I have a raq4i at rackshack. My ftp client (wsftp lite) will loses the connection after 5 min with no activity. Rackshack support says the client is responsible for the disconnection. I think it is the server. Who is right? If it is the server, how can I change the timeout to a longer period?

FTP Timeout

1. Telnet and login as root using the Admin password.
2. Type: vi /etc/proftpd.conf (you can also use emacs or pico)
3. Below the line that reads:

Group home

add this line

TimeoutNoTransfer 900

Note: This will put the timeout to 900 seconds.
Note: You can also add this line under each "VirtualHost" section for each virtual site.

4. Restart you inetd service, type: kill -1 `cat /var/run/inetd.pid`

Both the server and client can cause a disconnect after an idle period. This depends upon your ftp client -- you may want to check the settings of your client. Some clients have a keep alive option which will send info to the server every few minutes to keep your connection alive.

If you have many people connecting to your machine, high timeout values are a good idea, but if they're are only a few FTP users, then this should not be a problem.

WS_FTP Lite has a normal 5 minute disconnect if you aren't transfering at that time. It says so in the program and happens to me no matter what server I'm connected to.

There was no Group Home line in my /etc/proftpd.conf file. Also , I can't find any settings in wsftp lite or wsftp Pro to set the timeout. Any other ideas?

In WS-FTP lite, when you first click on CONNECT and the SESSION PROPERTIES box appears, click on the ADVANCED tab.

This shows the network timeout. The network timeout is the number of seconds that elapses before WS_FTP stops waiting for an FTP site to respond.

You can put the timeout lines just about anywhere in the /etc/proftpd.conf file that are not between <tags></tags>. Here's mine:


# This is a basic ProFTPD configuration file (rename it to
# 'proftpd.conf' for actual use. It establishes a single server
# and a single anonymous login. It assumes that you have a user/group
# "nobody" and "ftp" for normal operation and anon.

ServerName "ProFTPD"
ServerType inetd
DeferWelcome off
DefaultServer on
DefaultRoot / admin
DefaultRoot ~/../.. site-adm
DefaultRoot ~ !site-adm

TimeoutNoTransfer 1200
TimeoutIdle 1200

# Port 21 is the standard FTP port.
...snip...

Note the added lines:
TimeoutNoTransfer 1200
TimeoutIdle 1200

You don't need to restart inetd or anything else.

Originally posted by Snowbird122
This shows the network timeout...

Whups, that's right *smacks self with trout* ! Sorry about that one.

Originally posted by Juan

add this line

TimeoutNoTransfer 900


It doesn't matter where you add it as long as it is in the proftpd.conf file.