Ok this is my network setup. Its very simple, just 2 windowsXP pro machines hooked up to my linksys befsr41 router sharing a cable internet connection. Since i got the router i cant get my school documents from my pc when I am in school. I checked for my internet ip and all i get is my lan ip ( 192.169.1.100 ). Is there a way for me to access my ftp if my computer is connected to the router? someone told me to let the Router keep open FTP ports or leave my computer on DMZ. But i dunno what to do or how to do heheh. So please can soemone help me out
You will need to open port 21 and possible port 22 on your router to allow you to connect to your ftp server on your home machine. Also you can put your ftp on a dmz which will make it open to attack more but will protect your home lan more. The idea of a dmz is that if the machine in the dmz is hacked it would protect your other machines on you lan, as they would have to hack them seperately. Whereas if a machine is hacked on the lan then the rest of the machines are available to the hacker. Read your manual on the router to find out how to open ports and dmz.
I would highly recommend against the DMZ. A true DMZ is what herbs was describing, but the DMZ on the Linksys box just opens up everything to that one machine...there's really no protection for the other machines on your network, and opening a DMZ to your workstation pretty much removes any kind of firewall protection you may have had. You'll need to make sure your PC has a static IP address (routing doesn't tend to work well if your IP changes ) and then set port forwarding (uPNP if your router has it...if not, update the firmware) for port 21 to point to your workstation. I've never needed to open port 22 for FTP access, but keep it in mind if it doesn't work. To get your internet IP, you have a couple of options...the 'status' page in your router will tell you what it is, or you can go to a page like http://www.whatismyipaddress.com and find out. Another thing to consider is signing up with a free dynamic DNS service like dyndns.org...that way you can remember a nice name instead of worrying about a constantly changing IP address. Hope that helps!
