FTP sharing not working

Question

FTP sharing not working

Hello folks!

I am using OS 10.4.11, with an AirPort Express (v 6.3). I am connected to the Internet via cable modem. I am trying to share files with a friend of mine who lives in different country. We figured using FTP would be handy, but in spite of the fact that I have done everything I can think of that would be necessary, it just doesn't work. When he tries to connect to me, he gets no response from my machine and the connection times out.

I have:

(1) Turned ON FTP Sharing in the System Preferences>Sharing>Services.

(2) Verified that the Firewall is turned OFF in System Preferences>Sharing>Firewall.

(3) In the AirPort Utility (5.2.1), Internet>NAT panel, checked 'Enable NAT Port Mapping Protocol'

(4) In the AirPort Utility, under Advanced>Port Mapping, set up port forwarding for ports 20 & 21.

(5) Clicked 'Update' to reload the AirPort configuration and restart it.

(6) Created a new account for my friend to use in System Preferences>Accounts

(7) Looked up my IP address with http://whatismyip.com/ .

When he tries to connect to that IP address (the software appends the ':21' to the end of the IP address), it does nothing except time out eventually with this error: "Network Error: Connection Failed. Operation timed out." The same thing happens with an anonymous login attempt.

Note that I also have tried this with item 3 above not checked (NAT Port Mapping Protocol), in case that were to make a difference. It didn't.

Something strange that I noticed is that in in System Preferences>Sharing>Firewall, despite the fact that the Firewall is turned OFF, in the scrolling list of allowed services, "Personal File Sharing," "FTP Access," and "Printer Sharing" are checked, but greyed out. However, other services that I use (and work properly) are checked in solid and have blue checkboxes: "iChat Bonjour," "iTunes Music Sharing," "Network Time," "Transmission," "Limewire," "Gnutella."

I went to http://probe.hackerwatch.org/ and did a port scan, and it came back saying that my port 21 was "completely invisible to the outside world" and secure.

Can anyone tell me what I might have overlooked or done incorrectly?

Thanks in advance for any and all help you might be able to offer.

17" PowerBook G4, Mac OS X (10.4.10), 1.67 GHz PowerPC

Posted on Dec 13, 2007 12:22 AM

Reply

Answer 1

BDAqua

Level 10

250,259 points

Dec 13, 2007 4:02 AM in response to iamcrispydammit

You may have damaged plist, can they get through to your Web Sharing if turned on?

The most likely file to drag to the Desktop & Reboot is...

/Library/Preferences/com.apple.sharing.firewall.plist

But this can affect it too...

/Library/Preferences/SystemConfiguration/preferences.plist

Reply

Answer 2

Dec 13, 2007 3:44 PM in response to BDAqua

BDAqua:

Thanks for the suggestion, but unfortunately, it did not help. I still receive the "connection failed"/"operation timed out" error.

As for Web Sharing, it doesn't seem to work either.

I added port forwarding to my AirPort Express on ports 80, 427 and 443, started up "Personal Web Sharing" in System Preferences>Sharing>Services. When I try to access it through my IP address, it says "contacting nnn.nnn.nnn.nnn" but never seems to get anything, finally timing out with the error: "Safari can’t open the page “ http://nnn.nnn.nnn.nnn/” because the server unexpectedly dropped the connection, which sometimes occurs when the server is busy."

I would tend to think that meant it was able to connect to it in some manner, but maybe it tells you it dropped the connection even when the server never responds in the first place.

Reply

Answer 3

BDAqua

Level 10

250,259 points

Dec 13, 2007 4:38 PM in response to iamcrispydammit

Hmmm, have you tried disabling 'Enable NAT Port Mapping Protocol' and just Port Forwarding to a Static IP?

Reply

Answer 4

Dec 13, 2007 5:03 PM in response to BDAqua

At first I didn't realize there was a checkbox for "Enable NAT Port Mapping Protocol," so it was not turned on, but the port mappings were all as described. I presume this just didn't enable that port mapping.

Do you mean, by "Port Forwarding to a Static IP," going through and assigning each of the machines on my network some arbitrary fake IP address and using that? I do not know how to set that up in the AirPort Utility, but if someone could point me in the right direction, I might be able to try it.

Unfortunately, because of the user situation on my LAN, even if I knew for sure what you meant and how to test that, it would be rather involved. I might be able to give it a shot in the wee hours when I could disrupt connectivity for other folks, but I'm a little hesitant to mess with the stuff that currently does work.

Or do I not understand what you mean by that?

Reply

Answer 5

BDAqua

Level 10

250,259 points

Dec 13, 2007 5:14 PM in response to iamcrispydammit

No need to redo all, just find out what range the Base Station is handing out and set YOUR Mac to a static IP one above that!

Say it hands out 10.0.1.2 to 10.0.1.200, set your Mac to Manually Static IP of 10.0.1.201, you won't interfere with anyone else getting an DHCP IP.

Then forward the needed ports on the base station to 10.0.1.201. 🙂

Reply

Answer 6

Dec 13, 2007 9:02 PM in response to BDAqua

Ah! Okay.

I verified that indeed, that was {i]a problem. All the port forwarding was set to go to 10.0.1.201:nnnn, and my computer was working from 10.0.1.2!

I did the following to fix that:

I went in to System Preferences>Network, "AirPort" was selected, and I clicked "Configure."

On the resulting pane, I selected the "TCP/IP" tab, set "Configure IPv4" to "Manually" (in the pull-down menu). Then I configured "IP address" to be 10.0.1.201 (the range is 10.0.1.2 to 10.0.1.200), the "Subnet Mask" to be 255.255.255.0, and the DNS servers to two internal numbers that were in the AirPort configuration.

I clicked apply, and that worked. Just to be sure, I restarted the computer and the AirPort, even though I believe this isn't necessary.

In any case, it took and nothing appears to be broken, BUT...

When I try to connect with FTP to the IP address I get from http://whatismyip.com/ it times out without being able to connect!

😟

Reply

Answer 7

BDAqua

Level 10

250,259 points

Dec 13, 2007 9:36 PM in response to iamcrispydammit

When I try to connect with FTP to the IP address I get from http://whatismyip.com/ it times out without being able to connect!

Hooray, you're really close now! 🙂

You can't connect from inside your Network to Outside your Network back to inside your Network... if I read that correctly!?

How about your buddy?

Reply

Answer 8

Dec 13, 2007 9:50 PM in response to BDAqua

HEY! He can! What do you know?!

I would have thought that I could connect to my IP address too....why not?

Reply

Answer 9

BDAqua

Level 10

250,259 points

Dec 13, 2007 10:25 PM in response to iamcrispydammit

....why not?

I don't know why, (in fact I have a 6th grade education, yet can't prove it!), I just know what, where, when, and how! 🙂

There's probably a simple answer that many here could answer, but I'm only qualified to help/solve very, very, very simple problems!

I'd suggest starting a new Topic like "Why can't I connect to my Outside IP from my Inside IP"... bet you get an answer!:-)

Reply

Answer 10

Dec 13, 2007 10:26 PM in response to iamcrispydammit

The easy file transfer of the Mac stopped around 10.4.4 and I have been looking for an alternative ever since. What is your friend using to FTP to you, what operating system and what style of address his he typing to connect to you?

I would like to use the Public folder but every thing I do and have read no longer works for PC's to Mac's.

. . . fb

Reply

Answer 11

Dec 13, 2007 10:41 PM in response to TheGuyintheProjectionBooth

My friend is using Leopard (10.5.1) and Interarchy.

He is entering in my IP address. I do not have a static IP, so I have to look it up and tell him what it is when he wants to connect to me.

I'm sorry that I can't help you more on the PC to Mac issue, but if you can get the FTP service working on the Mac, that might be just what you're looking for.

Reply

Answer 12

Dec 13, 2007 10:49 PM in response to iamcrispydammit

No problem. Thanks for the info. I use to be able to give out my Static IP address and anyone could get to my Public folder. But not since 10.4.5 or so. I have been looking and have found a lot of people looking, asking and no solutions other than pay for. Think Apple has something up their sleeve. Thought maybe it was simpler and you had the answer.

Oh well, will just have look more. Or use a PC.

Thanks again.

Reply

Answer 13

BDAqua

Level 10

250,259 points

Dec 13, 2007 11:29 PM in response to TheGuyintheProjectionBooth

Avail yourselves of DynDNS.org or no-IP.org, they both can advertise your Dynamic IP to DNS Servers, so your buddies just need look up a name you choose.

Reply

Answer 14

Dec 13, 2007 11:52 PM in response to BDAqua

BDAqua,
Thank for the info. I am very aware of those agencies. I have used them in the past and they tend to get snotty if your router has updating built in and updates more than they like. But as I stated in my post I have a Static IP address.

File transfer use to be no thought easy until about 10.4.4 and then all kinds of problems popped up. It was so mindless that I can't remember what we did compared to all the hoop you have to jump through now. And I have been jumping and no joy.

All I need is to be able to share my Public folder to people on the Internet like I use to which did not require a new user account. Mac's can. PC's can't. It's times like this is when I really miss OS9. Oh and unhobbled OSx.

Reply

Answer 15

BDAqua

Level 10

250,259 points

Dec 14, 2007 12:10 AM in response to TheGuyintheProjectionBooth

My most stable/useful OSes used every day in order...

TOS 2.06, TOS 3.06, TOS 4.04, OS7.5.5, OS7.6.1, OS8.6, OS9.1/.2, OSX2.6/.8, OSX3.9, OSx.4.3!

The reason I have Tiger... to help out here.

The reason I have Leopard... no idea.

My PM/6500/OS9 runs about a month between restarts, don't think Tiger could come close except when it just does one thing!

Then again, never had one of those fancy routers that thinks for itself... hate intelligent devices doing things I can do better... they'll be the death of us all ! 🙂

Reply