FTP access time limits???

[Alan Meyer_4]

I have an ftp only user who is sending rather large files onto one of my servers. Frequently he says that his connection is terminated remotely and he is not allowed to reconnect.

His connection is via a dedicated T1 so vpn or firewall settings should not be a problem. Are there settings outside of the ftpaccess file which affect time/access limits on the ftp server?

Here's the ftpaccess file that he connects through;

class users real,guest *

guestgroup ftponly

suppressversion yes

upload /da * yes daftp ftponly 0600 dirs
upload /da/data * yes daftp ftponly 0600 dirs

noretreive /etc/passwd core


Thanks again for your help...

-a

[Chris Wilshaw · Accepted solution]

According to the ftpd man page, there's a -t option that can be set;

-t timeout Causes ftpd to timeout inactive sessions after timeout seconds. By default, ftpd terminates an inactive session after 15 minutes.

The parameter will be on the ftpd line in /etc/inetd.conf if it has been changed from the default.

[Alan Meyer_4]

the ftp entry in inetd.conf is

ftp stream tcp nowait root /usr/lbin/ftpd ftpd -l -a

So it looks like the time limit has already been removed.

[Alan Meyer_4]

My user is getting the error message
"connection closed by remote host"

I've enclosed a screen copy.

[Mel Burslan]

Alan,

non-existence of -t from the inetd.conf on ftp line does not mean that it is removed. It means it is set to the default value which according to my ftpd man pages is 15 minutes.

the client has a right to change this setting upon login and you as the ftpd administrator have a chance of capping this value with -T but since your purpose is to keep thisperson alive at all times, I think you can modify the ftpd line on inetd.conf with an obscenely high number preceeded by -t.

Also, in most workplaces, network admins impose inacitivity limits on the routers and firewalls. Even though you say VPN or firewall setting should not be a problem, it generally means the rules are set for passthru anything. It does not necessarily mean that they are immune to global timeout setting. It might be a good idea to check with them on the side too.

[Alan Meyer_4]

Thanks Mel, I'll try to change the setting...

When a file is in the process of bring transferred that is not considered inactive, is it?

[Mel Burslan]

not from the networking gear point of view but I am not sure about the ftpd. I have seen this bizzare timeouts happening in the past when large transfers were taking place. So, anything is possible.

[Alan Meyer_4]

well, I set both -t and -T to 864000 (24 hours)
lets see what happens.

Thanks

[Mel Burslan]

Good luck. Make sure to come back and tell us your success or lack of it.

[Alan Meyer_4]

setting the -t & -T values in the inetd.conf file seems to ahve done the trick. thanks for your help.

-a