Ftp Problem Within Dreamweaving Mx

[Dorsey]

I've followed the instructions in both the MX documentation and others in this forum when trying to upload files to my domain. It consistenly fails, so I also started checking the FTP log (duh) to see what was sticking in it's (MX's) throat. After validating the login and password and successfully changing to my root directory, MX tries to issue a PORT command (PORT 192,168,1,3,4,117). Every time, this hangs the connection, which subsequently times out.

 

Having used FTP manually for years, I don't recall ever having to issue this particular command. What does it do, and is there something that has to be enabled/set up on either side (MX or TCH) to allow it to work?

 

Thanks for your time.

Dorsey

dharrington@erols.com

[Lianna]

Hm. I can check this out later this afternoon if nobody else gets to it, ok?

 

Lianna

[tastewar]

I'm not an expert in FTP, but I undersand the basics. The port command should be telling the server what port your client is listening on for a data connection. This would have happened behind the scenes in a command line FTP program. It looks like your client is telling the server to contact you at IP address 192.168.1.3 and port 1141. That address is a "private space" address, which is non-routable on the internet, so if it's actually coming across that way, then the server would have no way of getting back to you. Of course, your firewall/NAT router is supposed to translate this stuff on its way out the door, so that might not be a real problem.

 

Have you tried configuring the program to do "passive" ftp? This might fix things if NAT isn't working properly, since passive asks the server to listen, and then the client can open to the server's port.

[Lianna]

Dorsey,

 

I just connected to one of my sites via DW-MX and had no difficulty at all. I didn't know if your domain name had prop'd yet, so I tried it both ways (IP address connection and via domain name connection). Both were smooth. I viewed my log and it showed a different PORT string:

PORT 192,168,1,100,9,75

200 PORT command successful

My internal IP is 192.168.1.100 from behind my firewall. I do not have passive checked. I can transfer files just dandy.

 

Can you list here what you have entered for each of your remote site settings (except password)?

 

Lianna

[tastewar]

Different FTP applications work different ways, though there are two basic approaches to the data connection (seperate from the control connection). One way is that the client issues a PORT command to the server to tell the server that the client is listening at a particular port, and that the server should open to it (in TCP parlance the server sends the SYN frame). This can get complicated for a couple of reasons -- in a NAT environment, the router has to do the translation, and it has to understand FTP since this IP and port are in the payload. Second, some providers might block incoming SYNs or your own firewall software might block them, since in general, you only have listening ports if you're running a service.

 

The other approach is to have the client open the data connection on the server. This is done with the PASV command, which the server responds to by telling the client the IP and port to connect to. This approach sometimes works when the PORT approach fails due to the above reasons, but to be sure, these are all client end issues, not server end issues.

 

Do you have a firewall or firewall software running on your PC?

 

Lianna- the reason you get a different port string is because the actual port number is arbitrary, as opposed to a "well known port number" which things like FTP, HTTP, telnet, gopher (tee hee!) etc., listen on.