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Delay in Accessing FTP Server

tonyg
Newbie
Posts: 3
Registered: ‎15-11-2017

Delay in Accessing FTP Server

I look after our church website which is hosted by Fasthosts. I frequently back-up the website, and then download the backup file to my computer where I create and run a exact copy of the website for development purposes. I use FileZilla to connect via FTP to the Fasthosts server to carry out the download. Until now, this has worked perfectly.

Since the wekeend, I find that I cannot connect by FTP to the Fasthosts server - IP address 213.217.193.5. The following error message keeps coming up on FileZilla:

Response: 425 Sorry, invalid address given
Error: Could not connect to server

I have contacted Fasthosts and after some investigation, the Fasthosts response is as follows:

Thank you for that. I have checked the IP address you are using and this is not blocked in our system. In this case, I would suggests for you to contact your Internet Service provider as the traceroute shows it timed out in the hop 6 where it is still trying to connect to our server. Please show them this result for them to be able to check their end and see if they are blocking the server. Before doing so, try restarting your router. If this does not help, then please contact your ISP immediately. Should you have any other concerns and clarifications, please reply to this email.

I have re-started my Plusnet broadband connection to see if this resolves the issue, but it has not.

Here is a trace route from my laptop to IP address 213.217.193.5.

Traceroute has started…

traceroute to 213.171.193.5 (213.171.193.5), 64 hops max, 72 byte packets
1 192.168.1.1 (192.168.1.1) 8.609 ms 2.229 ms 1.220 ms
2 lo0.central10.psb-bng03.plus.net (195.166.130.254) 32.246 ms 31.141 ms 31.105 ms
3 411.be7.psb-ir01.plus.net (84.93.253.115) 32.036 ms 31.862 ms 32.142 ms
4 core1-be1.southbank.ukcore.bt.net (195.99.125.130) 32.286 ms 31.935 ms 32.475 ms
5 peer1-et-10-1-0.telehouse.ukcore.bt.net (62.172.103.23) 32.263 ms 32.275 ms 32.400 ms
6 * * *
7 eth6-5-4.gw-dist-0-sh.dc3.con.glo.gb.fasthosts.net.uk (88.208.255.14) 36.243 ms 35.739 ms 35.535 ms
8 server213-171-193-5.livedns.org.uk (213.171.193.5) 36.413 ms 35.439 ms 36.221 ms

There seems to be a delay at hop 6.....

I would appreciate assistance to help resolve this issue.

Many thanks

tonyg

8 REPLIES 8
ejs
Aspiring Hero
Posts: 5,442
Thanks: 631
Fixes: 25
Registered: ‎10-06-2010

Re: Delay in Accessing FTP Server

I think the traceroute doesn't really indicate any problem. Intermediate hops don't have to respond to traceroute probes.

You've written 213.217.193.5 twice, but the IP address in the traceroute is actually 213.171.193.5.

pjmarsh
Superuser
Superuser
Posts: 4,030
Thanks: 1,575
Fixes: 20
Registered: ‎06-04-2007

Re: Delay in Accessing FTP Server

 All that is meaning in your traceroute is that the server/router isn't responding to pings, so isn't necessarily a problem.  Are you sure you are using the right IP address?  The one you have listed as the fasthosts server (213.217.193.5) is different that the one you are running a traceroute to (213.171.193.5).

I can make an ftp connection to the server you have run the traceroute to, but not the other one.

 

Edit: @ejs beat me to it!

Superusers are not staff, but they do have a direct line of communication into the business in order to raise issues, concerns and feedback from the community.

tonyg
Newbie
Posts: 3
Registered: ‎15-11-2017

Re: Delay in Accessing FTP Server

Guys,

 

 

Many thanks for pointing out my typo - as you say, the correct IP address which I need to FTP to is 213.171.193.5.  

Do you have any other ideas what might be causing the issue if it is not a delay in hop 6 ?

 

 

tonyg

pjmarsh
Superuser
Superuser
Posts: 4,030
Thanks: 1,575
Fixes: 20
Registered: ‎06-04-2007

Re: Delay in Accessing FTP Server

I'm able to create an ftp connection to that server, and it then asks me to authenticate.  Are you able to connect at all to the server?  Is it connecting but failing to authenticate? 

Superusers are not staff, but they do have a direct line of communication into the business in order to raise issues, concerns and feedback from the community.

tonyg
Newbie
Posts: 3
Registered: ‎15-11-2017

Re: Delay in Accessing FTP Server

pjmarsh,

 

Thanks for your message. I tried connecting yesterday and again today with ftp (FileZilla), and it worked fine. Another of those faults that come and then just go away.....

TJOA
Newbie
Posts: 2
Thanks: 4
Registered: ‎26-03-2018

Re: Delay in Accessing FTP Server

I wish I had been a member of this forum and seen this thread when I started my latest battle with FTP. I first hit this problem August 2017 when I was making some trivial content changes to my local community web site. I had made no changes to anything (by which I mean ISP, router, operating system, file transfer settings or software) and suddenly the ftp stopped working. I contacted my hosts (Fasthosts) and went through a barrage of tests to no avail. When life intruded I left it alone for several days. When I came back to the problem, it just worked. Very frustrating. This last week I have wanted to add some new pictures and have hit the same problem again. I am in the middle of a support call now and going through the same testing procedures. Was there ever an explanation?

spraxyt
Resting Legend
Posts: 10,063
Thanks: 674
Fixes: 75
Registered: ‎06-04-2007

Re: Delay in Accessing FTP Server

This could be the FTP equivalent of "All out agents are busy" when you telephone (even though they are on a coffee break waiting for calls). Possibly stale sessions blocking new connections or something like that. No doubt monitoring will not show anything is wrong. A few day later the stale sessions have gone away - servers might have been restarted - and all is well.

Of course it could be something else completely. Buck2

David
TJOA
Newbie
Posts: 2
Thanks: 4
Registered: ‎26-03-2018

Re: Delay in Accessing FTP Server

I've nowspat my dummy out and have signed up with another host. A test web site was up and running within 30 minutes (some nice though unsupported packaged software helped). Will be migrating my community website next time I have a free hour. Might just play with flushing DNS (the latest suggestion) before then just for the fun of it. I am not convinced this problem is anything to do with my ISP or router. I've seen it mentioned on loads of different forums (fora?) the only common denominator is Fasthosts.