FTP timeouts

[paulbrett]

I have some software installed on a RedHat Linux box, that is attempting an FTP transfer to a remote system.

The transfer is always aborted after 20 seconds.

The same software on another RH box does not do this. Both boxes are accessing the same source FTP server.

What operating system options should I check to see what is causing this timeout?

Thank-you.

[hrfister]

pualbrett,
Have you checked to see if it could be due to a firewall rule on the server you are trying to transfer files to? Do you have access to the remote system to view the secure log when you try to ftp to it? If it is redhat, it could be /var/log/secure. On the server you are trying to ftp files to, try 'tail -f /var/log/secure'. This will allow you to monitor what is trying to connect to it and requires security settings. when you do this, try to ftp from the machine where the software is running but do it manually. I would start there. Also, do the same for /var/log/messages. The logs save a lot of time when it comes to troubleshooting problems. Learn to use them as much as possible. Good luck!

[paulbrett]

The target FTP server is NOT Linux. Other FTP targets have been tried, with the same result. I am fairly confident that this issue is at the source end.

[hrfister]

Can you ping the target server's host name or IP address and/or traceroute to it with no problems? If so, I would try to FTP manually to the target server on the command line? If this works then check your connection settings on the software that is trying to FTP to the remote server.

[paulbrett]

IP connectivity is fine. Ping, traceroute, ...everything. Manual command line FTP does not suffer from the same issue.

This points to the software then, right? Well, why does a fresh install on both machines give different results?

[hrfister]

...Well, why does a fresh install on both machines give different results?

Relax pualbrett, in my 10 years of doing things like this, I've learned one thing in the world of Linux/Programming...things don't just happen for no reason. You'd be surprised how many times I have sworn up and down that I did everything right just to find out at the end I accidentally overlooked something. Anyway, having said that, let's continue.

Double check your settings on the software and make sure they are the same as the others. hostname(us IP address for now),username, password, port (should be 21). Also, what user is the program running as on the other RedHat servers? Is it the same as this one? Do you have access to the remote machine? Can you check the logs on it? This can give you a clue as to what is happening too. It wouldn't hurt to check your local (source) machine FTP logs either. If you can get the logs that are recording the error when you try this on either your machine or the remote machine, please post them.