FTP / Firewall

[ldejager]

Hi,

I am having problems with the Plesk firewall and the FTP server. The server has a default (shared) IP address and one exclusive IP address for a client.

The client's domain is properly configured.

Whenever the firewall is turned on (Which it is by default now on Plesk 8.1.1, or at least it was on this install) and I try to FTP to either the servers hostname or IP or the clients domain name or IP I get the following;

From a linux box:
220 Microsoft FTP Service
421 Service not available, remote server has closed connection
No control connection for command: Transport endpoint is not connected
KERBEROS_V4 rejected as an authentication type

From a FreeBSD box:
220 Microsoft FTP Service
Name (1.2.3.4:user1): user2
421 Service not available, remote server has closed connection.
ftp: Login failed.

As soon as I turn the firewall off, I am able to login to either the server with correct username and password as well as the clients username and password using his domain name/IP as host.

Connected to 1.2.3.4.
220 Microsoft FTP Service
Name (1.2.3.4:user1): user2
331 Password required for user2.
Password:
230 User user2 logged in.
Remote system type is Windows_NT.

I checked the known issues on 8.1.1 and this is not listed there. Anyone else experiencing this? This is a brand new install on a fresh installation of Windows 2003 Server Wed Edition. Any comments or suggestions welcome.

Regards,

EDIT!

It does not matter whether I am trying to establish a active or passive connection to the server - the outcome is the same.

 

[blitzzzz]

exact same thing here. Shared IP.

The only way I can get a good connection from a PC is to turn my firewall off. I've tried a bunch of settings - using dreamweaver to connect - I get the same messages as above..

Even tried to FTP from the command line - same results.. works fine with (firewall off on my PC - not server) I have no idea what's going on.. it keeps calling for ports and or trying to get packets from my PC???? why is it doing this?

If i turn my firewall settings to a low setting - it works but never stays connected.. ???

Note: just got everything set up and DNS going etc...

not sure what to do.

Thanks to any that reply

 

[blitzzzz]

note: I have other web hosts - And i can FTP fine in everyone of them..

It's just the one i'm trying to run with plesk. -shared vitural server- shared IP address with one other domain (that i have)


please give advice. TY

 

[blitzzzz]

I just wanted to relay some info.. seems to be alot of FTP problems with Plesk and Windows server default FTP.

Serv-U FTP was a fix all for me. (FTP works like a champ now and is supported on plesk) (Free trial) + it's not that expensive, might be worth not having the headaches.

http://serv-u.com/



Keep these boards active / help each other out. _ there is not much info out there(on the net) on some of this stuff.

 

[stefanb]

As of the IIS FTP service , be sure you have Application Layer Gateway Service started.
You can start it from Administrative Tools -> Services

 

[ukjim]

Dreamweaver sync FTP problems on Windows server Connection to the remote host lost

Read all of this post!
Thanks stefanb, setting the Application Layer Gateway Service to Automatic, and a reboot of my server now seems to have made FTP work better when syncing Dreamweaver files using the file synchronisation and its reliability appears to be vastly improved.

Before I was constantly getting errors such as "Connection to the remote host has been lost. Click refresh to connect.", and "An internal FTP error has occurred", often partway through the sync process, which would result in inaccurate files selected for transfer.

I've been scratching my head for a couple of months now thinking it was a problem with Dreamweaver, removing the main DW cache file, and even re-installing the software.

Turns out its because of the configuration of the Windows Server, which I've always been suspicious of because other servers (Linux) I connect to were fine when syncing.

It still seemed necessary to Recreate Site Cache in Dreamweaver for most sites, and to turn FTP Passive Mode back on (I had previously turned this off in an attempt to make it more reliable, but it seems that Passive Mode works properly again after turning the Application Layer Gateway Service on).

Nice one. Hope this helps other folk with similar problems, although they may have to contact their ISP to ask about this if they don't control their own server.

UPDATE: Ok, this got me thinking and I did some research on the ALG Service. Reading up on it and talking to one of the engineers here it seems that you should not normally need this service (which does port mapping and allocation in relation to the firewall gateway). So rather than turning ALG Service ON for the Server, I thought it is better to check my end to see why it is requiring this service, and discovered the ALG Service is being started on my PC.

Something on my PC turns the ALG service on (its set to Manual - not Automatic normally), so I tried disabling and re-enabling all sorts of software items and rebooted about 20 times to see what it might be, and checked the Event viewer to see if I got errors if I Disabled ALG Service, but nothing complains, so I have Disabled ALG Service on my PC, and set ALG Service on the Server back to Manual (ie. it will only start up if necessary).

I am still at a loss as to what is causing ALG to startup, and I am suspicious of the AVG Anti-Virus, but I cannot disable it due to company policy (they control it) to prove this definitely.

Anyway after rebooting both the Server and my PC (to be quite sure), the ALG Service does not attempt to run on the Server, and is prevented from running on my PC. Now Dreamweaver works like a dream syncing with the remote site on the Windows server with Passive Mode.

This seems like the better approach, and may suit other people with the same problem who do not have control over the Server end. So check whether something is starting the ALG Service on your local computer.