Port Forwarding Hell

[aquilles10]

I work at an office that has Mac Mini with OS X 10.8 Server installed on it. It's working flawlessly when I am at the office. However, I need to access some files when I am away from the office and I've tried setting up the Mac Mini for FTP sessions. So far so good.

At the office we have Verizon FIOS with a Westell 9100 EM router/gateway. It has an ugly GUI and is tough to dig into the settings. However, when I get into the port forwarding portion of the admin page, I am having a nightmarish time getting it to open port 21. I've spent hours and hours trying to get it to open. I check to see if the port os open on www.canyouseeme.org and port 21 times out no matter what I do on the Mac Mini.

Is there someone on this board much smarter than I can shed some light on what I am doing wrong? I know the IP address of the Mac Mini server. Do I put it on the Public IP address? Or do I check "specify network IP address"? I'm so confused.



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[gabester]

What's under the dropdown for Protocols: (Add...)

I'm guessing it'll have TCP and UDP.

You should put the hostname or IP of the Mac mini under Local Host (probably best to do IP.)
Check the Specify Network IP address.

You'd check Specify Public IP Address if you had multiple IPs incoming I guess... and I'm supposing you don't?

That's the best I can do. Sigh. I wish I had FiOS.

[M A V I C]

Eh, that UI is confusing. I think you want to do a Network IP address.

On a side note, I wouldn't use FTP. Passwords nor traffic are encrypted. Anyone with access to the network your on can get your login credentials. So if you login on the free wifi at a hotel, others on that network can have the same access to your files that you do.

[space-time]

I need to access some files when I am away from the office and I've tried setting up the Mac Mini for FTP sessions.

how many files do you need to move around? if several GB, just use dropbox.

[aquilles10]

gabester wrote:
What's under the dropdown for Protocols: (Add...)

I'm guessing it'll have TCP and UDP.

You should put the hostname or IP of the Mac mini under Local Host (probably best to do IP.)
Check the Specify Network IP address.

You'd check Specify Public IP Address if you had multiple IPs incoming I guess... and I'm supposing you don't?

That's the best I can do. Sigh. I wish I had FiOS.

Okay. Thanks Gabester. I will putz around with your suggestions. They are different from what I've been doing and it makes sense.

[aquilles10]

M A V I C wrote:
Eh, that UI is confusing. I think you want to do a Network IP address.

On a side note, I wouldn't use FTP. Passwords nor traffic are encrypted. Anyone with access to the network your on can get your login credentials. So if you login on the free wifi at a hotel, others on that network can have the same access to your files that you do.

What should I use instead of FTP? I use logmein.com in combination with dropbox but it's too flaky and very cumbersome.

space-time: our server has a many GBs and I collaborate with a coworker so it would be nice to be able to download changed files and upload files a little easier than with my workflow mentioned above.

[Wailer]

So the router has a built-in modem? If you are using a separate router, you'll need to set your FIOS modem up as a bridge and not a router.

I'd first look for a way to set your computer into the DMZ and see if you can access ftp or http or any service. Some ISPs block ports 21 and 80, so you might also try webhosting on port, say, 8080.

Make sure you can do that before you mess with port forwarding.

[Chakravartin]

aquilles10 wrote:
What should I use instead of FTP?

Try HTTPS.
http://www.crushftp.com/

[JoeH]

You can also use sftp. The port would be 22.

[NewtonMP2100]

so not PORTofino....??