FTP from remote location

Ok. Purchased a My Cloud EX2 to replace an older D-Link 321 unit. From everything I had read, it said the EX2 had FTP capabilities. Since I received it, I have not been able to get FTP up and running. Have read several articles in here since saying something was broke in the firmware with FTP. 

Now those articles were from last year. Has anything actually been done since then to correct this problem.

I have everything turned on that needs to be (as far as I know), done the whole port forwarding on my router etc.

ANYONE using an EX2 with remote FTP that could help would be appreciated.

Thanks

Brian

eltz67 wrote:

Have read several articles in here since saying something was broke in the firmware with FTP. 

 

Now those articles were from last year. Has anything actually been done since then to correct this problem.

 

Yes, the ftp issue has been fixed since August 2014.

eltz67 wrote:

done the whole port forwarding on my router etc.

 

Be sure to setup port forwarding rules for both port 21 AND the port range for the passive ports that you have configured on EX2’s dashboard. And if ftp still fails, be advised that some ISPs block port 21. Mine does. S I use a non-standard port. The only two non-standard ports configurablefrom dashboard’s ftp settings are 2121 and 9921. If 21 doesn’t work, you could try testing with one of those (making sure you update router’s port forwarding accordingly), in case your ISP blocks port 21 too.

You can also attach screenshots of the port forwardings on your router and EX2 dashboard’s ftp config screens, to give us a better idea (making sure you don’t display your WAN IP).

forwarding.JPG

would love to see your settings on the EX2 to allow ftp to come thru

eltz67 wrote:

would love to see your settings on the EX2 to allow ftp to come thru

Here is what I had to put in my router to forward the CUSTOM ports for FTP to my ex2;

            

              1st entry is Protecol Name, 2nd entry is protecol and port numbers, 3rd entry is destination on my LAN.

OurCloudFTP TCP/UDP: 990 192.1681.51  
 
OurCloudFTP_PSV TCP/UDP: 55536-55566 192.168.1.51

Obviously I had to configure the ex2 FTP to accept these values from within the ex2 UI.  Just click the configure link when you enable FTP and setup appropriately.

eltz67 wrote:

forwarding.JPG

Yep, just as I suspected (and mentioned in my previous comment…and Vertech1 just mentioned minutes ago…you need to also port forward the passive port range that you will find in the EX2’s ftp config screen. Unless you port forward that, you haen’t forwarded the ports of the most important thing - the ports over which actual data transmission takes place. The passive port range is customizable, if I remember the EX2’s config screens correctly, although it’s been a long time. But you can just stick with the defaults and I think Vertech1 mentioned that port range. Just make sure you add that port range’s port forwarding on your router and you should be good to go.

BTW, at this point you can take out the 2121 port forwarding rule. And also, if you have an option for this, you need only set up a TCP and not UDP port forwarding for this. For better security, I try to minimize port forwardings as little as possible. Just TCP would suffice.

ok, did all that. ports should be all set. 

forwarding.JPG

Then I get this, which I didnt before. 

but never asked for username of password. Ugggggg this was so much easier on the D-link box.   So I’m assuming I’ve got the shares screwed up somewhere??

Browsers don’t make debugging ftp issues easy. I highly recommend you install an ftp client and see what the output is…usually error messages are displayed in the ftp output text. Or if you must use a browser at least use a site like this one -  http://www.g6ftpserver.com/en/ftptest

And I am assuming the obvious…that you have configured the ftp from EX2’s dashboard. Barring that, the only other thing that I can think of is that your shares have not had ftp enabled (from the shares tab in EX2 dashboard).

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As Cybernut1 said, you must setup FTP in the EX2 as well.  Also, as Cybernut1 said, your ISP may very well be blocking port 21, in which case it will never work. (Doesnt seem likely since you appear to have made the initial handshake)  The passive ports in the EX2 must match the passive ports that you have configured in your router.  Since you seem to be copying the passive port setup I used, I can tell you that the EX2 by default tries to use many more than 30 ports.  Again, make sure the EX2 is configured the same under the FTP config link.

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Just wanted to thank you both. With your help I have finally figured it out :slight_smile: Kudos to both of you!

Glad your ftp is working.

One additional and very important thing I’d like to mention - your port forwardings will likely stop working at some point UNLESS you assign static IP to EX2 on your router (assuming that you are using DHCP). Because with DHCP it’s not guaranteed that the next time your router or the EX2 reboots that your EX2 will get the same LAN IP as it currently does. And once EX2’s IP changes, the port forwarding to that IP will become useless. So if you do port forwarding for the EX2 (or to any other device on the network), the most practical thing is to assign it a static LAN IP (aka DHCP IP reservation).

yup. EX2 is all locked on to a static IP :slight_smile: