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SFTP Problems (9 posts)

  • Started 16 years ago by SteveT
  • Latest reply 15 years ago from Webber
  • SteveT Member

    I've been unable to complete an SFTP connection recently that I was able to a month or two ago. We can not see where anything has changed on either end and we can do a command line SFTP connection and an SFTP transfer, but we can not do the same with Fetch.

    The error message says: SFTP connection to "server" could not be opened because the connection to the SFTP server could not be established or was lost.

    Here's what the transcript shows:

    Fetch 5.3 (5D161) Intel running on Mac OS X 10.4.11 (8S2167) Intel English
    StuffIt Engine 0x820, StuffIt SDK Version 10.1.1b1
    Partial serial FETCH5X001-Z7UC-Q3GP T
    Connecting to SERVER port 22 (3/18/08 8:53:59 AM)
    SSH2_FXP_INIT 3

    I put SERVER in the transcript instead of leaving the server name there.

    Any ideas?

    Posted 16 years ago #

  • Scott McGuire Administrator

    Hi,

    Just to double-check, on the very same Macintosh, you can connect successfully using the command-line SFTP client, is that correct?

    If so, after you connect, what happens if you type "ls" (without the quotes) at the sftp prompt in the command line?

    Thanks,

    Scott McGuire
    Fetch Softworks

    Posted 16 years ago #

  • SteveT Member

    Scott,

    Yes, from the very same Macintosh we were able to connect via a command line interface and transfer a file.

    When we typed "ls" we got a listing of the files on the remote end. That's how we selected a file to download.

    We've also got a second Mac that is demonstrating the same problem.

    smt

    Posted 16 years ago #

  • Scott McGuire Administrator

    Hi Steve,

    Thanks for the confirmation. This is unusual; as you might guess, if the command line client can connect and get a file list, Fetch should be able to as well. So we'd like some more detailed information, if possible.

    Could you please do both of the following?

    Type "ssh -vvv user@hostname" (without quotes, and replacing user and hostname with the appropriate info) in the Terminal, and email us the output from that command.

    Then, in Fetch, do the following:

    * Open Fetch.
    * Type Command-Control-Option-Shift-D. (Yes, hold down all 5 keys at once!) This will enable Fetch's Debug menu.
    * Then go to the Debug menu, and choose Logging > SFTP Log.
    * Try to connect to the server.
    * And then email us your system.log file. To find the system.log file, choose "Go to Folder..." from the Go menu in the Finder and enter "/var/log" (without the quotes). The system.log file will be in the folder that opens.

    Please email both pieces of information to:

    bugs at fetchsoftworks dot com

    Thanks, and let me know if you have any questions about the above.

    Scott McGuire
    Fetch Softworks

    Posted 16 years ago #

  • Webber Member

    I'm having exactly the same issues, is there meanwhile a solution for this?

    Posted 15 years ago #

  • SteveT Member

    I'm on a machine that is managed by our Unix support team. Apparently there's something about the image that they provided in January that broke SFTP for Fetch. The SSH/SFTP binaries are there, but they are in the wrong place. I can move them to correct the problem, but they get replaced every night. I think there is something wrong with the location of the SSH/SFTP binaries. That may be a simplification, but it's essentially the problem.

    Posted 15 years ago #

  • Scott McGuire Administrator

    Steve, thanks for the followup and input (and sorry to hear that your SFTP problems come back every night).

    Webber's problem appears to be that he has two SSH binaries, one of which is not the version that is standard for his version of Mac OS X.

    I'd like to note for other users who might read this thread that having SSH/SFTP binaries in the wrong place, or having the wrong version of them, is unusual (no offense to Steve or Webber); if you are having problems connecting with SFTP, those are probably not the first things you should look for. Checking to make sure your server supports SFTP, and checking to see if your host key is out of date, are much more common solutions to SFTP connection problems.

    Thanks,

    Scott McGuire
    Fetch Softworks

    Posted 15 years ago #

  • Webber Member

    Hi Steve,

    No offense taken but I still don't understand what could be wrong and what should solve it in my case. This may be because I'm kind of new with this specific subject, so bear with me :)

    ... having SSH/SFTP binaries in the wrong place, or having the wrong version of them ...

    I can confirm that appearantly having two versions of OpenSSH is the case on one of my computers which has a let's say -mature/heavily used- Mac OS X but on one of my other Macs with a freshly installed OS X I also find two versions mentioned in the system log file.

    I'm not aware and quite sure a custom installation of OpenSSH didn't took place (by me) so I'm kind of in the dark.

    [This message has been edited by Webber (edited 04-09-2008).]

    [This message has been edited by Webber (edited 04-09-2008).]

    Posted 15 years ago #

  • Webber Member

    ... come to think of it, being able to shell access the server with these Macs doesn't say anything about the sFTP right or don't I get it?

    [This message has been edited by Webber (edited 04-09-2008).]

    Posted 15 years ago #

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