How to forward a FTP server?

[SaulG]

I'm trying to create a FTP server that I want to be able to use whenever I'm somewhere other than school and while I have one already, its on a 100M connection so locally it's too slow for large files. The new server has a 1Gb/s connection but I can't forward it. I have done it correctly.
My network setup is a bit confusing and I'm sure there are better ways to do this, so let me explain.
The modem/router is downstairs.
My laptop is upstairs connected wirelessly with internet sharing enabled. (the rest is connected with Ethernet) then I connected a wireless router to it so I can get WiFi upstairs and to assign IP addresses. I then have a 26 port switch connected to the router.
the existing server is the laptop with internet sharing
the new one is on the network with the WiFi router assigning IP addresses.

I hope what I said makes sense and if not, please ask. Thank you!

 

[jsmithepa]

You will always be bottleneck by your ISP Internet speed, no matter how fast your FTP server NIC is. Do you have a near-gigabit Internet service?

 

[SaulG]

You will always be bottleneck by your ISP Internet speed, no matter how fast your FTP server NIC is. Do you have a near-gigabit Internet service?

While I don't mind the ISP bottleneck, I'm mainly doing this for local file transfers. I get roughly 20Mb/s upload at the house and 60Mb/s down
I transfer large files locally which is why I needed the 1G server rather than a 100M

 

[jsmithepa]

If is local (LAN) why do you need (port) forward anything? Isn't everything on the same subnet?

 

[SaulG]

If is local (LAN) why do you need (port) forward anything? Isn't everything on the same subnet?

I also use the server whenever I'm at school or somewhere else.
I use it both LAN and public
sometimes I'll share things with people that I trust.
that's when the port forwarding comes in and when I have issues.

 

[jsmithepa]

Cool. So is very simple, assuming you have a single subnet. On you NAT device, it usually asks:

Name: Give it a name
Ports to forward: 21
TCP/UDP: Both
Server IP: This is the STATIC IP of your FTP server.

Now if you have a static public IP, ur all set. However if you have a dynamic public IP then the thing to do is to register for a domain, then pay for a DDNS service and configure.

 

[SaulG]

I did all that on both routers
when I attempt to connect with ftp://(public IP):22 (I have the 100M on that one right now)
chrome will say ERR_CONNECTION_REFUSED

 

[jsmithepa]

I did all that on both routers

This tells me you are double-NATing. You have 2 subnets. If that's the case you should:

WAN ---> Router1 ---(subnet1)---> Router2 ---(subnet2)---> FTP box.

Router1, PF to WAN address of Router2.
Router2, PF to FTP box IP.

 

[SaulG]

I did all that on both routers

This tells me you are double-NATing. You have 2 subnets. If that's the case you should:

WAN ---> Router1 ---(subnet1)---> Router2 ---(subnet2)---> FTP box.

Router1, PF to WAN address of Router2.
Router2, PF to FTP box IP.

I should have done that correctly, I tried to connect directly to the FTP server, and it didn't work, so I will have some more work to do.