FTP Server Timeout with vsFTPd

KenjiKinya · 07-19-2009, 11:49 AM

When attempting to access my FTP server over the internet, the connection times out when the client sends the LIST command:

Code:

Status:	Connection established, waiting for welcome message...
Response:	220 (vsFTPd 2.1.2)
Command:	USER anonymous
Response:	331 Please specify the password.
Command:	PASS **************
Response:	230 Login successful.
Command:	OPTS UTF8 ON
Response:	200 Always in UTF8 mode.
Status:	Connected
Status:	Retrieving directory listing...
Command:	PWD
Response:	257 "/"
Command:	TYPE I
Response:	200 Switching to Binary mode.
Command:	PASV
Response:	227 Entering Passive Mode (xxx,xx,xx,xxx,255,147).
Command:	LIST
Error:	Connection timed out
Error:	Failed to retrieve directory listing

Note: the x's replace my WAN address

However, when being accessed from a LAN the server simply sends the list, and the client is able to browse the server directories just fine.

Thanks in advance,
Kenji

acid_kewpie · 07-19-2009, 02:21 PM

read through this... http://slacksite.com/other/ftp.html Doing passive like you are, unless you are 1) doing connection tracking on your firewall / nat devices 2) specifically limiting FTP data connections to a narrow range of ports explicitly configured to permit access, you're stuck. Option 1 is good. option 2 sucks. option 3 is to use active mode, which may well fail depending on the clients configurations.

You *may* wish to ditch FTP altogether and use SFTP instead, which *only* uses port 22, so is very simple to handle within a network.