ftp timing out

[Ragni Singh]

ftp timing out sporadically.

1.. Log in to FTP server.

2. Change directory

3. Type ls command

4. Connection closed by remote host with no response.


Any idea what could be causing this issue. POints will be assigned.

[Florian Heigl (new acc)]

Hi,

please try using passive mode as in the following example.

Name (ftp4.de.freebsd.org:xxx): ftp
331 Please specify the password.
Password:
230 Login successful.
Remote system type is UNIX.
Using binary mode to transfer files.
ftp> passive
Passive mode on.
ftp> ls
227 Entering Passive Mode (131,159,72,23,133,80)
150 Here comes the directory listing.
[...snipppp....]
226 Directory send OK.
ftp>


possible reasons:

- NAT without ftp proxy support
- using a kind of aggressive or non-stateful firewall

both will be cured by passive mode.

[HGN]

Hi

Are you trying to connect after logging thro vpn because I have seen this happen when you are connected to your network thro vpn. If you the same issue connecting to any server using putty then you can configure the timeout.
But your case seem to be little different for the reason it is timing out almost immediately.
Post your reply when you get this resolved just curious to know.

Rdgs

HGN

[Ragni Singh]

I am not sure but I think the customer connets through vpn. But I am pretty sure that this is a firewall issue. I am going to monitor this for a while as I haven't seen teh issue today and will post results later.

[Florian Heigl (new acc)]

In case of a VPN connection, it might also be worthwhile to look at MTU sizes on the whole way.

[Mridul Shrivastava]

If u r still facing the issue I would suggest you to have a look on latest n/w patches and decreasing MTU size.

[Bill Hassell]

This is definitely a firewall issue, very common with cheap firewalls or with badly configured firewalls. The lockup almost always occurs as you issue a CD or the PASSIVE command. There is nothing you can do on the client side.

[Michael Steele_2]

restart your ftpd daemon with the -l option. this will write problems into syslog. (/etc/service, inetd. )

Attached is a ftp / firewall doc.