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problem accessing Mac OS FTP server (5 posts)

This is an archived topic. The information in it is likely to be out-of-date and no longer applicable to current versions of Fetch.
  • Started 19 years ago by wygk
  • Latest reply 19 years ago from Jim Matthews
  • wygk Member

    I'm running Mac OS 10.3.5. I enabled FTP access in the Sharing control panel.

    From another Mac on the same hub, I run Fetch. I am able to log in, but I get to a point where the transcript window says "entering passive mode" - and that's all she wrote.

    The dog keeps running, and eventually the connectiion tims out.

    This seems like it ought to be very, very simple. Is anyone else running FTP access on their Mac? What's the trick to make this work???

    Posted 19 years ago #

  • aarbabian Member

    This is the same problem as I'm facing, but I’m actually able to upload the first few files (30200) and than it stops.
    Let me know the trick if u happen to find out.

    Thanks

    Posted 19 years ago #

  • Jim Matthews Administrator

    wygk: Do you have the Firewall feature enabled in the Sharing panel of the server machine? If so I'd try turning it off.

    Thanks,

    Jim Matthews
    Fetch Softworks

    Posted 19 years ago #

  • wygk Member

    turning off the firewall works... but this clearly isn't an acceptable solution.

    I had set up the firewall to allow FTP access.

    Why doesn't it work? Is there a bug in the Mac OS X firewall code, or ftp server? Or is there a bug in Fetch?

    Has anyone tested using Fetch to connect to a Mac OS X ftp server, with the firewall on and ftp server enabled?

    Posted 19 years ago #

  • Jim Matthews Administrator

    This problem is intrinsic to the FTP protocol. If you use passive mode, your client has to make a connection to a randomly chosen port on the server every time you want to transfer data. If the server is running a firewall that firewall will block connections to random ports, and passive mode won't work. [This is the most common reason why passive mode doesn't work].

    On the other hand, if you turn passive mode off the server needs to make a connection to a randomly chosen port on the client, and if the client has a firewall that won't work.

    Most FTP is done in passive mode because most FTP servers are not behind firewalls.

    Thanks,

    Jim Matthews
    Fetch Softworks

    Posted 19 years ago #

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