RT-AC86U mesh node FTP issue

[dididocky]

Hi all,
I am new to this so please be go easy on the tech terms lol. I apologise in advance if I don't fully understand what you mean.

So my issue is this. I have 2 RT-AC86U routers, one as main and one as AI mesh node. Each has 1 USB drive attached for FTP access. I have had them working ok up until 2 days ago when I updated the firmware in both routers. the Node needed resetting as it no longer would connect to any wireless devices.
With the node reset and the devices all working again, I lost the ftp server settings for the USB. I have spent a lot of hours now trying to get this back, not sure if its just my brain not working or I am missing something obvious, I done the port forwarding and ftp setting on the node (see attached screenshots).
I have always been able to connect to the main router USB via my phone on port 21 and still can do that, it is just the node USB that I have an issue with. I have managed to connect to the node now using port 1031 as the port setting on my phone app but this then gives me a network error message,
I know that I have input my user name and password correctly in the phone app setting as if I purposely put it in wrong I get the cannot connect to host message as before.
The only way I can get this to work and see and access the files on the node USB is to put the node in a DMZ.

I don't ever recall having to do this before now and I am concerned about the security of all the devices connecting to that node.
so my question really is, is this ok or am I missing a setting so that I don't have to use the DMZ?

hope that helps to explain my situation and I appreciate any and all help I can get

regards

 

[ColinTaylor]

An AI mesh node has no WAN interface and therefore no port forwarding options for itself, so I don't know what you've been doing.

Disable the DMZ on your main router. Turn off FTP WAN access on the AP. Use port forwarding on the main router using the FTP ALG port defined on the WAN - NAT Passthrough page.

[Wireless Router][Port Forwarding] FTP Server Setup Guide Scenario 2 | Official Support | ASUS Global

 

[dididocky]

hi, thanks for you reply, so i got the information direct from the asus web page https://www.asus.com/support/FAQ/1048208 and so set it up this way, this is why i enabled the Wan access on the node. but the only way i could get access was by using the dmz, i have just done as you suggest port 2021 is the FTP ALG defined in NAT passthrough. now back to not able to connect to host

 

[ColinTaylor]

Those instructions are for a single FTP server whereas you said you wanted to setup two servers.

Did you disable TLS support? Your symptoms sound like you're using FTP on the client. Enabling TLS changes the protocol to FTPS.

 

[dididocky]

so yes i do want 2 servers, 1 is connected USB 3 port on the main router which has 0 issues when using FTP, the other is connected to the USB 3 port on the mesh node which i cannot access unless i port forward the main router using 1031 as in those screen shots. but then i had to set the node as dmz to be able to see the files etc in the drive. sorry if i am confusing but i am also confused by all this.

i have TLS enabled and the setting using the mobile client is set to FTPS, the Node FTP setting will only allow TLS if i use a username and password which is what i need to do

 

[ColinTaylor]

the Node FTP setting will only allow TLS if i use a username and password which is what i need to do

Are you sure about that? What firmware version are you using on the node?

 

[dididocky]

both the main router and node are on 386.12_4

sorry I miss understood what it meant, so yes i can turn TLS off and have a username and password. i just did that and tried itr and for a brief moment it seemed to work but now it stopped again? which has confused me even more

 

[dididocky]

ok so update . I just rebooted the app on the phone and it seems to be working???

so i should probably leave it there. i hugely appreciate your help as this was getting really annoying lol.

many thanks.