Can't seem to get Motorola VT2142 Port Forwarding to work

Posts: 10 · Vonage Forum Associate Joined: Oct 14, 2006 Posts: 10

I'd like to be able to access my computer's web, ftp and ssh servers sitting behind my VT2142, but I don't seem to be having any luck. I will note that they worked just fine before inserting the VT2142 in between my cable modem and computer. I've browsed around the forums but can't seem to find anything. Sad

Here's the setup:

Cable Modem --> VT2142 --> Computer.

I can browse the internet without a problem from my computer (thankfully, otherwise I'd have to post this question from work Smile

), however, I can't seem to get port forwarding working.

I've tried setting up the VT2142 to do port forwarding by going to the router's web-based setup utility, selecting "Advanced", choosing "Port Forwarding", confirming that my computer's IP address, "192.168.15.2", is selected from the LAN IP dropdown, and choosing "Web Server" and "FTP Server" from the set of available rules, and clicked "Save". That should be enough, right?

After setting this up, my test is to FTP to IP of the VT2142 from my computer. That should be a sufficient test, right? I mean, it'd probably be better if I could try and FTP in from outside the setup, but that should work shouldn't it?

As I said, I'd also like to get SSH going too, but that can wait. I'd be happy to get anything going!

From what I've read here, the 2142 is a relatively new offering from Vonage/Motorola, similar to the 2442 but with only one ethernet port instead of 4. I read here that the 2442 needs a static IP to do port forwarding, so I followed the instructions on that page to set up a static IP (192.168.15.10) for my computer, but didn't have any luck with that setup either, and lost my ability to browse the internet from my computer to boot!

I've also tried specifying my computer's IP as the DMZ host under the 2142's setup utility (Advanced->Port Forwarding->DMZ), but that doesn't seem to help either.

Does anyone have any ideas or see something I've done wrong? I'm happy to provide more information/screenshots, if it'll help.

To my mind it shouldn't make any difference, but just in case, here goes: I'm on a Mac, running OS X 10.4.8.

Oh, just read the sticky at the top of the forum.. here are my details:

1. Location: Sarasota, FL
2. ISP name and type: Comcast, cable broadband
3. Upload/download speeds:

dslreports.com speed test 2006-10-14 12:15:20 EST:
5012 / 677 Kbps ·or· 611.9 / 82.7 KB/sec
Compared to the average we see from comcast.net:
· download is 21% worse, upload is 62% better

4. Cable modem type: Scientific Atlanta "WebStar" DPX100 series cable modem (old!)
5. Vonage adapter: Motorola VT2142
6. Network setup: Cable Modem --> VT2142 --> Computer
7. Problem: Can't get the port fowarding to, well, forward
8. Voip test:
-------------------------------------------
Speed test statistics
---------------------
Download speed: 4874848 bps
Upload speed: 681888 bps
Quality of service: 98 %
Download test type: socket
Upload test type: socket
Maximum download pause: 16 ms
Average download pause: 3 ms
Minimum round trip time to server: 60 ms
Average round trip time to server: 72 ms

Voip test statistics
--------------------
Jitter: you --> server: 2.5 ms
Jitter: server --> you: 8.1 ms
Packet loss: you --> server: 0.0 %
Packet loss: server --> you: 0.0 %
Packet discards: 0.0 %
Packets out of order: 0.0 %
Number of supported Voip lines: 11
Estimated MOS score: 3.9
-------------------------------------------

Again.. if anyone has any ideas/guesses, please post... I'm all out..

Posts: 260 · Posted: Sat Oct 14, 2006 11:54 am Post subject:

Everything sounds right.

When doing your FTP test, are you using the right public IP address ? How are you determining the WAN IP address of the router ? You should get it from the router's WAN Setup for DHCP page.

Posts: 10 · Vonage Forum Associate Joined: Oct 14, 2006 Posts: 10

vonalink wrote:

Everything sounds right.

When doing your FTP test, are you using the right public IP address ? How are you determining the WAN IP address of the router ? You should get it from the router's WAN Setup for DHCP page.

Hmm, I'm getting it from Home->Status Information-> The IP that appears beside the "WAN:" item. I'll see if I can find the one under the DHCP setting... *moments later* Okay, so I went to Setup->WAN Configuration->DHCP Settings->IP Address and it's the same IP.... Sad

Anyone have any other ideas? I don't have the firewall on my computer turned on (even though I probably should) and I've confirmed the FTP server is active, so that's not it either...

Posts: 260 · Posted: Sat Oct 14, 2006 12:25 pm Post subject:

Quote:

and I've confirmed the FTP server is active, so that's not it either...

Have you tried accessing the web server?

Have you enabled passive transfers in your FTP client ? You need to since your computer is behind a NAT now.

Posts: 10 · Vonage Forum Associate Joined: Oct 14, 2006 Posts: 10

vonalink wrote:

Have you tried accessing the web server? Have you enabled passive transfers in your FTP client ? You need to since your computer is behind a NAT now.

I have not tried enabling passive transfer on my ftp client... I will give that a shot... *moments later* Nope, no luck. I flat out get "Connection refused"...

When I try to hit my computer's webserver via the WAN IP, it sends me to the router's login page, so my guess is it's not passing the requests through to my computer..

Posts: 10 · Vonage Forum Associate Joined: Oct 14, 2006 Posts: 10

vonalink wrote:

Quote:

and I've confirmed the FTP server is active, so that's not it either...

Have you tried accessing the web server?

Have you enabled passive transfers in your FTP client ? You need to since your computer is behind a NAT now.

By the way, thank you for your help so far! It's encouraging to know people are out there reading my question Smile

Posts: 10 · Vonage Forum Associate Joined: Oct 14, 2006 Posts: 10

asterizk wrote:

I'd like to be able to access my computer's web, ftp and ssh servers sitting behind my VT2142, but I don't seem to be having any luck. I will note that they worked just fine before inserting the VT2142 in between my cable modem and computer. I've browsed around the forums but can't seem to find anything. Sad

Update: I think my case might be similar to this one.. will post results here when I do the test...

Posts: 10 · Vonage Forum Associate Joined: Oct 14, 2006 Posts: 10

asterizk wrote:

Update: I think my case might be similar to this one.. will post results here when I do the test...

As a matter of fact, this was exactly the problem: being inside the LAN, I can't see my webserver... but people on the outside can see it just fine! How.... strange. Well, it makes sense I guess, I just wish it worked differently. If I'm hitting the router's external IP, show me what people on the outside would see if they hit that same IP; if I hit the router's 192 address, then (and only then) show me the router's login page.

I had my brother try hitting my webserver and FTP server, and he was able to get to them just fine. Interestingly, apparently both passive and active transfer modes were able to transfer files both up and down without issue. Also interesting is that the built-in port forwarding rule for FTP on the 2142 (Advanced->Port Forwarding->Category: Servers->FTP Server->View) states only port 21 is getting forwarded, but I was under the impression you needed both 21 (for FTP commands) and 20 (for data) for FTP to work? Well, in any case, things seem to be working!!

Anyone know of a way to trick the router into thinking my web/ftp/ssh requests from my computer (inside the LAN) are coming from the outside?

Posts: 260 · Posted: Sun Oct 15, 2006 10:35 pm Post subject:

Quote:

Also interesting is that the built-in port forwarding rule for FTP on the 2142 (Advanced->Port Forwarding->Category: Servers->FTP Server->View) states only port 21 is getting forwarded, but I was under the impression you needed both 21 (for FTP commands) and 20 (for data) for FTP to work?

FTP command port is 20. The data port is random.

Posts: 1 · New Forum Member Joined: Dec 02, 2006 Posts: 1

Not sure if this is a moot reply, but I'll give it a try for others that have the same issue.

1) Not being able to see your webserver on the inside: Are you trying to get to your webserver by name or IP? if you are trying by name, you would probably want to enable multicast on the Motorola Router. Multicast will send a broadcast signal to all lan hosts looking for one with the name you requested. If multicast is disabled (it is by default), name resolution will not work (unless of course you have a DNS server or you've specifically mapped hostnames to ip's in your etc/hosts file)..

2) Router's are starting to get smarter these days. If you feed your web browser the IP address of your WAN port, it will not take you out to the internet and back in. (Not sure on the more technical term). The router notices that you are within the private LAN, and will not allow this.

3) FTP: Not exactly sure how the motorola handles this, however, I would assume that it would log a user in w/ port 21, then and only then, if that is successful will it open a data port with the client. I do not use FTP because it's too open for my liking, so I use SSH.