FTP Problems up the Wazoo!

[Romans837]

I've been administering websites for about a year now and the #1 problem, hands-down, has been flakiness with FTP.

I depend on FTP for transferring files (obviously), pulling down log files to run WebTrends on them, and backing up my system (many of the sites are virtually hosted so I don't have much choice for backup).

I'm always getting errors (425 - Can't Open Data Connection is a quite common one), timeouts or other things that are preventing downloads and uploads. I'm bloody sick of it! I've tried GetRight, and other various FTP "helper" utilities. I purchased both WS-FTP Pro and Cute FTP in the hopes that at least I could get one of them to work reliably.

No luck. One other thing I suppose I should mention. I am hosting these sites on IIS servers if that might matter.

Any tips people could give me would be great!

[Hierophant]

I would think its more related to the quality of your connection than the server your connected to. I have never experienced the problems with FTP that your describing.

Since the problems occur over multiple programs you should verify that your connection is clean. If your using dial-up then have your local telco check your line and if necessary install data quality wire. You can also try a different number for your provider.

If your using Cable or DSL make sure that you are within the distance allowed. If your close to the limit than you will probably need to downgrade your service to get reliable transfers.

Line noise and shoddy transfers don't affect HTML downloads that much because HTTP isn't a continuous connection. You will notice line noise when you do a continuous connection like FTP or telnet

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Wayne Luke
WR Moderator
Internet Media Provider

[Michael Martin]

I use ftp pro & have seen the errors.
To fix it I just kept resending the file until it took. I use a dial in line & know it's not dependable.

Michael Martin

[temis]

I have been having the same problems - connection reset, timed out, can't open data connection, etc. Sometimes it crashes my FTP program (I use WS FTP Pro). I work on two connections: T-1 ans DSL. And its only that one account, the rest of them (I work with about 10-15) are perfectly fine. Could it be the server?

ps. I am on Apache....
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[This message has been edited by temis (edited April 03, 2000).]

[Hierophant]

It could be the server. It depends on what they have their transmission timeout set to. Most servers I have seen have it set to 900 seconds or 15 minutes. But this shouldn't cause any problems unless you walk away from your PC for a time.

The server itself may have a troublesome connection to the internet within either the PC, the line or the router.

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Wayne Luke
WR Moderator
Internet Media Provider