Posted: Tue Nov 22, 2016 1:40 Post subject: Cannot access external (software vendor's) ftp site
Hi everyone,
I've been a long time reader of this forum for all the years I've been using dd-wrt. First off, I want to thank everyone who contributes. The amount of incredibly useful information found in this forum is remarkable. I've never signed up as a member because every question/issue I've had has been resolved by searching this forum. It's simply incredible. So I sincerely want to thank all the members.
I recently started working from home quite a bit. Everything in my home network is working as expected except for 1 issue. I cannot access an ftp site. Specifically, it's a software vendor's ftp site. I've read that the SPI firewall can interfere with ftp traffic but even when I completely disable the firewall, I still cannot connect to the ftp site. If I connect directly to my cable modem via ethernet, I can connect to the site just fine. If I use my cell phone's hotspot, I can connect to the site just fine. But as soon as I connect via my router, I can no longer connect. So clearly the dd-wrt router is blocking the connection.
I have spent many hours trying to resolve this issue. This is my last resort. I am hoping one of the members here can assist me in fixing this. Does anyone have any idea what might be causing this? And does anyone have a solution or workaround I can implement so I can access the ftp site? Any help would be greatly appreciated!
I am using the WRT1900ACSv2 router with Kong firmware (currently using the R30880M build from 11/14/2016). I have tried 3 different Kong firmwares and this connectivity issue is persistent across all versions I tested. This could very well be intended behavior. I am really hoping to find a solution. I need to access this ftp site frequently.
Is this FTP a public site that I'd be able to try to see if I can replicate? I can't think of a specific reason why an FTP site would not load. I mean BS builds are kept on one: ftp://ftp.dd-wrt.com/betas/2016/
Are you able to get to other FTP sites, like the one above? Are you using a browser's built in FTP client, or dedicated software like WinSCP or WS_FTP?
If you take a look in the DD-WRT menu under Security --> Firewall, near the bottom you can turn on logging. Once on, see if anything shows up in the log entries. Also, telnet or SSH to your router and check the contents of /var/log/messages. Finally, run "dmesg" from the command prompt to see if anything out of the ordinary shows up that might be an issue.
Is this FTP a public site that I'd be able to try to see if I can replicate? I can't think of a specific reason why an FTP site would not load. I mean BS builds are kept on one: ftp://ftp.dd-wrt.com/betas/2016/
Are you able to get to other FTP sites, like the one above? Are you using a browser's built in FTP client, or dedicated software like WinSCP or WS_FTP?
If you take a look in the DD-WRT menu under Security --> Firewall, near the bottom you can turn on logging. Once on, see if anything shows up in the log entries. Also, telnet or SSH to your router and check the contents of /var/log/messages. Finally, run "dmesg" from the command prompt to see if anything out of the ordinary shows up that might be an issue.
Great suggestions, great questions, and great points. You make a good point, I can access Kong and BS ftp sites as well as the RedHat ftp site but not this particular one. That is strange. The ftp site has a traditional http login so users can navigate to the site in any browser and login using credentials or you can use an ftp software to connect. When I am at the office, I use FileZilla or WinSCP to connect just because it's a little easier to navigate and download/upload files using the software instead of a browser. But most of their clients are not technical so those particular users just log into the website using a modern browser.
I will turn on and investigate the logs, I will SSH to the router and check out var/log/messages (I believe I already looked at this but will do it again), and finally, I will run the command you suggested. I will share my findings.
Great suggestions, great questions, and great points. You make a good point, I can access Kong and BS ftp sites as well as the RedHat ftp site but not this particular one. That is strange. The ftp site has a traditional http login so users can navigate to the site in any browser and login using credentials or you can use an ftp software to connect. When I am at the office, I use FileZilla or WinSCP to connect just because it's a little easier to navigate and download/upload files using the software instead of a browser. But most of their clients are not technical so those particular users just log into the website using a modern browser.
I will turn on and investigate the logs, I will SSH to the router and check out var/log/messages (I believe I already looked at this but will do it again), and finally, I will run the command you suggested. I will share my findings.
Thank you kind sir for helping me!
Using your browser to navigate FTP sites is flakey at best. We never had much luck with it, especially when it comes to FTP sites that require username/pwds, or ones that are more secure like SFTP or FTPS sites. We ended up biting the bullet and training our user to use apps like FileZilla, which just work out of the box in any of these situations. Please know, we did this many, many years ago, so now it's just second nature for our users to be using these types of programs to access FTP sites. I would highly recommend going that same route, instead of battling with your browser to get it to work.
Great suggestions, great questions, and great points. You make a good point, I can access Kong and BS ftp sites as well as the RedHat ftp site but not this particular one. That is strange. The ftp site has a traditional http login so users can navigate to the site in any browser and login using credentials or you can use an ftp software to connect. When I am at the office, I use FileZilla or WinSCP to connect just because it's a little easier to navigate and download/upload files using the software instead of a browser. But most of their clients are not technical so those particular users just log into the website using a modern browser.
I will turn on and investigate the logs, I will SSH to the router and check out var/log/messages (I believe I already looked at this but will do it again), and finally, I will run the command you suggested. I will share my findings.
Thank you kind sir for helping me!
Using your browser to navigate FTP sites is flakey at best. We never had much luck with it, especially when it comes to FTP sites that require username/pwds, or ones that are more secure like SFTP or FTPS sites. We ended up biting the bullet and training our user to use apps like FileZilla, which just work out of the box in any of these situations. Please know, we did this many, many years ago, so now it's just second nature for our users to be using these types of programs to access FTP sites. I would highly recommend going that same route, instead of battling with your browser to get it to work.
Best of luck!
I agree 100%. Historically I always used FileZilla or WinSCP to connect to this sFTP site to upload/download files. But they also offer a web interface for their less technical-savvy clients. Anyways, regardless if I use an FTP client or their web interface, I cannot connect.
For now I just connect my laptop directly to my cable modem or just use my cell phone's hot spot. Thanks for sharing your thoughts!
