Unable to view ftp externally

Question

I've been trying to setup an ftp on a Azure VM for some time now and not able to get it to work externally. I can view the ftp locally but that's as far as I have got.

This is what I have currently in a nutshell

Windows Server 2012 Azure VM

• Ftp site on IIS
• The IP address is unassigned on port 21
• Host name is blank
• Administrator and a user under FTP Authorzation rules with read, write permission
• Have a ftp folder on the root c: drive
• Given security rights to the user for read, write permission on folder level.

Azure Portal

• Created inbound security rule for port 21 and port 80
• Created public ip address for my website and ftp

Firewall on VM

• Allow ftp server to communicate through windows firewall server both private and public
• Inbound Rule: FTP Server, Local port 21
• Inbound Rule: FTP Server Passive, Local Portal 1024-65535
• Inbound Rule: FTP Server Secure, Local Port 990
• Outbound Rule: FTP Server, Local Portal 20
• Outbound Rule: FTP Server Secure, Local Portal 989

I can view my website via the external IP address but not the ftp.

Answer 1

Take a look at setting up passive FTP on Azure. By default you are going to be using Passive FTP unless you specify stateful FTP. Passive FTP requires port 21 and then a range of ports specified for the communication to be successful. This is because port 21 is used for the initial connection, then the client/server negotiates a random port for the actual file transfer. Looks like you are just missing the port range.