Ping transmits first packet, fails to rereceive

Question

i'm trying to connect to a hosted server via ftp. cldn't get it going so i tried pinging it in the terminal. doesn't receive packets. ftp'ing & pinging it fine from my windows machine, so it's not the server. my apple network appears fine otherwise - i'm connecting to the net on firefox without a problem. i'm new to apple (abt 3 days on OS-X) and a dilettante when it comes to networking - do i need to open a port, change my network settings ... ?
thanks!

Answer 1

Ping and FTP are two separate entities, that use totally different ports. Some network hardware will allow pinging through it, others won't. It depends on the hardware and also the network provider (ISP) as to whether it is allowed. Most firewalls, if the owner is smart, do not respond to an unsolicitated ping from the outside. This is why I mentioned stateful packet inspection. SPI keeps track of all requests from the "inside" hosts. If it doesn't have an associated request for the incoming response from the "outside", it rejects it. This is usually set for all traffic coming from the outside. If a router/firewall does not have this, it is worthless as far as protecting the users network. Also, WPA2 encryption should be used for wireless. If you can only use WEP, you aren't protected at all.
If you are using the built-in Airport card on your Mac, and connecting to your router, I think what you are really seeing, is the Mac reporting both your "inside" IP address and your "outside" IP address ( the IP address your ISP gave your router ).
So if the above is correct, now we are down to figuring out if you invoked any firewall and/or settings on the Mac. Under System Preferences, Sharing, you have several tabs to make selections on. Under Services and Firewall, there is a listing for FTP. You may have invoked something there. I usually just FTP through my browser, and usually only on a PC. If you try FTP that way, you may be successful without applying any of the settings under Services or Firewall, if they are in fact, even required. I do not invoke any sharing, etc. on my Macs. Many will do so and share files back and forth with other Macs, and some enable Windows sharing. I personally leave all of it off until there is a real need. I share back drives on Windows machines with logins and passwords, and have no trouble accessing them when needed.
I went to a site where I am able to click a link to their FTP server location, using to Safari. FireFox should work in a similar manner. It took a while after clicking the link, but I was eventually presented with a Finder window that had the site mounted as a drive. You may wish to access your site this way, if you haven't selected any restrictive settings, it should work.
A final FYI and/or suggestion: When posting any network information concerning your personal network info ( ISP, IP address, traceroute log... ) it is best to not. The other alternative is to X out all of the details and leave only a skeleton that a trained person can use to help you. To much information will allow crooks the missing pieces of the puzzle. They can either use the information to spoof addresses, etc. or supply mis-information to sites they plan to attack...... or use it to steal YOUR identity/info...... I see it every day in the investigations I work on. Mum's the word!
Michael