ftp hangs when trasfering large file

[lorel]

The system is running SCO 5.0.7 Maintenance pack 5.

Problem: client system is supposed to call our server to download updates, The updates are 3 small files and one tar and compressed file that can be as much as 4 MG. When system attempts to download the tar file, it hangs shortly after it starts.

We were successful in transferring the file to a local PC, but when I attempted to move the file from the local PC to the UNIX server, the same thing happens.

Apparently I have a problem with the FTP system in the server, this server was working fine until the middle of last month, and, as far as I know, no changes have been made to the server.

This is the only client that has this problem, every other client works ok

I have no idea what could be causing this, Can any one give a hint?

Thanks

Joe

 

[patw]

Did you remember, from the PC, to set the binary (or image) option before starting? M$ systems default to text mode transfers unless you specifically set binary. Text mode screws up binary data but good, and may lead to hangs if the text mode leads to recursion in a binary filled with LF, CR or hex 0's.

----------------------------------------------------------------
Pat Welch, UBB Computer Services, a WCS Affiliate
SCO Authorized Partner
Microlite BackupEdge Certified Reseller
Unix/Linux/Windows/Hardware Sales/Support

 

[lorel]

Yes, we are aware that the PC ftp defaults to text, we do change the transfer mode to binary as standard operating procedure when we are doing a transfer from PC to UNIX.

However, the script that does the update ftp from UNIX to Linux, which the default is binary. When I did the manual ftp test, I went from the UNIX system to the Linux system. (This one also failed)

Joe

 

[vodkadrinker]

A few questions to shed some light on the problem:-

Can you do a loopback ftp on the SCO server? (ftp localhost)

Have you tried a different user to do the ftp?

When you say large files are you saying files smaller than 4mb work or is it just the tar file that does not work?

 

[lorel]

We are able to transfer small files with no problems, in the case of the zip file, it actually downloads a small amount of it, between 14 to 25 kb, before it hangs.

The user is root, due to the way the auto updates are set up, they have to be done with root privileges.

We have not try to do a loopback, but, ftp does work as long as the file is not to big.

By the way, thank you for your interest in helping me, it is appreciated.

Joe

 

[vodkadrinker]

Just to rule out the size issue create a large file,

dd if=/dev/zero of=testfile_10MB bs=10485760 count=1

then try to ftp this file to the SCO box.

I thinking this is a size issue (although 4mb is pretty small) or it doesn't like your zip file.

 

[Annihilannic]

Strange... there was another size-related FTP issue posted recently.

Annihilannic
[small]tgmlify - code syntax highlighting for your tek-tips posts[/small]

 

[lorel]

I read the post recommended by annihilannic and this post I do not think is related to my problem:
A- the transfer in our case do not stop at the same size every time.
B- We try to ftp the data from a local PC to the server withing the same network and it also failed.
C- We are unable to split the file in question, we have over 300 client that uses this file and this client is the only one with the problem, plus the file changes with every update.

We we are about to do is to create a large file using vodkadrinker command just to see if there is a different file behaves different.

I do want to thanks all of you who have taken the time to make recommendations to help me with this problem.

Joe

 

[patw]

FTP has no size limit other than the max size the 32 bit version can handle (2 GB).

Please try the suggestion vodkadrinker made, while logged in as root:

ftp localhost

That will transfer the file without involving the network.

This will demonstrate that the problem is with SCO (if it fails at the same point), or if successful it will point toward something on the network or the target system imposing the limit.

It would not surprise me if Linux was set up out of the box to not allow root to transfer files.

----------------------------------------------------------------
Pat Welch, UBB Computer Services, a WCS Affiliate
SCO Authorized Partner
Microlite BackupEdge Certified Reseller
Unix/Linux/Windows/Hardware Sales/Support