Access USB Hard drive connected to Access Point router

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ackoman

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Jan 13, 2009
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Hello,

I'm using two TP Link routers in my house - the first is a W8970 and is connected to my Virgin Media super hub which is running in modem only mode, and the other is a Archer C9 and is connected to the first via Powerline adapters. Everthing seems to work OK across the LAN.

The only issue I have with this setup is that I cannot access the harddrive which is connected to the Archer C9 from the internet via FTP. It can only be accessed from within the network.

Is there any way to make this hard drive accessible over the Internet? (Other than connecting it to the other router, or switching the routers around).

Thanks,
Ackoman
 
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boosted1g

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Jun 12, 2013
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Are your two routers setup as primary router/access point; or is it router1/router2?
The difference is that an access point means you striped out DHCP and NAT functionality from router 2 (as well as connecting via LAN port and not WAN port). This allows the Access Point (router 2) to act as an extension to router 1 thus allowing it to act as 1 big network instead of router 2 being a separate network from router 1.
Thus if you are setup as router1/router2 you have to configure router 1 to give you access to router 2 via the internet, and then configure router 2 to give you access to the desired item.

From initial post it sounds like you do not have an access point type configuration and thus while you may have router 2 configured correctly to give you FTP access, it is irrelevant because router 1 is still not configured to allow the traffic through.
 
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ackoman

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Hi,

Thanks for your reply. I set Router 2 up according to these instructions:

https://awesometoast.com/archer-c9/

i.e. I disabled DHCP and I am connecting to it via one of the LAN ports rather than the WAN. But, I didn't have to change any of the settings on router 1 - is that what I must do in order to allow access to router 2's USB from the outside? If so, how?

Thanks,

Ackoman
 
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boosted1g

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You must open the port being used for FTP on router 1, and direct it to the IP of router 2 (assuming router 2 is the one with the mounted drive).

Now, I would not advise using basic FTP and very very much advise not using the default ftp port of 21.

FTP is not secure for internet use, only local use. FTP is not encrypted and you can easily do a packet capture and obtain the username/password, as well as brute force it.

If the TP Link does not allow you to use SFTP or FTPS then I would highly advise to just not make it available on the internet.
 
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ackoman

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Hi

So, if my 2nd router is on 192.168.0.250, then on my 1st router I should go to the virtual server page, under port forwarding, and forward a port number of my choosing (not 21) to 192.168.0.250?
 
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boosted1g

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anyting at 1024 or bellow is considered "default" ports with things "assigned" to them.

Port number should be > 10000 just to make it harder for anyone trying to do a port scan.

You also need to setup your router2 ftp settings to use that port, if it does not have that option then you can set the external port to what you want, and the internal port to what router2 is looking for.
 
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ackoman

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I'm testing it using ES file explorer on my phone - and I'm using my WAN ip address. Could the issue be that my phone is "inside" the network? It sees the harddrive ok if I connect to 192.168.0.250:10100
 
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ackoman

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Won't be able to try that until tomorrow as I don't get a data signal here, but I reckon that's probably it. The port scanning website implies that port is open.

Thanks for your help!
 
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Alabalcho

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Jan 13, 2011
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FTP is not a simple protocol to port-forward. Try using "passive" mode on your FTP client (I don't know whether ES File Explorer can do that)

To make sure your port-forward is OK: Try to open the second router' admin WEB page (port-forward another port on the main router to port 80 on the secondary).
 
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jsmithepa

jsmithepa

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Every time you need Internet access to your LAN stuff you have "open a hole." Often referred to as Port Forwarding. With FTP, you are creating a port 21 server. Be aware, some ISP disable port 21/80 service etc their contract prohibit you from creating these "home servers" to dissuade to use up more bandwidth playing with your friends, but can usually be bypassed easily like when port forwarding, listen to an unused port like 2100? but forward that request to your internal box as standard 21.
 
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ackoman

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Something is not right, because each time I set a port to be forwarded from router 1 to router 2, if I test to see that the port is open using a port testing Web page it is always reported as timing out
 
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