My Cloud - Port Problems

Hi there,

I purchased the My Cloud 2TB to use remotely on my MacBook Air and Apple devices. Unfortunately my internet service provider (Telus) blocks the ports My Cloud uses (443 & 80). My router is a Actiontec and I am now at a loss after trying to figure this out (calling WD, internet provider, & router manufacturer - and spending hours reading online).

I’ve read about making the My Cloud “static” but not sure exactly what I should do and if that will work for me. I’m no computer genius by any means, but I would love to find a way to use the drive for what it’s intended for.

If you can offer any help to this confused new WD customer, that would be greatly appreciated!

Thank you in advance for your support!

onemachado wrote:

Hi there,

 

I purchased the My Cloud 2TB to use remotely on my MacBook Air and Apple devices. Unfortunately my internet service provider (Telus) blocks the ports My Cloud uses (443 & 80). My router is a Actiontec and I am now at a loss after trying to figure this out (calling WD, internet provider, & router manufacturer - and spending hours reading online).

 

I’ve read about making the My Cloud “static” but not sure exactly what I should do and if that will work for me. I’m no computer genius by any means, but I would love to find a way to use the drive for what it’s intended for.

 

If you can offer any help to this confused new WD customer, that would be greatly appreciated!

 

Thank you in advance for your support!

If you canot port forward it will use relay via WD server.  Static IP address means giving the drive a permanent IP address. You will have to check your router manual. Also, read the mnaual which explains the setting needed in Dashboard.

Example router settings (you will have to check your router documenttion)

 in Dashboard goto settings/networks:

choose static

netwrok.png

then click on details and fill in the details, ex:

 the DNS1 and DNS2 servers you get from your router (it is from your ISP), so the router should have the details.

most routers use 192.168.1.1 but few want to be weird and use 192,.168.0.1… again check your documentation.

wdmycloud docs are here :

http://support.wd.com/product/install.asp?groupid=904&lang=en

Hope this helps.

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Thank you for the help!

I think I have all the information I need to fill out the fields properly when changing My Cloud to Static, but I wanted to double check with you, if that’s alright.

1. IP address -T this is the address for the WD My Cloud, correct?

2. Netmask - I can find my “Subnet Mask” which has numbers similar to the ones in your pic, but not exactly

3. Gateway - Would this be my router’s IP address?

4 & 5. DNS Servers -  I believe I found my DNS Server 1 & 2 on my routers information

Thank you again for your patience and assistance! I hope this works!

Also, if I set the My Cloud to “static” do I need to set my computer and devices to “static” as well? I’m hopeful that I can use the My Book outside of my home wifi network (when I’m at the office or on the road with my iPad). Sorry for the silly questions!

onemachado wrote:
Also, if I set the My Cloud to “static” do I need to set my computer and devices to “static” as well? I’m hopeful that I can use the My Book outside of my home wifi network (when I’m at the office or on the road with my iPad). Sorry for the silly questions!

Before you go down the path of assigning a fixed IP address using the NAS itnerface, did you check whether your router can be set up to always give the same IP address to the MAC address of your NAS?

For example look at page 137 of this user manual

http://support.actiontec.com/doc_files/MI424WR_Vz_User_Manual_4.0.16.1.44.28.pdf

Using the router to do fixed IP is less risky than tweaking it on the NAS. IF you get the settings wrong on the NAS you might lose completely the access to the NAS…

If you go ahead with using the NAS to set up a fixed IP address, use an IP address that is NOT in the DHCP range of your router.

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I completely second Etupes’ comment immediately above. I would strongly advise to use the router’s configuration to use a static IP for the My Cloud device rather than My Cloud’s config. This is because when it comes to doling out IPs, it’s the router that decides the IP allocation. If for some reason My Cloud is temporarily down, the router could very well assign that IP to another device (unless the fixed IP configured via My Cloud’s settings is outside the router’s DHCP range) and when My Cloud next starts up, it won’t be able to obtain that IP to itself and since you’ve configured the NAS to only use that IP, it will try to do so and there will be an IP address class. Until the clash is resolved, the NAS will not be reachable. Best is to always set static IPs in the router and NOT in My Cloud itself, even if there is a way to do that.

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onemachado wrote:
Also, if I set the My Cloud to “static” do I need to set my computer and devices to “static” as well? I’m hopeful that I can use the My Book outside of my home wifi network (when I’m at the office or on the road with my iPad). Sorry for the silly questions!

NO need to set up your computer.

Let me clarify a couple things: In my first post I failed to tell you (as otheres mentioend) that you only need one of the 2 methods.  Using both will do no harm. IP reservation in the router will work as long as the MAC (hardwired to the device) address of mycloud does not change. It will never change unless you change the hardware itself. Yes, this is advantageous to use.

if you use the static ip address from the dashboard this will work too. However, according to the protocol, the server does not have to accept it but the DHCP server will work more efficiently if did. Any DHCP server worth its salt will accept it.

Don’t worry about scope and ranges. reserve  the ip address in the router and get on with it.

You can get very techincal about scope and ranges and for little advantage (in home environemt for average user). I never use it in my home and I have 14 devices.

if you are an organistation with a lot fo devices and BYOD then yes you need to configure your DHCP for more efifciency but this is a home router in home environment.

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Using a static IP on your Mycloud device is not a problem at all.  Just remember to avoid a conflict within your LAN by using an IP that is outside the assignable range of your routers DHCP server.  For instance, if you router is setup to use an ip range of 192.168.1.100 to 192.168.1.254  then simply assign your Mycloud device an IP of 192.168.1.90. 

Remember, the IP address must contain the same first three numbers (Not going to get into why this is best) and that it should be outside the range of your routers assignable addresses to avoid a possible conflict should the Mycloud ever be powered down and restarted.

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Thank you all for your knowledgable responses. It is comforting to know there are knowledgeable and generous people populating these boards!

As I mentioned before, I’m pretty much a novice when it comes to routers, IPs, etc.  When I get home later today I will try to figure out how to set a static IP on my Actiontec V1000H router.

Thank you all again for your great help! I will update you all later today after I’ve tried to configure it with one of the solutions you’ve mentioned.

I too am having exactly the same problem (MyCloud with Telus router).

I was on the phone with WDSupport (Marco in Dominican Republic) for about 1 hour and it still doesn’t work. I can only access the My Cloud from mobile devices when I’m on my home wifi. When I try accessing from my mobile devices on the cellular network (Telus) or from a different wifi (work) I can cannot connect and get the MyCloud error message “Device Offline. This device is inaccessible; only local files are available.”

Marco tried a “static” MyCloud Network Mode, but that didn’t help. He also made sure I had the latest Java installed.

I’m not sure if it’s possible to change any of the Telus router settings without a passord, and I don’t feel too comfortable about that anyway . . .

Contemplating returning the MyCloud. Don’t need the hassle.

Hi murman1,

I too am contemplating taking the My Cloud back, but I’m not sure that any other personal cloud drive would work with Telus’ rules. It seems most run on port 443 & 80.

May I ask, if you take it back what would you get instead? Have you found another cloud drive that may work better? If so, I would be up for using an easier  one (all this trouble is making my brain hurt, ha).

Thanks for your comment!

I should also mention . . .

When Marco tried a static network mode, he of course did not have access to my Telus router settings. Since then, I have accessed my telus router and taken a screenshot of the settings.

Not sure if he used the right settings (he was probably using his best industry-standard estimate). He was completely surprised that he could not get it working.

I have been using computers for many years, but quite frankly, get confused with all of the network settings, etc.

I have looked at the Seagate Central, but as you say, with Telus, I’m very hesitant about rushing out and buying it with the knowledge of the problems that I have now. Don’t know if the Seagate would work with Telus???

Thanks for your responses!

I think I am going to try setting the static IP from the router, as the others have suggested, when I get home later today. I too am very limited in my knowledge of routers and IPs, but I hope from the information others have provided as well as our good friend “google”, we can get this problem solved!

OK. I will keep trying too. I would so appreciate any info you can relay!

Good luck. I do not really want to return the product, because the concept is so good.

Sorry, still trying to make it work…

Here’s my progress:

  • I found the MAC and IP address of the My Cloud from the online dashboard

  • On the Actiontec V1000H online I went to the DHCP Reservation page

  • It asks for the MAC address, then the IP address to associate with the MAC address (I assume the MAC address is the address of the My Cloud, and the IP address is the new “static” address I choose to assign to the My Cloud)

Now my latest simpleton question:

  • In the previous comments  Vertech1 mentioned “using an IP that is outside the assignable range of your routers DHCP server”. How do I find this number? I know the IP address of my router but I am not sure what my “range” is

Once i have that I think I’m ready to try it…I hope!

If trying it this way doesn’t work, I will try as  jamalaya suggested and try setting up the My Cloud as “static” through the online dasboard.

Thanks again for all your help!

onemachado - please check your PM…look at the tiny top right corner of any forum page for the envelope icon…that’ll take you to your PM inbox. Reply there.

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I believe I have mine working! I did a static port forwading on my Telus router.

This webpage guides you through the ActionTec router procedure:

http://portforward.com/english/routers/port_forwarding/Actiontec/V1000H/Xbox_Live_360.htm

Although it’s for the Xbox Live 360 machine, the procedure is the same.

1- Find your Telus ActionTec IP address (sticker on the side of the router). It starts with 192.168. . . .

2- Pull that up and note all of the “WAN Connection Status” settings displayed. (I took an iPad screenshot for reference)

3- Log into your telus router. User name: tech  Password: t3lu5tv

4- Click on the Firewall button on top

5- Click on Port Forwarding (left side)

6- Follow procedure in above mentioned webpage. Has good photos.

7- Open the port 80. Use the MyCloud IP address. Save.

8 - Repeat for port 443. Save

9- Ensure both ports are listed as open on the bottom of the page.

10- Save and exit.

11- Ensure your settings are correct on the My Cloud Dashboard network settings (refer to iPad screenshot)

12- Do fresh install of My Cloud app on mobile devices.

Mine works!!!

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We aren’t talking of port forwarding here…we were talking about assigning static IP to the My Cloud. Not at all the same thing.

I realize that. Assigning static IP to the My Cloud doesn’t work. WD can’t make it work. The problem is the Telus router.