Issue: DS211j with Linksys E4200 remote access

[joshipooja]

Hello everyone,

I am trying to configure my Linksys E4200 with my DS211j Disk Station. While the disk station seems to connect to the router I am unable to get the port forwarding feature working. Due to this I am unable to setup the email notification service, ftp or any other services that can be accessed remotely.

I have a Time Warner Cable Modem (RCN) which is connected to the Linksys E4200 router - my Disk station is connected to the Linksys router.

I used the EZ Internet wizard several times but am unable to get the port forwarding to work. When I check my router's administration panel I can see that the wizard is able to enable port forwarding with my router. However, when I test the connection in the router configuration section of my DSM all connections show up as 'failed'.

What am I doing wrong? Do I need to enable some feature in my router's configuration? Right now the router gets IP address automatically through DHCP. Do I need to change this?

When I saw the video for configuring remote access online I noted that static IP needed to be enabled. Now is this my router's static IP or it is it a static IP for the disk station? Regardless how do I enable this feature?

Please help. I have been trying to get this to work for two weeks now and am at my wits end. I am not a networking expert but can follow instructions well. I have read the Synology wiki page on remote access as well as port forwarding and honestly I feel that those instructions are for someone network savvy. All they say is you need static IP enabled - but no further steps on how to do it. I am not going to call Time Warner to do this, it is ridiculous.

If you have faced a similar problem or are facing one, it would also be helpful to understand in the end whether this is my service provider's issue or my router's issue.

Many thanks.

[jokemeister]

Hi joshipooja, I started writing and essay but I'm thinking it's better to get some clarification for us to understand your network setup a little better.

My initial thinking is that you need to set your modem up to pass through all internet traffic to your router which I think is called Bridge Mode. Your router then does all the real work, eg. DHCP server, Port Forwarding etc.

Please advise:
1/ your cable modem make/model
2/ your modems private IP address. Is this also the gateway address you are using for other devices on your network?
3/ Does the modem have a DHCP server and is this what's allocating IP addresses to devices on your network?
3/ Does your modem have port forwarding or do you have to do this with your router

[Kzoom]

I have almost the exact same set-up, and the same problem.
1) Set-up: TimeWarner Cable Modem into Cisco/LinkSys e4200n router to DS212 NAS.
I have pegged the IP address the router is assigning to the NAS, while letting the DHCP assign addresses to other clients on the home network.

2) Problem: I have run the EZ-Internet app twice, first as 'through a router' and when that didn't work, again using the 'Broadband (PPPoE)' option. Again, no luck. The first time, I specified the correct router, which was listed in the dropdown.

I turned on a few of the services/ports, especially for serving photos, music and files, as well as ftp. The photos, music and file access all work local, over wifi and wire.

Are you saying that the modem's configuration is probably preventing the settings that Synology wrote to the Linksys router from being seen from outside, and that I should (rtfm) somehow get the modem's port handling out of the way?

OK, reading and work to do tonight...

[Kzoom]

OK, the TimeWarner modem, Scientific Atlanta DPC2100 (which is apparently handled by Cisco) has NO user-configurable features.

So I'll have to configure the router. the router and the NAS have some feature overlap. Keeping them from interfering with each other will be the trick.

[Kzoom]

OK, got it working.

Sitting here at my office, miles from my DS212, listening to the music on my NAS through the DS Audio app on my iPhone. Got the video to serve through the DSFile App, and DSPhoto, at least to view. Haven't tried uploading anything from my phone.

I'm using DSM 3.2, just FYI.
So the solution (after EZ-Internet didn't work) was to go into the config of the (Cisco)LinkSys E4200 router, under 'Applications and Gaming' / 'Single Port Forwarding' and forward the following ports:
80 for PhotoStation
5005 for WebDAV
21 for Ftp
5000 and 5001 for AudioStation

All set to TCP, and forwarded to the fixed 'internal' IP address of the Synology NAS(already set this using the same router config app, under Basic SetUp / DHCP Server Setting (Enabled) / DHCP Reservation).

Used no-ip.com to set up DDNS when I did the EZ-Internet setup, and the URL I set up there now works.

Tip: Don't forget to enable the apps on the DS212, like PhotoStation and WebDAV and AudioStation.

>>>>THE PROBLEM WITH SYNOLOGY'S ROUTER SET-UP(?)<<<<
This router is actually listed on the dropdown of routers that EZ-Internet should configure. Unfortunately, in the listing, it says "version 1.0.01 Feb. 21, 2011". Well, mine has version 1.0.03, Sept. 2011.
And that, as we know, may be just enough to screw up whatever commands the NAS's s/w is sending to the router during the EZ-Internet setup.

So manually doing port forwarding on the router after doing the EZ-Internet on the Synology is the way to go.