I am having a problem with one of my hosting accounts:

I have to wait about 3 minutes before the welcome message is displayed, and after creating a folder, it hangs on the LIST command for about 2 minutes. Same with uploading.

Any ideas as to what the problem is?

=THanks

There are two possibilities:

1) First, try setting your FTP client to "PASV" or "Passive" mode. If it already is, try turning it off. It could be a firewall or proxy issue, and PASV sometimes fixes problems like this.

2) If that's no help, what is probably happening is your IP is not reverse resolving. Whenever you try to connect to your server, the FTP server reverses the IP for logging purposes. If there's no answer, it can hang until it times out.

#2 is either a problem with your ISP (having no reverse mapping for your IP) or with your server (improperly configured DNS cache). To see which it is, try reversing your IP on another box. Under *nix, type:

host 1.2.3.4

Where 1.2.3.4 is your current IP. If you get "Host not found", there is no reverse mapping. If it does resolve, next try the same thing on your server. If you get different results, contact your administrator.

If it is #2, PASV mode will fix it to where it only hangs on the initial connection in most cases.

Hope this helps.

It wasnt a PASV problem.

I am having trouble understanding what to do for scenario #2. Could you please go over it again?



=THanks

When you log into an FTP server, the server knows what IP address you are coming from. This is standard practice.

The FTP server tries to do a reverse lookup on your IP. Generally each IP has a hostname associated with it. It may be a domain name, or an x-level domain. Generally with an ISP, it would be something like:

1.2.3.4 == 4.3.2.1.your-provider.net

Or something to that affect. It might instead resolve to user442.your-provider.net, or just about anything.

If no entry appears for 1.2.3.4, some clients will hang when trying to look up the IP until the operation times out. This is the hanging you are experiencing.

There are two possible causes, however. See, normally a "host not found" is received immediately; in your case, it's not.

It might be a problem with your ISP -- their DNS is not returning right away when you try to look up the IP.

It might instead be the DNS on the server machine causing the problem. It's difficult to tell which is the case, but in any case, if your IP resolved correctly it would no longer be an issue.

In reality, this may not be the problem, but in every case I've seen, it has been an issue of the client IP not resolving.

Is there anything I can attempt to do to fix it, or would it have to be done by my host?

your Host should be able to fix these things for you.
It looks like a DNS lookup problem just tell your host to add the servername or the ftp servername in the dns file.

So, if your hosts server name is Lexor.Finehost.com then tell them to add that in their dns with an A and ptr record.

Actually what I meant is that *his* IP is not resolving, not the FTP server's IP. In other words, the IP address you are coming from, the one issued by your ISP when you dial in or connect.

The FTP server IP is irrelevant here...

WoodShed: Again, you first have to determine who's problem it is, your ISP or your host, before you can ask one to fix it. I gave the steps above (try reversing the IP yourself from a different system)...

If you don't know how to do this, your best bet would be to go ahead and submit a support request to your web host, and let them know what's happening. Give them your current IP, and let them know that you think the problem is that your IP isn't resolving and their FTP server is hanging while trying to resolve it.

If they are at all competant, they will either fix it, or advise you to contact your ISP for support if the problem is in fact with your ISP.

by reverse mapping is that like rDNS?

I am a little incompetent when it comes to that kind of stuff. I have contacted my host about it. I'm just thinking the sooner its fixed the better.

You might try the ReverseDNS suggestion listed here...

http://www.webhostingtalk.com/showthread.php?s=&threadid=21515

I had this problem on a Linux box (no Raq) and this fixed it.

Thanks, jason_s. Rebooting was tried, but to no avail. The server isn't a RAQ, so changing those settings doesn't apply.



I seem to be the only one who gets this hangtime. the sys admin didn't and i had several other people connect to an account there and they all said it was faster than average.

I am puzzled.

Any more input on this? I contacted my ISP and they said that the problem couldn't be with them.

I did a traceroute, and in 2 places i got: Bogus rDNS: host not found [authoratative]

could that be a problem? I have also run scandisk and defrag just to be sure.

I am really stumped!