Cannot connect to work ftp server from mac

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Level 1

8 points

Cannot connect to work ftp server from mac

I so a website for a school I work for but I cannot connect to the ftp server correctly on my mac. On windows it is fine. Finder, Transmit, cuteFTP, cyberduck, fetch...etc etc...I've tried them all, with no luck.

The exact problem is a bit strange. I can "connect" to the server ok, in that it accepts my user name and password and logs me on...it is when it is trying to get a list of files from the server that I get errors.

The server specifically needs Active (PORT) mode and NOT PASSIVE! That much I have found out. I have tried to make sure ftp is allowed in my firewall etc (Tiger built in firewall) but with no avail.

I can publish to my .mac fine...beautifully...but not this normal ftp server. I don't know why Windows can connect and get a list of files fine, but Mac cannot. It connects and then gives errors, not giving me the file list.

I include exactly what cuteFTP has done (I omit the IP addresses and username etc):

{
Connection attempt #1:
Looking up www. *WEBSITE*...
Connecting to www. *WEBSITE* (xx.xxx.xxx.xx) Port 21...
Connection established.
220 www-01 Microsoft FTP Service (Version 5.0).
USER **USERNAME
331 Password required for *USERNAME*.
PASS ••••••••
230 User *USERNAME* logged in.
PWD
257 "/ *DIRECTORY*" is current directory.
TYPE A
200 Type set to A.
PORT xxx,xxx,x,x,xxx,xx
200 PORT command successful.
LIST
150 Opening ASCII mode data connection for /bin/ls.
425 Can't open data connection
}

It is always when it gets to the LIST stage, but these exact same details put into Windows will make it work straight away.

Have I got some sort of security/blocking issue on my mac?...as I have been previously using .mac and not this server from my mac.

I use RapidWeaver to design my website but that cannot connect either. I have to export and upload it using smartFTP on Windows.

Any help would be appreciated, it's driving me crazy!!

Best Regards

Andy Shaw

12" PowerBook 1.5GHz, Mac OS X (10.4.3)

Posted on Feb 2, 2006 11:30 AM

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Answer 1

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Andy Shaw Author

Level 1

8 points

Feb 2, 2006 12:41 PM in response to Andy Shaw

Just to update...I disabled my Mac OS X firewall temporarily and suddenly everything connected instantly!!

So that's where the problem is!...but obviously I need my firewall up, so I'm doing something to not configure my firewall properly to allow it full access.

Any help would be much appreciated!

Thanks for all your time and effort!

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Answer 2

Feb 2, 2006 3:25 PM in response to Andy Shaw

Andy,

Yes - the firewall is preventing the FTP server from creating an incoming "data" connection to your machine.

If it is a definite requirement to use "active" FTP then you are going to have to set up a firewall rule that allows an incoming connection on high (> 1024) port numbers from the IP address of the server.

Normally tweaking of firewall rules would be done at the server end with accompanying use of "passive" mode.

Have a look at the explanation of ftp at http://slacksite.com/other/ftp.html

Graham

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Answer 3

Andy Shaw Author

Level 1

8 points

Feb 2, 2006 4:00 PM in response to Kiwi Graham

Thanks Graham!

Is there a way to find out exactly what ports I need? So I can enter them into the firewall as manual rules? (I'm thinking some sort of log generated by the ftp client or something like that??

Is there some sort of way of entering the server IP into the OS X firewall?

Many thanks for your help!

Andy

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Answer 4

Feb 2, 2006 4:42 PM in response to Andy Shaw

The incoming connection will only be restricted to random ports > 1024 unless the server is configured otherwise. ie. you can't manually pick the numbers.

The OS X firewall (ipfw) can be configured to allow the incoming connection from a particular IP address - but I run Norton firewall so I don't know the specifics of configuring ipfw via the OS X interface.

I do know that the shareware program Flying Buttress (previously known as BrickHouse) gives a GUI interface to the full flexibility of ipfw.

I failed to mention previously that you might want to investigate whether the server supports SFTP (Secure FTP) which performs all the communication over port 22 allowing a simple firewall setting (at the server end) and also has the benefit of performing encryption on the data traffic.

Graham

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Answer 5

Andy Shaw Author

Level 1

8 points

Feb 3, 2006 4:01 PM in response to Kiwi Graham

Thanks very much Graham! That program you suggested was perfect!...solved the problem instantly with little configuration!...superb!...what a cool little find!

Thanks for your help on this matter!

Best Regards

Andy

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