6.1 FTP Server FAQs

Where can I get more information on the FTP Server error messages displayed on the system console?

Action: Refer to Section A.0, NetWare FTP Server Messages for information on FTP Server error messages.

Why are some file size values displaying as -1?

Explanation: For files that are greater than 2 GB in size, NetWare FTP server displays the file size value as -1.

For files greater than 4 GB, NetWare FTP Server supports all FTP operations except size display and restart.

Why am I unable to login to NetWare FTP Server even though I have entered valid user id and password?

Explanation: Successful login to NetWare FTP Server requires that a read-write/master server in the eDirectory tree is up.
Action: Make sure that the read-write/master server in the eDirectory tree is up.

Why is the anonymous user unable to perform any write operation? How can this be resolved ?

Explanation: The anonymous home directory could be in a NFS Gateway volume that might not have the write permissions for the Other category in a remote UNIX file system.
Action: Ensure that the directory in the remote UNIX system corresponding to the anonymous home directory of the NFS Gateway volume has write permission for Other category.

Why is the log file not created even though I have specified the name of the directory?

Explanation: The log file is not get created if the filename ends with a backslash ( \ ) or a forward slash ( / )
Action: Make sure that log directory name does not end with a backslash ( \ ) or a forward slash ( / ).

Why am I unable to navigate to remote servers?

Explanation: Remote Server navigation is not accessible through an IP address.
Action: Make sure that you specify the NCP address of the server and not the DNS name.

Why am I not able to see directory listing in my FTP client even after connecting to the NetWare FTP server?

Explanation: The FTP client that you are using might be one that expects UNIX-like file permissions. The NetWare FTP Server by default sends NetWare trustee rights along with the files, so this might be incomprehensible to your FTP client.
Action: Set the PSEUDO_PERMISSIONS parameter to ON in the configuration file (Default = sys:\etc\ftpserv.cfg). Set the PSEUDO_FILE_PERMISSIONS and PSEUDO_DIR_PERMISSIONS parameters based on the kind of permissions you want to display for files and directories in the FTP client.

After connecting to Netware FTP Server, certain GUI FTP Clients such as Crystal FTP and FTPSurfer are not displaying contents of the directories. Why does this happen and how can it be resolved?

Possible Cause: Certain clients expect directory listing to be in UNIX-like format.
Action: In the configuration file of the Netware FTP server, set the PSUEDO_PERMISSIONS parameters to ON in the configuration file (Default = sys:\etc\ftpserv.cfg).

Why is an anonymous user not able to log on to the NetWare FTP server even after setting the ANONYMOUS_USER_ACCESS to ON in the configuration file?

Explanation: The anonymous user might have been created manually by using a method other than nwftpd -a.
Action: While creating an anonymous user, make sure that the anonymous user has been assigned a blank password and has been given proper access rights to the anonymous home directory.
Explanation: The anonymous user login expects an e-mail address as input for the password. Most FTP servers check only for the at sign (@) sign in the password, but the NetWare FTP server checks for the at sign (@) followed by at least a single valid character.

I have an anonymous user account in the DEFAULT_FTP_CONTEXT. I am able to access my anonymous account irrespective of the current context that I am in, but why am I not able to do this for other user accounts present in the DEFAULT_FTP_CONTEXT?

Explanation: Although all users are searched in the current session context and then also in the contexts specified in the SEARCH_LIST, the anonymous user is always searched only in the DEFAULT_FTP_CONTEXT irrespective of the current session context. The anonymous user is never searched in the contexts specified in the SEARCH_LIST because of security reasons.
Action: If you want all your users present in a particular context to be able to log in irrespective of the current session context, then include that context in the SEARCH_LIST parameter of the configuration file.

Even after I load the FTP server, why am I not able to connect to it from my client?

Explanation: There were problems while loading the FTP Server, such as another application was using the same port. These problems are reported in the logger screen of the NetWare Server.

Why is dynamic configuration of NetWare FTP Server not working?

Explanation: Dynamic configuration does not take effect immediately if the ftpserv.cfg configuration file is modified by using Notepad or any application from a mapped drive.
Action: Wait for the change to take effect.

or

For the changes to take effect immediately, use the iManager UI utility, or edit the file by using edit.nlm.

I am unable to get an entire directory from the server and the message "No Such file or Directory" is displaying. How do I resolve this?

Possible Cause: You might be trying to get the entire directory without having that directory on your local disk.
Action: Complete the following:

  1. Create a directory with the same directory name on the local disk, then execute get directory name.

  2. To get all files, do a CD to that directory on the server.

Why am I unable to connect from a MAC IE client to NetWare FTP Server?

Explanation: The MAC IE client prepends a / to home directory. Therefore, the FTP server assumes it to be a remote server navigation and does not respond.

How do I make use of SITE Commands?

Explanation: Most FTP clients have implemented the quote command to send arbitrary FTP command to the server.

Enter quote SITE help to get the list of valid SITE commands and use quote SITE SITE-cmd.

If your FTP client has not implemented the quote command, find out how to send arbitrary or custom commands from your FTP clients and then send site site-cmd to make use of SITE commands.

The cd multiple dots (cd ../) is not changing to a different volume. Why does this happen?

Possible Cause: You are trying to access across volumes using the cd../ (multiple dots) command.
Explanation: You cannot traverse across volumes using the cd../ command.

For example, if you are in /sys (where sys is a volume) and you execute cd ../Vol, you are placed in / (root) and not in vol1. Even if you specify a fictitious volume name, such as cd ../fictitious_Vol, Netware FTP server cannot access beyond the / with this command. You are placed in / and no error is reported.

Action: To change directories across volumes, use the cd command without multiple dots.

How do I return to main page from the instance data page?

Action: To return to the main page, click Cancel or click the FTP Task link in the left pane.

Why is the iManager page displaying the default IP address values even though I have entered another value?

Possible Cause: You might have entered special characters such as @ # $ % & * ( )?< > as values for IP address or server passive IP address.
Explanation: FTP behaves inconsistently if special characters are entered in the values for the IP address. The ftpstat page displays the value that the you enter, but the FTP iManager plug-in field displays the default values for these two parameters. At times, the FTP page does not come up if special characters are entered.
Action: Click FTP in the left task link in iManager to go to the FTP page again.

After the modification time set, the file time stamp varies by a second. Is this all right?

Explanation: Yes, when setting the modification time, the result varies from the value specified by a second.

On a remote server, why are the values retrieved or set by the MDTM command not complying to its timezone?

Explanation: The get and set values on file or directory on the remote server will comply to the local server time values where FTP is running.

Why am I unable to set the last modified time (MDTM) of a file or directory?

Possible Cause: When setting the modified time (mdtm), for a volume, file, or directory, your current working directory might be root ( / ).
Explanation: When setting mdtm for a volume or a file or a directory, using an absolute path does not work.
Action: Change the directory to a valid volume or directory and try repeating the set MDTM operation from there.

At times the FTP client hangs at ’150 Opening Data connection...’. Why?

Possible Cause: Certain FTP clients do not handle the error message sent by the server after a ’150 Opening Data connection..’ reply.
Action: Stop the FTP data connection and restart the FTP session.

Why is it that a user with write access to a directory can set the timestamps for read-only files in a directory?

Explanation: This is because of regular NetWare access methods.
Action: To prevent this, remove the user's access rights to modify time. The related rights, such as modify and write that are to be removed are prohibitive.

What if a user with read-only access tries to get the timestamp of a non-existent file?

Explanation: If a user with read-only access tries to get the timestamp of a non-existent file, FTP Server returns the Restricted action error instead of Invalid path.

This is because FTP Server now evaluates the mdtm command for both getting and setting timestamps, but it cannot evaluate the possibility of setting the timestamp for read-only users.

Why does the FTP binding and loading fail when I set the FORCE_PASSIVE_ADDRESS as a DNS name?

Explanation: Make sure that this value is in the standard IP address format and does not exceed 15 characters. The IP address should be valid and it should not contain any special characters such as @ # $ % & * ( )?< >;.