Fetch Softworks

New Broadband access causes probs (10 posts)

• Started 16 years ago by berty
• Latest reply 16 years ago from Scott McGuire

• berty Member

  For years I've had (OPTUS Aust) dial-up net access, never a prob using fetch to upload to my host. Recently I've switched to (OPTUS Aust) broadband access and suddenly I cannot get a file listing. Inbuilt FETCH dialogue warning suggests checking off PASSIVE mode, then it advises to return to status quo. Net service provider (OPTUS Aust) claims it's a third party issue not theirs. What can I do? Thnx

  Posted 16 years ago #

• Scott McGuire Administrator

  Hi,

  We'd like some more information to help diagnose the problem.

  Could you please do the following?

  * Quit Fetch, if it's running.
  * Open Fetch again.
  * Connect to the server you're having a problem getting a file list from.
  * Then choose Fetch Transcript from the Window menu, copy the entire contents of the transcript window, and paste them into a reply to this message.

  We'll take a look and try to figure out what's going on.

  Thanks,

  Scott McGuire
  Fetch Softworks

  Posted 16 years ago #

• berty Member

  hank you Scott, The transcript is;
  Fetch 5.0.5 (5A835) PowerPC running on Mac OS X 10.4.4 (8G32) PowerPC English
  StuffIt Engine 0x812, StuffIt SDK Version 10.0.2
  Partial serial FETCHEX001-QCAS-X4MG T
  Connecting to ftp.bertonwithanee.com port 21 (OS X firewall is on) (27/5/07 8:24:57 PM)
  Connected to 207.150.221.94 port 21 (27/5/07 8:24:57 PM)
  220 chp-004-es Microsoft FTP Service (Version 5.0).
  USER ws-bertonwi
  331 Password required for ws-bertonwi.
  PASS
  230 User ws-bertonwi logged in.
  SYST
  215 Windows_NT version 5.0
  PWD
  257 "/ws-bertonwi" is current directory.
  MACB ENABLE
  500 'MACB ENABLE': command not understood
  PWD
  257 "/ws-bertonwi" is current directory.
  TYPE A
  200 Type set to A.
  PORT 58,105,138,128,192,11
  200 PORT command successful.
  LIST -al
  150 Opening ASCII mode data connection for /bin/ls.
  Active mode connection blocked by OS X firewall, port 49163
  ABOR
  425 Can't open data connection.
  225 ABOR command successful.
  PASV
  227 Entering Passive Mode (207,150,221,94,18,241).
  ABOR
  225 ABOR command successful.
  ftp_list: -30028 (state == GETTING_LIST)

  All the very best, Marc (BERTY)

  Posted 16 years ago #

• Scott McGuire Administrator

  Hi Marc,

  Thanks for the transcript.

  We'd like you to try two things. First, download a copy of the latest version of Fetch, version 5.2. This is a free update for you, although if you don't want to update for some reason, you can just run it temporarily for this test. You can get it by going to our homepage, http://fetchsoftworks.com .

  Then:

  * Quit Fetch, if it's running.
  * Open Fetch 5.2.
  * Choose Preferences from the Fetch menu.
  * Make sure the "Use passive mode (PASV)" checkbox is checked.
  * Connect to the problem server.
  * Then choose Fetch Transcript from the Window menu, copy the entire contents of the transcript window, and paste them into a reply to this message.

  Thanks,

  Scott McGuire
  Fetch Softworks

  Posted 16 years ago #

• berty Member

  Fetch 5.0.5 (5A835) PowerPC running on Mac OS X 10.4.4 (8G32) PowerPC English
  StuffIt Engine 0x812, StuffIt SDK Version 10.0.2
  Partial serial FETCHEX001-QCAS-X4MG T
  Connecting to ftp.bertonwithanee.com port 21 (OS X firewall is on) (1/6/07 8:16:06 PM)
  Connected to 207.150.221.94 port 21 (1/6/07 8:16:07 PM)
  220 chp-004-es Microsoft FTP Service (Version 5.0).
  USER ws-bertonwi
  331 Password required for ws-bertonwi.
  PASS
  230 User ws-bertonwi logged in.
  SYST
  215 Windows_NT version 5.0
  PWD
  257 "/ws-bertonwi" is current directory.
  MACB ENABLE
  500 'MACB ENABLE': command not understood
  PWD
  257 "/ws-bertonwi" is current directory.
  PWD
  257 "/ws-bertonwi" is current directory.
  TYPE A
  200 Type set to A.
  PASV
  227 Entering Passive Mode (207,150,221,94,4,34).
  ABOR
  225 ABOR command successful.
  PORT 211,29,179,250,192,2
  200 PORT command successful.
  LIST -al
  150 Opening ASCII mode data connection for /bin/ls.
  Update check started at 01/06/2007 08:16 PM
  Active mode connection blocked by OS X firewall, port 49154
  ABOR
  425 Can't open data connection.
  225 ABOR command successful.
  ftp_list: -30027 (state == GETTING_LIST)
  QUIT
  221

  Posted 16 years ago #

• berty Member

  Hello Scott, having downloaded the new FETCH, I preceded to obtain the Transcript code in the reply above. Thank you so very much.

  Kind regards, Marc (Berty)

  Posted 16 years ago #

• berty Member

  My apologies Scott, I must have run fetch without updating or reopening my applications window. This is the correct version of FETCH, whereas the previous "reply to post" was not.

  Fetch 5.2.1 (5C263) PowerPC running on Mac OS X 10.4.4 (8G32) PowerPC English
  StuffIt Engine 0x820, StuffIt SDK Version 10.1.1b1
  Partial serial FETCHEX001-QCAS-X4MG T
  Connecting to ftp.bertonwithanee.com port 21 (Mac OS X firewall is on) (1/6/07 8:28:43 PM)
  Connected to 207.150.221.94 port 21 (1/6/07 8:28:43 PM)
  220 chp-004-es Microsoft FTP Service (Version 5.0).
  USER ws-bertonwi
  331 Password required for ws-bertonwi.
  PASS
  230 User ws-bertonwi logged in.
  SYST
  215 Windows_NT version 5.0
  PWD
  257 "/ws-bertonwi" is current directory.
  MACB ENABLE
  500 'MACB ENABLE': command not understood
  PWD
  257 "/ws-bertonwi" is current directory.
  TYPE A
  200 Type set to A.
  PASV
  227 Entering Passive Mode (207,150,221,94,4,42).
  Making data connection to 207.150.221.94 port 1066
  ABOR
  225 ABOR command successful.
  PORT 211,29,179,250,193,14
  200 PORT command successful.
  LIST -al
  150 Opening ASCII mode data connection for /bin/ls.
  Active mode connection blocked by Mac OS X firewall, port 49422
  ABOR
  Update check skipped at 01/06/2007 08:29 PM (next check after 02/06/2007 10:21 AM)
  425 Can't open data connection.
  225 ABOR command successful.
  ftp_list: 2,-30031 (state == GETTING_LIST)

  All the best again Marc (BERTY)

  Posted 16 years ago #

• Scott McGuire Administrator

  Hi Marc,

  Thanks for the additional transcript.

  Here's what's going on: there are two methods for connecting to FTP servers, active mode and passive mode. Fetch tries both when trying to connect to a server.

  Active mode is not compatible with firewalls, and I see that you have your Mac OS X firewall turned on. So Fetch is trying to use passive mode for connecting to your server. Unfortunately, it looks like your server doesn't support passive mode connections.

  So Fetch is stuck and can't successfully get a file list, because the server doesn't support passive mode and the firewall blocks active mode.

  One solution to this problem is to turn the Mac OS X firewall off. However, I realize you may not want to do this; although you could turn it off temporarily when you need to work with your server via FTP, and turn it back on again.

  You should try talking to the folks running your server and see if they can fix it so that it supports passive mode connections; if they fixed that, you could connect to it with the firewall turned on.

  Another thing you might want to look into is whether your server supports SFTP connections. SFTP works quite a bit differently from FTP and does not have the same problems with firewalls. You can connect with SFTP by changing the "Connect using" pop-up menu in Fetch's New Connection dialog.

  I hope this helps, and let us know if you have further questions.

  Thanks,

  Scott McGuire
  Fetch Softworks

  Posted 16 years ago #

• berty Member

  One last question, a sign off and thanks Scott.
  I tried temporarily turning off my Firewall and yep... I got the listing. Thank you so much for that advice.

  My host server also replied, unfortunately as they are windows based, writing the appropriate code to allow Passive or SFTP for that matter was (and they said it nicely) out of the question. They did however direct me to other sister sites that may be more Mac FETCH friendly.

  Sincere thanks for your patience and clear explanations. I feel that much more enlightened my friend.

  And finally how long would you suspect is too long to leave one's Firewall turned off? Is that like a piece of string answer? For me to get a quick server listing and upoad, say, several 50k files - is that being vulnerable too long? I'm after a guess-timate understanding of what I may be in for.
  Again thanks for your time. I'll certainly be donating to the FETCH cause. Ciao, Marc (Berty)

  Posted 16 years ago #

• Scott McGuire Administrator

  Hi Marc,

  First, some clarification on your ISP's answer. The fact that they're Windows-based isn't really an excuse. Passive mode FTP is not something that is specific to Fetch or even Macintosh computers. I imagine some Windows FTP users who are running a firewall also have problems connecting to their server.

  Likewise, SFTP is not Fetch or Mac-specific. Both SFTP and passive mode FTP are Internet standards. And they shouldn't have to write any code themselves; they would just need to find better server software. There are Windows-based FTP servers that support both.

  Anyway, it sounds like they aren't going to do it regardless (even if their explanation of why is kind of bogus), and I hope maybe they can refer/move you to a server that supports one of the two.

  In the meantime, in regards to your question about the firewall, it's a hard to answer quantitatively. But generally, Macintoshes are much less at risk when they don't have a firewall on than Windows machines. Some Mac users don't ever use the Mac OS X firewall, to no ill effect. So it's probably not too risky to turn it off for a reasonable period of time while doing transfers. But ultimately you may want to look into finding a different server.

  Please let us know if you have any more questions.

  Thanks,

  Scott McGuire
  Fetch Softworks

  Posted 16 years ago #