I’m using remote.it to remotely support an Internet-in-a-Box (IIAB) device.
Is there a way I can use FileZilla to transfer files to the IIAB device that is running remote.it?
Please help.
Hello,
Filezilla is a client application for FTP. FTP is an unusual service in that it utilizes two ports, a ‘data’ port and a ‘command’ port (also known as the control port). Traditionally these are port 21 for the command port and port 20 for the data port. Since it uses 2 ports and typically these ports are fixed you would need to have 2 services setup and modify the ports for the configuration.
Setup up your services:
Install Remote.It on the device you would like to support FTP.
Setup your connection(s) (This will be the person or server using the connections):
Install the Remote.It Desktop application remote.it Desktop Applications for Windows macOS Raspberry pi OS Linux Debian (You will not be able to do this on our web portal app.remote.it) You will need to add 2 TCP services to the device. One on port 21 and one on port 20.
You will need to disable named connection for this to work:
Click on your avatar in the top left, and then Settings. On the page, toggle the Named Connections field.
We are going to setup a unique localhost address (127,0.0.2, and so on.) for each device which you need to support FTP.
- For each service at the site, click on the service, click on Connection Configuration.
- Click on Local Network Sharing.
- On the second screen, Enable LAN Sharing.
- In the Bind IP Address field put in 127.0.0.2 (you will increment this for each new site. i.e. 127.0.0.3, etc). Click Save.
- If you are on a Mac, then you will need to allow your Mac to bind on the 127.0.0.2 IP address. Open Terminal and run the following command
sudo ifconfig lo0 alias 127.0.0.2 - Then back on the Connection Configuration page, override the Local Port to match the port for the service (for instance if the service is on port 21, set it to 21). Click the check box to save.
- Make your connection
Repeat this for all of the services you need for a single site. Then in your application once you make your connections you will use the IP address 127.0.0.2.
Then you can repeat for each device where you need a remote.it connection for access. Only each site should have a new IP address such as 127.0.0.3, 127.0.0.4, etc. If you are using a Mac, you will need to add a binding for each new IP address using the command, for example sudo ifconfig lo0 alias 127.0.0.3
An easier setup in Remote.It would be to use SCP via the SSH service and port, however this is more technical. You can find more information about SCP and its use on the internet.
@bstrech thank you for your support.
I tried the steps but have not managed to have ftp connection. Are the steps meant for a public end point to allow remote access with FileZilla?
I need to see the connection screen with the blue box and url to determine if the configuration is setup correctly.
If it is, I missed that if you need to make sure that your computer is configured for loopback on other localhost addresses. Here is an article which explains loopback. Localhost Loopback Issues Troubleshooting Guide | The Full-Stack Blog You will need to make sure that you have an entry for each localhost you add (127.0.0.2, 127.0.0.3, etc)
The connections made by Remote.It are private (127.0.0.1 and up are localhost). In order to use the connection, each computer would need to make their own remote.it connection and if there is another user involved, you would need to share the services or the device with them.
See below the connection screen and other loopback interface info.
Do I need to add 127.0.0.2 and 127.0.0.3 to the hosts file although I can already ping them locally?
At the moment, I am able to access my webserver via HTTP. The only challenge is remote access via FTP.
The 2 services for the FTP should be the same loopback IP address. For example you have Windows computer A. It should have 2 services setup for FTP both with the same 172.0.0.2 IP address setup for the connection and one should have port 20 and the other port 21 for the connection.
You do not have screenshots showing the connection details to determine if this is setup correctly. I have provided the screenshots of setup and connection.
![Remote_It_-Devices-rpi-slot2-FTP_port_20-_connect|521x500]
Another option is to skip using Filezilla completely and just use SCP via an SSH connection. You will need to type these commands into a terminal window or putty. You can find plenty of examples on the internet of this method.
Thank you @bstrech for the clarification with the steps. I did the setup but I get an error “Connection closed by server” as soon as connection is established by FileZilla and it awaits welcome message.
I see that FileZilla setup is problematic. At least the SSH option is working and I can use SCP to copy files remotely.
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I am glad SCP is working for you, which is a great alternative as long as you are comfortable using the command line.