Problem uploading to Linux Redhat-Please help

I would really appreciate any help with this one.

We have a Linux server (Redhat Enterprise Version 3) on our network. It’s in the same subnet as other PCs and servers. However it has its own firewall/server(Aopen).
The server can communicate with other PCs on the network. It's a back-end of some databases that we use and we don't have a problem with that.
The problem is we can't upload to the server. This problem surfaced when we tried to do a restore to the server, the backup software timed out and it failed. I tried to FTP to the server and it timed out too. Something is keeping the server from uploading to it. We can download with no problem. There is no firewall between the server and other servers or PCs on the LAN.
Any help is REALLY appreciated.
Thank you in advance.

Canaan

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linuxguy

Okay, couple of questions.

1) Are you sure that the software firewall on the server itself is turned off\ports are open. The firewall is on by default I believe.

2) Are you sure that the ftp service is running? have you checked your services to insure that it is set to turn on automatically?

RussS

*SNAP*

canaan

1. The firewall is not turned on.

2. The FTP service is not running. But do you need FTP to be able to copy files to the server inside the network.???
For example, on our win 2000 server we don't have FTP running, yet we can copy files to the server and the backup software can restore to it with no problem.!!!!

Thank you

RussS

canaan wrote:

The problem is we can't upload to the server. This problem surfaced when we tried to do a restore to the server, the backup software timed out and it failed. I tried to FTP to the server and it timed out too. Something is keeping the server from uploading to it. We can download with no problem. Canaan

Going by that part of your post - you would need FTP turned on. If you were just browsing directories you would not.

Are you sure the firewall is not turned on? Many admin I know have the firewall running to block web services, but still allow file browsing with smb etc.

drewm320

For example, on our win 2000 server we don't have FTP running, yet we can copy files to the server and the backup software can restore to it with no problem.!!!!

Windows to Windows file transfer is usually done using the SMB protocol. The service is always running on windows machines and share access is usually handled through NTFS permissions.

*nix systems were created before LANs were commonplace and so they don't have all this nice stuff on by default. If you wanted to copy files between the server and windows PC's, you would have to manually open a samba share on the linux server. This would allow windows users to browse to the share in Explorer, do drag and drop file copies, etc.

FTP is usually turned off by default however if you only needed to move a few files once in a while, it is pretty easy to allow FTP access. Setting up Samba shares can be a hassle but are useful if you want to have a network drive that lots of users can access.

Because FTP is easier to set up, your backup software may be using it to send files to the Unix machine. Check the documentation to be sure.

canaan

Thanks for your reply....

I installed vsftpd. I confirmed it's running(/etc/init.d vsftpd start).

However, I can't seem to upload to the server. I establish an ftp connection but it times out after a while.
What else could be wrong???

Thank you in advance.

drewm320

Are you trying to FTP as the root user? By default RHES 3 restricts the root user from logging in over the network.

If you are trying to connect as some other user, let me know EXACTLY what you are typing and what happens.

canaan

No, I log in as my self. And I'm using and FTP client(smartFTP). I log in with no problem. I'm able to upload small files. It seems when the file is bigger than aprox 23K, it times out after about 2 minutes.
Connection closed. Server timeout.
NOOP
And only a small amount of the file is transfered. It's as if there a restricition somewhere.
I tried to ftp from the command line and the same thing happens.

Please note this all local(inside the network). The server and the PCs are on the same subnet.

Thank you.

drewm320

A few things to check.

After you establish a connection with the FTP client, type 'passive' to toggle passive mode on or off. See if things work better one way than the other.

Look in /etc/resolv.conf and make sure there aren't any invalid DNS server entries.

You're not running XP service pack 2 with the firewall turned on are you?

Try looking in /var/log/xferlog to see if any more detailed errors are listed.

canaan

- With passive mode the connection times out. It doesn't transfer anything.
- Active mode is slightly better. I was able to transfer small files at a very slow rate of 4.59 KB/sec. With bigger files the connection times out.

- In /etc/resolv.conf, I only found the entries for our DNS, provided by our ISP.
- In /var/log/xferlog, no details there just lines like this one:
Fri Nov 12 10:05:23 2004 979 192.168.1.127 350001 /home/username/image.jpg b _ i r username ftp 0 * c)

However, I found out something, but I'm not sure how to interpret it. We have a remote user that uses SSH to login to the server. He said he's able to use the SSH file transfer utility to upload files to the server.
I tried it from home myself and he was right. I'm able to SSH to the server through the server's fire wall(We have port 22 open), and I was able to upload files with no problem. I even opened ports 20,21 on the firewall and was able to FTP files to the server.

It seems obvious now that the problem is only internal. Something is keeping the server from receiving files within the network. Although as I mentioned before, we use databases internaly that login to the server and users are able to connect/update/modify without any problem.

Looks lile something has to be enabled or "open' on this server. I just don't know what.!!!!!!!!!!

linuxguy

Forgive my not repling sooner.

To answer your question to allow internal file sharing you do not have to use ftp. As already stated you can/should configure samba.

Have you tried/can you make a ssh connection to the server locally.

canaan

I will try to configure samba and see if this solves the problem.

But Linuxguy, this is what puzzles me : remotely you can VPN to the network and open SSH file transfer and upload to the server with no problem.!!!!!!!!!!!! Or I can SSH through the firewall(through port 22) from home and upload files

Internally, I'm able to open an SSH shell client and connect to the server. But when I open an SSH file transfer client and try to upload anything, it won't let me. It stays at 1% for few minutes then times out.
This is exaclty what happens when I try to restore to the server with Arcserve. It times out and fails to restore.

Thank you

RussS

Almost sounds like a 'rule' that does not allow ssh transfer from a local address.