- Sorry. Title supposed to read: FTP Errors (ftp, gftp, filezilla)

Hi everyone,

I'm having a problem with FTP that I've never had before. Where to start...

FTP (CLI). I can connect fine (ftp domain), but ls/dir pulls up nothing. It just sits on the cli without returning results.

gftp. The same. It connects to my website host, but doesn't return a directory listing.

Filezilla. The same for a while. I set the transfer mode to passive exclusively and finally got a directory listing. But transferring a file produces the same effect as using the command line and trying to get a directory listing.

Some times filezilla, after trying to connect, shows nothing in the "communication" window. The one that tells you what it's up to, like checking userid and password and connecting to a specific IP, etc. It's just a blank white window.

I've also disabled selinux in /etc/selinux.config

I'm stumped. I simply can't update my website with ftp. The hosting company has made suggestions such as changing from passive to active transfer, checking my firewall, but none of this helps.

Hopefully one of you has solved this type of problem before.

First question is there a firewall in place? Does dropping the firewall correct the issue? It is one of those more obscure issues but the file transfer function of FTP is on TCP Port 21. However, especially on some of the older versions the communications will cross port 20. I forget if it is TCP or UDP, check for both if this does show a positive on the firewall test.

Your FTP hosting has some special settings you are not enabling. If it has then post it here. Also try with 'lftp' program.

OK. I've requested the exact settings for my account and any special settings their server might have. Will troubleshoot the firewall tomorrow, but I generally thought it was turned off when I set it to "Disabled" in /etc/selinux/config.

Also installed lftp and will try it.

Report back tomorrow. Thanks.

Hi, sorry it took a little longer to get back to this.

I installed lftp and encountered the same problem as I did with the other ftp clients (I changed the domain, userid, and psswd in the following):

So, after logging in and requesting a directory listing, the app hung. (That's right before I interrupted the process manually...where you see the word "Interrupt".)

According the the people that host my site, I have all the correct settings in my ftp clients (sent them a screenshot to be sure).

I didn't have this problem on Ubuntu 14.04, so I'm assuming that it's Fedora. I've manually disabled selinux (but if port 21 and 20 were blocked, I probably wouldn't be able to get as far as successfully logging in.)

This is beyond my depth of knowledge, but I've never experienced in before on any previous Linux OS, including Fedora 18/19. I also can't find any body else posting about it who isn't running a private ftp server.

I'd really like to update my site if you can think of anyway to resolve this. One last thing. I've also signed up to other hosts and tested their servers. Same thing. I also replaced the wifi router with one I own so I can log into it... these solutions make no difference. Either there is no directory listing, or the client hangs on transmission...

Also, filezilla produces no graphical output during connection attempts. (Is this weird or what?)

ftp is kinda' deprecated. are you able to use scp/sftp ?

I'd rather stick with something simple.

Hey, your signature is kinda funny.

anyone?

sftp would be simpler than deprecated ftp (i am assuming you can log in remotely via ssh).

I admit, with geek nobiness and embarrassment, that I don't really know how to ssh.

I don't think my hosting company supports secure FTP as it's a free account. I'd like to change to a paid account, but that won't solve my immediate problem, because I've tried ftp on three different hosting companies already.

I support I should look into ssh and then report back here. (They probably don't support that either.)

Personally, I've never liked plain-text ftp, but I do use a VPN.

Secure ftp is ftps and not sftp (SSH FTP). Secure ftp is supported by lftp.

Did you passed username and corresponding password?

Yes. Login was successful. Please read the original post again. The problem is getting a directory listing. This has only just started happening on Fedora 21.

** Thanks for the info about sftp and ftps. From a casual search on google, it appears there are few free hosts that offer either. (My site is not designed to make money, so I'm trying not to spend money on it.)

I have finally traced this back to a problem with my VPN. I have just submitted a ticket to them for a resolution. "ls" works fine in ftp without my VPN, but hangs with it on.

Re ssh; its effectively 3 tools in one, all using the same underlying libs:

1. ssh - secure ie encrypted remote terminal cxn
2. scp - secure remote copy (either direction)
3. sftp - secure ftp inside ssh (near enough)

Personally I use scp - much simpler cmd set than sftp.
Note also that unless your std FTP is in fact FTP+SSL (as described above), then its not secure ...

I'm really not sure how this was resolved. It just started working again...