BinsuJiro

Q: Is anyone experiencing failed ftp connections to ftp servers?

I upgraded to Sierra earlier in the week, and when I went to update a critical law firm web site that I manage the server connection at POWWEB keeps closing. I tried this with the Firewall on and with the Firewall off.

 

I did notice that the Sierra Sharing System Preferences window no longer has the option to allow ftp in the services list.

 

Is anyone else having difficulty connecting to ftp servers? Or, does anyone have a solution for this problem?

 

I have tried to connect with:

Filezilla

Transmit

CyderDuck, and

Dreamweaver

 

None of the applications will connect, and the error message is some variant of:

Connection established, waiting for welcome message...

Connection closed by server

MacBook Pro, macOS Sierra (10.12), iPad Air, iPhone 6, and iOS 10

Posted on Sep 25, 2016 9:47 AM

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Q: Is anyone experiencing failed ftp connections to ftp servers?

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  • by BinsuJiro,

    BinsuJiro BinsuJiro Sep 28, 2016 7:09 PM in response to trevoz
    Level 1 (11 points)
    Mac OS X
    Sep 28, 2016 7:09 PM in response to trevoz

    Trevoz,

     

    Nothing has changed since etwo weeks ago when I last updated my firm's web sites. No changes were made to routers, modems or the WiFi Network.

     

    The only change is that before I was running ElCapitan and now I'm running Sierra. It is not a problem at my web hosting service, I can log in on my iPhone with a mobile version of an FTP client.

     

    This is an APPLE OS Sierra problem, just like the many people who are having problems with Safari crashing, because the new system integration does not like the way Apple customers constructed their Bookmarks List. Apple forgets that we are the customers, and they shouldn't bully us the way Microsoft customers are bullied.

  • by Guardian Hope,Helpful

    Guardian Hope Guardian Hope Oct 15, 2016 2:45 PM in response to BinsuJiro
    Level 1 (22 points)
    Mac OS X
    Oct 15, 2016 2:45 PM in response to BinsuJiro

    BinsuJiro wrote:

     

    Trevoz,

     

    Nothing has changed since etwo weeks ago when I last updated my firm's web sites. No changes were made to routers, modems or the WiFi Network.

     

    The only change is that before I was running ElCapitan and now I'm running Sierra. It is not a problem at my web hosting service, I can log in on my iPhone with a mobile version of an FTP client.

     

    This is an APPLE OS Sierra problem, just like the many people who are having problems with Safari crashing, because the new system integration does not like the way Apple customers constructed their Bookmarks List. Apple forgets that we are the customers, and they shouldn't bully us the way Microsoft customers are bullied.

     

    I had to actually find the POWWEB website which I did. If their website is any indication (it looks like it hasn't been updated since the late 90s), it's very much doubtful that it's a macOS Sierra problem. Too many people are able to use FTP or connect to Amazon just fine. We use IBM SoftLayer (for nearly a decade - from The Planet and EV1 to SoftLayer to IBM SoftLayer). We also use a lot of other partner providers and have servers in both third party datacenters ("colocation") and our own facilities. I tell you this because of what I am going to say next. I don't want you to misinterpret my statements as something being directed in a way no one would like.

     

    By your own admittance, you don't normally work with the "technical" stuff and thus like someone in such a scenario which I completely understand, you have now fallen into this "bully us" attitude. This means that in a sense - you are not a knowledgeable source able to readily resolve this. Let's take a step back and look at this objectively.

     

    Your website is hosted by a company on what's known as "shared hosting." This is the cheapest of the cheap in terms of hosting offers. Basically, there could be a thousand websites or more on one server (a server, defined in this sense, is a single dedicated system; likely running CentOS or CloudLinux with cPanel).

     

    If Apple introduced changes to macOS Sierra which removed the ability to use certain older cryptographic cipher suites it is possible that negotiation is now failing with the server because the server doesn't use a modern cipher suite.

     

    Another alternative is that based on your hosting environment you may be locked out through an automated trigger for security. If you have an El Capitan Mac lying around, connect it to the same network and same external IP and see if FTP works. If it doesn't, you have your answer.

     

    Your hosting provider is not sophisticated by any stretch of the imagination. Your hosting environment isn't either.

     

    AWS, Azure, GCE, SoftLayer - they all offer cheap "hourly" virtual servers (these are all far more powerful and more sophisticated then what you have). You can quickly setup a CentOS + cPanel server "hourly" at SoftLayer and try to connect. Your total cost to them would be probably about 10 cents. Heck, spend $5 on a GoDaddy hosting package for a month if you are unsure how to configure a server although the cPanel setup wizard is pretty straight forward. The same is true with AWS. Just remember to terminate or cancel the device/instance once you are done.

     

    That's really the only advice anyone can give you right now if, as you said, nothing else in your network has changed. Since you are on a shared hosting platform you can't view the server logs so the only alternative is to test an FTP connection to another server where there is a lot more control.

     

    Honestly, this is probably not the answer you wanted to hear but this is the answer that anyone here should be giving you at this point. Based on your own admittance and your firm's choice in hosting provider, I imagine that you all are completely out of your depth.

     

    Cyberduck and Transmit are my two favorite FTP programs for OS X. They work wonderfully under macOS Sierra. They were just recently updated however so be sure you also have the latest update.

  • by itspmm,Helpful

    itspmm itspmm Oct 15, 2016 2:46 PM in response to trevoz
    Level 1 (9 points)
    Oct 15, 2016 2:46 PM in response to trevoz

    I am also having FTP issues in that once connected to my remote server, it fails to retrieve the directory. I have been in touch with my host service and they established that I do connect successfully to the server, so that is not the issue.

     

    I do not have the Firewall turned on. This is happening with every single account I try to FTP to and I am using Filezilla as my client. I have tried other FTP software with similar results. On El Capitan, the problem turned out to be networking hardware MTU setting. I don't think that applies here as I am now using a cable/ethernet connection. On the cable gateway, the firewall is set as 'normal' and I do not control that setting, although I had Port Blocking turned off in my internet service, at my request.

     

    Since I use a Mac, tech support eyes tend to glaze over a bit when it comes to offering solutions.... Admittedly, this sort of thing does not crop up when I use Windows PC on the same network. I consolidated everything back to my Macs a couple of years ago and I really don't want to go ever there again.

     

    It would be great if someone has come across this too and has found a solution. I went through all this stuff when I migrated to El Capitan and it took weeks for the eventual solution to show up, after much diligent searching - it was the MTU setting. Thanks everyone.

  • by BinsuJiro,

    BinsuJiro BinsuJiro Oct 15, 2016 2:56 PM in response to itspmm
    Level 1 (11 points)
    Mac OS X
    Oct 15, 2016 2:56 PM in response to itspmm

    Dear Guardian Hope,

     

    Well your answer wasn't what I would have wanted to hear, but it is a good straight forward and honest answer that I find helpful.

     

    It has technical facts throughout that will point me in the right direction. But I' going to have to do a lot of research o the information you included.I chose POWWEB because they were VERY cheap. And, while I can do much more than most people with my computers and on the internet, my approach has been from the perspective of a Graphic Designer who uses WYSIWG applications because I was trained in the fine arts.

     

    Lately, I have picked up some coding skills by they are meager, and although I manage the network of a local law firm, I have very little knowledge of the resources that you referenced.

     

    However, I am more than willing to learn, and would appreciate some reference material in the form of online resources that could help me gain some understanding of what you referred to.

     

    Your response is doubly appreciated since it delves into technical issues that even though I don't understand, indicates to me that my assumptions were of track.

  • by leroydouglas,

    leroydouglas leroydouglas Oct 15, 2016 4:25 PM in response to BinsuJiro
    Level 7 (24,036 points)
    Notebooks
    Oct 15, 2016 4:25 PM in response to BinsuJiro

    Why not fall back to your old OS X. This will give you a chance to restablisb connection with your server. Then make some contingency plan to up grade in the future, this may include moving your hosting to more state of the art.

     

    I Have tried a lot of the free ftp. clients, however I could not be happier with using Fetch.

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