL to set the ports and options to whatever you want them to be.

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Well, I followed your advice and replaced the router with a recent model (Asus RT-AC66R) that has full port mapping features. Flashed it with the latest firmware.

FTP is enabled (box is ticked) in My Book Live “Network” tab.

“Admin” account has a password.

Router is mapping external port 16100 to port 20 of the My Book Live’s IP address. (Set up a reserved IP address for the My Book Live in the router’s DHCP.)

When I run any FTP client externally, I get “Connection refused.”

I feel it is coming from the My Book Live, because if I blank the internal port or set it to port 21 on the Asus router, the connection hangs.

Tried several things… tried forwarding external and internal ports 20 and 21 to the My Book Live’s IP, and the connection either hangs, or I get “Connection refused.”

FTP does work internally.

I almost wonder if the My Book Live’s FTP might be deliberately configured to not work externally, due to an “assume the customer is up to no good” policy.

I don’t have the “Remote Access” checkbox ticked, because I don’t want to run the WD 2go server. Does that have to be ticked for FTP to work?

Anyway, if anyone has any ideas, I’d love to hear them. I’ve never had this much trouble setting up an FTP before.

I’m using an Asus RT-N66U and MyBookLive and have no issues forwarding an external port 1000 to an internal port 21 for FTP.

Only difference is I used port 21 for internal, it appears you are using 20?

Maybe Tony changed the default port for security reasons or does the MBLD support both port 20 and 21 for ftp?

EDIT1: I just checked the MBLD vsftpd.conf and the default listen port is 21

EDIT2: I see you said you tried 21 also

 

Not sure what your problem might be

I used port 20 because HE said he’s using ports 20-21   (Port 20 is an outbound port used for the DATA connection and thus never needs to be added to a port-forwarding rule, so not sure why, but I didn’t question him on that… :wink:

@TonyPh12345 Yeah I know you know what your talking about when it comes to anything networking :slight_smile: I was just trying to steer the OP in the right direction

EDIT: And then I missed where  TaneOrbs said he already tried port 21

I have an Asus RT-N66U and have my port forwarding set as follows

I turned off WIFI on my phone and connected through the phones LTE network no problem. I setup the FTP client on my phone to login to my WAN IP address at port 1000 with admin and the pasword I setup and it logged right in.

Also of note, you can’t forward external port 20 or 21 on the RT-N66U as it will be in conflict with the routers FTP server

This is taken right from the Asus WAN - Virtual Server / Port Forwarding page

When you set 20:21 as your FTP server’s port range for your WAN setup, then your FTP server would be in conflict with RT-N66U’s native FTP server.

Hope this helps

nfodiz’s settings worked. I just needed to use port 21 instead of port 20. That’s how I would have set it up to begin with, but I thought there was something about the My Book Live drive that needed to use port 20 instead, based on TonyPh12345’s image that he posted.

My original statement still stands… there should be MORE config options in the user interface for FTP instead of just a single “on/off” checkbox, like number of users, port setting, etc. Requiring the user to telnet onto the drive using SSH (which is enabled using a hidden page no less) and manually modify a config file, just to change options which would be easily included in the web interface… is ridiculous, and, at least to me, insulting. Just my opinion.

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TaneOrbs wrote:

 I thought there was something about the My Book Live drive that needed to use port 20 instead, based on TonyPh12345’s image that he posted.

As I said, I only used port 20 because *you* said you had to use port 20.   I never said the MBL required you to forward port 20.  You did. :wink:

TaneOrbs wrote:

My original statement still stands… there should be MORE config options in the user interface for FTP instead of just a single “on/off” checkbox, like number of users, port setting, etc. 

That statement defies logic.

Even after nfodiz and I showed you the correct way of configuring your router, you still insist on a mechanism that requires you to configure three things to make it work?

Our way:  Configure one thing:  Your router.

Your way:  Configure the router, configure the MBL, and configure the client application to use a custom port.

That, imho, is just flat silly.  :laughing:

But if you’re “insulted” by such lack of silliness, then, well, that’s up to you.

TaneOrbs wrote:  Requiring the user to telnet onto the drive using SSH (which is enabled using a hidden page no less) and manually modify a config file, just to change options which would be easily included in the web interface… is ridiculous, and, at least to me, insulting. Just my opinion.


Oh, boy.  Where would such a demand stop?  If *any* NAS vendor allowed WEB-based configuration changes to all of the bazillion options that are actually configurable, you’d NEVER be able to sift through all the options. 

So because WD doesn’t allow changes to FTP configuation via web, you’re insulted?   What about the 30-40 OTHER FTP options that are useful?   What about the 50-100 SAMBA options which are useful?  etc. etc.

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Rude and confrontational response from TonyPh12345.