Planetfurry BBS

Fikrann · Registered User Joined: 24 Jun 2005 Posts: 65

Hello!

I'd like to notice you that PF's ftp server is probably misconfigured as it is impossible to use passive transactions with it. The problem shows simple and is always reprodutible (at least from my place, I will test from another location in a bit): without PASSV, I can use ftp server as usual, without any problems while with PASSV, the data connection always times out.

I discovered this probem trying to maintain Aslaug's site for her, just after the server move; however I decided against reporting the problem immediately as I suspected a bug or misconfiguration on my side.

I'm currently using gFTP 2.0.18 on Ubuntu.

Fikrann · Registered User Joined: 24 Jun 2005 Posts: 65

Intriguing .. I tested my configuration against a bunch of other FTP servers, to be sure. Everytime passive transactions worked well, so I'm fairly sure it's not a problem on my end.

On a side note, planetfurry's ftp works quickly and flawlessly with PASSV turned off, far faster than it was working for me before the server move, when I still used passive mode to connect.

Whip-lash · Posted: Thu Nov 10, 2005 12:44 am Post subject:

This is a known issue with FTP at the moment, but at this point it's looking more towards the firewall configuration rather than the service config. There were some configuration issues following the configuration, but were only regarding what occurred during the initial login. The server would try to do a reverse DNS lookup and ident lookup against the connecting address, which delayed the login process as well as some command responses once in the server.

I'll keep troubleshooting the issue, however if you intend on using FTP (rather than SFTP), you'll need to enable passive (PASV) mode.

Note, that as far as I am aware, connectivity through SFTP ("FTP" over Secure Shell) does not have this issue. Using SFTP has other benefits, such as a fully secured and encrypted session, and better methods of authentication (public key, 3 factor authentication, etc.). Some FTP clients support SFTP, such as WS_FTP, but if you wish to try it and your client does not support it, try WinSCP (if using Windows).