Hi

I've got a Suse 8.2 box, with kernel 2.4.23 and two ethernet interface eth0 (internal) and eth1 (public ip).

I've ssh server, proftpd, and qmail.

With or without iptables enabled I can't access my ftp server and ssh server from the Internet. The strange thing is that smtp (qmail) works great

I've noticed some strange things from ifconfig:

1. All my NICs have the same metric (I don't know how to change it) *
2. The TX bytes from my public interface (eth1) are always 0
3. The TX bytes from my internal interface grow continuosly when i go outside (surf internet, ...)

* May be this the problem ?

Some other things

When I try to connect to my ftp server from the Internet, it says "Connected. Wait for login sequence" then after some seconds aborts.

THe default route is through my public interface and my public gateway (infact I can browse the Internet, connect to my pop mail, etc...)

May be the outside traffic goes through the wrong interface ? But, if this is right, why SMTP instead works ?

Metric can be the same for both interfaces, no problem here.
I'd check if your server's receiving ssh and ftp request. To test it you'd need a sniffer (tcpdump, ethreal or anything you can find). With sniffer running you need to try to connect from outside (you can ask a friend, for example). You'll see if there was a connection attepmt at all or not. Can you imagine your ISP blocking it?