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 leroydouglas,

    leroydouglas leroydouglas Sep 25, 2016 9:56 AM in response to BinsuJiro
    Level 7 (23,769 points)
    Notebooks
    Sep 25, 2016 9:56 AM in response to BinsuJiro

    No issues here.

     

    It seems to me with all the different FTP clients you have tried, it points to the server itself.

     

    I would query tech support where  your servers are managed.  Seems like a server issue, assuming your login credentials are correct.

  • by BinsuJiro,

    BinsuJiro BinsuJiro Sep 25, 2016 5:32 PM in response to leroydouglas
    Level 1 (11 points)
    Mac OS X
    Sep 25, 2016 5:32 PM in response to leroydouglas

    I was inclined to believe that until I tried to screen share with my wife's computer and that no longer worked. I did notice that FTP services are not on the list of services available in the Sharing control Panel.

     

    But, given my issues with Safari and the Apple Java installation with Sierra, I cannot attribute the problem to the service provider or my web hosting service.

     

    I spent a considerable time with them trying to resolve the issue.

  • by trevoz,

    trevoz trevoz Sep 25, 2016 7:23 PM in response to BinsuJiro
    Level 2 (195 points)
    Mac OS X
    Sep 25, 2016 7:23 PM in response to BinsuJiro

    Have you tried the command line ftp utility in terminal? Works for me:

    trev@macmini5 [/Users/trev] $ ftp charon.entry.org

    Connected to charon.entry.org.

    220 charon.entry.org FTP server (Version 6.00LS) ready.

    Name (charon.entry.org:trev): trev

    331 Password required for trev.

    Password:

    230 User trev logged in.

    Remote system type is UNIX.

    Using binary mode to transfer files.

    ftp>

  • by BinsuJiro,

    BinsuJiro BinsuJiro Sep 26, 2016 6:08 AM in response to BinsuJiro
    Level 1 (11 points)
    Mac OS X
    Sep 26, 2016 6:08 AM in response to BinsuJiro

    PRAM rest cured the screen sharing issue, but FTP issue remains.

  • by BinsuJiro,

    BinsuJiro BinsuJiro Sep 26, 2016 6:16 AM in response to trevoz
    Level 1 (11 points)
    Mac OS X
    Sep 26, 2016 6:16 AM in response to trevoz

    I didn't know that there was a builtin ftp utility in the terminal.

     

    I can try that and will, but the issue is that Dreamweaver FTP transfers coordinates a substantial amount of activity associated with maintaining a web site. Using the other ftp clients, i.e., Transmit, CyberDuck and Filezilla, are emergency alternatives when doing web site management & maintainence. But, in yesterday's issue with FTP, none of them worked.

     

    I was able to use POWWEB's online Control Panel to do some updates via their File Management option, but that does not coordinate content with Dreamweaver and the site structure on my local computer.

     

    I plan to take another run at POWWEB technical service to look at possible server issues on their side, and will report back on my results.

     

    Thanks for your advice.

  • by BinsuJiro,

    BinsuJiro BinsuJiro Sep 26, 2016 3:41 PM in response to trevoz
    Level 1 (11 points)
    Mac OS X
    Sep 26, 2016 3:41 PM in response to trevoz

    terminal ftp also did not work, and yielded the same type message.

     

     

    I tested the connection to the web hosting service with an ftp utility on my iPhone. The connection was made without any problems, so It isn't the web hosting service.

     

    Any advice on where to start troubleshooting this issue or what logs to view?

     

    Thanks

  • by trevoz,

    trevoz trevoz Sep 26, 2016 4:19 PM in response to BinsuJiro
    Level 2 (195 points)
    Mac OS X
    Sep 26, 2016 4:19 PM in response to BinsuJiro

    The most useful log file to look at will be the one on the server to which you are trying to ftp.

     

    Failing that, at your end you can enable debug mode with the command line ftp utility (ie "ftp -d server.com"). This may tell you something interesting.

     

    I can setup a login on one of my servers to capture a log if you cannot get the server log and/or the above doesn't help. Let me know if that is needed.

  • by BinsuJiro,

    BinsuJiro BinsuJiro Sep 26, 2016 4:53 PM in response to trevoz
    Level 1 (11 points)
    Mac OS X
    Sep 26, 2016 4:53 PM in response to trevoz

    Trevoz,

     

    Thanks for the info. I will try to setup the debug mode as you suggest and report back any results.

     

    Thanks,

    Vincent

  • by BinsuJiro,

    BinsuJiro BinsuJiro Sep 26, 2016 5:13 PM in response to trevoz
    Level 1 (11 points)
    Mac OS X
    Sep 26, 2016 5:13 PM in response to trevoz

    I tried the Terminal ftp utility again and got the following results:

     

    ftp -d server.com

    Connected to server.com.

    421 Service not available, remote server has closed connection.

    ftp> open ftp.mozilla.org

    Connected to d34chcsvb7ug62.cloudfront.net.

    421 Service not available, remote server has closed connection.

    ftp>

     

     

    This is the resulting log from Filezilla:

    Status: Resolving address of ftp.mozilla.org
    Status: Connecting to 54.230.195.135:21...
    Status: Connection established, waiting for welcome message...
    Error:   Connection closed by server
    Error:   Could not connect to server
    Status: Waiting to retry...
    Status: Resolving address of ftp.mozilla.org
    Status: Connecting to 54.230.195.135:21...
    Status: Connection established, waiting for welcome message...
    Error:   Connection closed by server
    Error:   Could not connect to server
  • by BobTheFisherman,

    BobTheFisherman BobTheFisherman Sep 26, 2016 5:26 PM in response to BinsuJiro
    Level 6 (15,398 points)
    Sep 26, 2016 5:26 PM in response to BinsuJiro

    A little web research leads to this mozilla blog which indicates that ftp.mozilla.org access was turned off last year. https://blog.mozilla.org/it/2015/07/27/product-delivery-migration-what-is-changi ng-when-its-changing-and-the-impacts/

  • by trevoz,

    trevoz trevoz Sep 26, 2016 5:31 PM in response to BinsuJiro
    Level 2 (195 points)
    Mac OS X
    Sep 26, 2016 5:31 PM in response to BinsuJiro

    You don't have a firewall enabled (on the Mac or on your modem/router) that is blocking outgoing/incoming connections do you?

  • by Guardian Hope,

    Guardian Hope Guardian Hope Sep 26, 2016 5:42 PM in response to BinsuJiro
    Level 1 (17 points)
    Mac OS X
    Sep 26, 2016 5:42 PM in response to BinsuJiro

    You can't connect to Cloudfront via FTP. It's a CDN as documented by Amazon and as someone pointed out, Mozilla did turn off FTP access (likely because their storage is now on S3).

     

    Anyways, macOS Sierra appears to have introduced more secure cryptography such as those which are FIPS compliant (according to my system's log).

     

    Your connection to FTP is a very brief - you don't get the WELCOME message as the server closes the connection before then. I would have expected this to be some sort of cryptographic exchange issue using FTPS or SFTP but you are using regular FTP.

     

    I would recommend viewing the server logs as well. You answers will likely be found there rather then just guessing.

     

    I'm connected with Cyberduck to Amazon S3 right now as well as FTP is connected to another site.

     

    Check the server logs and the firewall on your computer, router(s), etc.

  • by BinsuJiro,

    BinsuJiro BinsuJiro Sep 28, 2016 3:03 PM in response to Guardian Hope
    Level 1 (11 points)
    Mac OS X
    Sep 28, 2016 3:03 PM in response to Guardian Hope

    The Firewall is on. And, if it needs to be turned off, I don't understand why there isn't a legitimate way to protect the system and still be able to accomplish basic tasks such as FTP.

     

    Which server logs are you referring to? Are you referring to a "server" on my machine? If they are logs on my MacBook relative to ftp operations, where should I look for them or what log title can they be found under.

     

    I am used to working with applications that handle almost all of the technical stuff, i.e. Dreamweaver, FileZilla, Transmit, and Cyberduck, I usually don't monkey around with ftp any more than putting in the basic information.

  • by trevoz,

    trevoz trevoz Sep 28, 2016 4:14 PM in response to BinsuJiro
    Level 2 (195 points)
    Mac OS X
    Sep 28, 2016 4:14 PM in response to BinsuJiro

    "Server" = remote computer (not your Mac).

     

    FTP works for me whether or not the macOS firewall is turned on... Looking at the firewall preferences, you can add your third-party ftp clients using "Firewall Options". If that doesn't help, then you really need to see the log of a/the remote computer to which you are trying to ftp.

     

    Do you have another firewall enabled (modem, router)?

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