linux ftp client incompatable with a windows server?

[apac]

So a few days ago I set up an FTP at my house in order to move music, docs, etc to and from work. I work in a CS research lab at the local campus and their computers run Gentoo linux. After installing a client on a machine here I tried connecting to my ftp. The login connection was successful but it refused to data connect, timing out every time. It shouldn't be server side though, because some of my friends on windows machines were able to connect, but I tried 2 different clients here at work and they both gave me the same error.

 

[WobbleWobble]

Try changing the client mode from Active (PORT)to Passive (PASV).

 

[drag]

Ya. FTP has 2 modes. Active and passive.


FTP is a very old protocol and was designed before firewalls and all that even became a idea.

here is some details if your curious

Normally I would just say "use ssh" to copy files. This is because: 1. doesn't have issues with firewalls and ports like ftp does. 2. FTP transmits your password username in plain text like telnet, and ssh encrypts everything for safety.

Along with SSH you have scp and sftp commands. Scp approximates the cp command, but for over networks. And sftp approximates a ftp client/server setup to transfer files.

But since your using a Windows server, this sort of thing isn't possible normally. (for Windows clients to Linux SSH servers you have the wonderfull putty.exe program and it's versions of sftp and scp clients. just a FYI)

 

[apac]

Originally posted by: drag
Ya. FTP has 2 modes. Active and passive.


FTP is a very old protocol and was designed before firewalls and all that even became a idea.

here is some details if your curious

Normally I would just say "use ssh" to copy files. This is because: 1. doesn't have issues with firewalls and ports like ftp does. 2. FTP transmits your password username in plain text like telnet, and ssh encrypts everything for safety.

Along with SSH you have scp and sftp commands. Scp approximates the cp command, but for over networks. And sftp approximates a ftp client/server setup to transfer files.

But since your using a Windows server, this sort of thing isn't possible normally. (for Windows clients to Linux SSH servers you have the wonderfull putty.exe program and it's versions of sftp and scp clients. just a FYI)

OH...interesting. I bet I know why it won't work now. I opened port 21 on my router, but I didn't open port 20, and by the diagram on that webpage port 20 needs to be open for data transfers.

Am I correct?

 

[Mellman]

Originally posted by: apac

Originally posted by: drag
Ya. FTP has 2 modes. Active and passive.


FTP is a very old protocol and was designed before firewalls and all that even became a idea.

here is some details if your curious

Normally I would just say "use ssh" to copy files. This is because: 1. doesn't have issues with firewalls and ports like ftp does. 2. FTP transmits your password username in plain text like telnet, and ssh encrypts everything for safety.

Along with SSH you have scp and sftp commands. Scp approximates the cp command, but for over networks. And sftp approximates a ftp client/server setup to transfer files.

But since your using a Windows server, this sort of thing isn't possible normally. (for Windows clients to Linux SSH servers you have the wonderfull putty.exe program and it's versions of sftp and scp clients. just a FYI)

OH...interesting. I bet I know why it won't work now. I opened port 21 on my router, but I didn't open port 20, and by the diagram on that webpage port 20 needs to be open for data transfers.

Am I correct?

yes...indeed you are..it needs data ports open to transfer files...but you also need to use pasv mode

 

[apac]

Alright, well that didn't fix it. I set my connection passive with my static IP and forwarded both port 21 and the port range listed by passive (I restricted it to 1024-1030 I think). Here's the log from my client connect:

Connecting to 67.174.185.xxx:21
Connected to 67.174.185.xxx:21 waiting for reply...
220 BulletProof FTP Server ready ...
USER guest
331 Password required for guest.
PASS (hidden)
230 User guest logged in.
REST 1234
350 REST supported. Ready to resume at byte offset 1234.
REST 0
350 REST supported. Ready to resume at byte offset 0.
PWD
257 "/" is current directory.
PASV
227 Entering Passive Mode (67,174,185,xxx,4,5).
Error Connecting to host 67.174.185.xxx: Connection refused

 

[drag]

Originally posted by: apac
Alright, well that didn't fix it. I set my connection passive with my static IP and forwarded both port 21 and the port range listed by passive (I restricted it to 1024-1030 I think). Here's the log from my client connect:

Connecting to 67.174.185.xxx:21
Connected to 67.174.185.xxx:21 waiting for reply...
220 BulletProof FTP Server ready ...
USER guest
331 Password required for guest.
PASS (hidden)
230 User guest logged in.
REST 1234
350 REST supported. Ready to resume at byte offset 1234.
REST 0
350 REST supported. Ready to resume at byte offset 0.
PWD
257 "/" is current directory.
PASV
227 Entering Passive Mode (67,174,185,xxx,4,5).
Error Connecting to host 67.174.185.xxx: Connection refused

Sounds like it's a error caused by your school's firewall.

Does it even have a firewall?

Passive puts the burden on the client to set up the firewall with extra ports, and Active puts the burden on the server for extra ports open. Err... or something like that.

Also double check the permissions of the file that your connecting into. Could be trying to connect into C:/ and that should mean a automatic denied since no user has any business being their.

Try connecting to another anonymous ftp website in passive mode and see if that works.

 

[XZeroII]

Linux intentionally breaks windows stuff. They don't want you connecting to a Windows FTP.

 

[drag]

Originally posted by: XZeroII
Linux intentionally breaks windows stuff. They don't want you connecting to a Windows FTP.

Ya especially since 70-80% of FTP sites out their run Linux or another Unix variant.

It's just Unix's way of keeping a monopolistic dominance over the functioning of the internet.

 

[Sunner]

Originally posted by: drag

Originally posted by: XZeroII
Linux intentionally breaks windows stuff. They don't want you connecting to a Windows FTP.

Ya especially since 70-80% of FTP sites out their run Linux or another Unix variant.

It's just Unix's way of keeping a monopolistic dominance over the functioning of the internet.

I think that was sarcasm 🙂

At least I hope so...

Anyway, one way to do it is to setup your FTP server to use a set range of high ports(say 40000-50000) and then redir those ports to your FTP server.
That should work fine.