Re: FTP download failure - fails at exactly the same point in the transfer file.

Pegasus (MVP) wrote:


"mark4asp" <mark4asp@xxxxxxxxx> wrote in message
news:00b9f6bd$0$32763$c3e8da3@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx
Pegasus (MVP) wrote:


"mark4asp" <mark4asp@xxxxxxxxx> wrote in message
news:00be1b68$0$25784$c3e8da3@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx
This is not any kind of random failure as I'm always getting a
certain number of bytes transfered.

After my web host advised me to use Active mode.

I changed to active mode and repeated that attempt using FileZilla
and the same backup file as used for #4 and #5. The new attempt
[#6] failed precisely at 32.1% [24,726,410 bytes].

32.1% is exactly where it failed for attempts #4 and #5. I didn't
record the number of bytes transfered for #4,#5.

After abondoning #6, when it got stuck, I found the portion
downloaded here (on disk) to be: 24,707,072 bytes. FileZilla
shows >>> that to be 24,726,410 bytes in its file listing. I will
now repeat >>> the process. I close down FileZilla and rename the
portion of the >>> file downloaded to xxxx.file6. As soon as I close
down FileZilla I >>> notice that the portion now has a filesize of:
24,726,410 bytes.

Attempt #7 gave 24,707,072 bytes on my local disk at the point
where I had to disconnect the ftp client becauase it got stuck
again. This reads as 24,726,410 bytes in the FileZilla listing
(again)

24,707,072 bytes is the number of bytes of the partial file stored
on my local disk when the transfer freezes. I can't rename the
partial file at this point because even though I have stopped the
transfer FileZilla still has and handle on it. I have to close
FileZilla down. Then I read the the filesize as : 24,726,410
bytes. I open up FileZilla

I am now going to make an eighth attempt but, with the microsoft
command line ftp utility. This has, at least, managed to get past
32.1% ! Last time I tried the command line ftp utility with this
backup file (#3) it failed at about 48Mb. This time it got stuck
at: 39,112,162 bytes. Eventually, after getting stuck the command
line utility closes itself down. The final portion tranfered for
#8 >>> is: 39,112,162 bytes.

#9. I repeated the process (ftp command line utility, default
mode). It eventually managed to transfer: 43,685,376 bytes before
it got stuck.

#10 (ftp command line utility, default mode). After getting
stuck >>> and closing this left a portion of 43,685,376 bytes too.
[same as >>> #9]. So #8 was the anomally here.

#11. I created a 3rd version of the database backup file and
tried >>> to use the ftp command line utility, default mode. This one
stopped >>> at: 24,726,410 bytes [same as #7, #6 and probably also
#4,#5]

FTP is consistently getting stuck and stopping at identical places
for identical file transfers when using the same software.

OK. I give up. FTP does not work on Win 2003. What did microsoft
do >>> to break it and will they be fixing what they broke? Is this a
gentle nudge telling us all that we need to upgrade to 2008?
[joke]

I have not come across this issue. If I was in your position then
I would do this:
- Consider using "copy" instead of ftp, and/or
- Check Google for other posts on the subject of ftp, large files,
service packs.

Yesterday I attempted and failed (11 times) to do an ftp download of
the application database backup to my PC. I tried 2 different
types of software (Filezilla and the command line utility) with 3
different versions of the database backup. In every case the
download got stuck mid-way.

This morning, at home, I managed an ftp download of the database
backup with no problems.

Just now, back in the office, when I tried yet again it got stuck at
24,726,410 bytes again. On resuming the download it managed a
further 24Mb or so then got stuck again. Resuming as 2nd time does
not work. Even closing the ftp package down (FileZilla) and
resuming a 3rd time results in nothing being transfered.

I've also noticed that my automatic ftp download, using a back-room
server is broke too. Every night, at about 1:15 in the morning the
backup database file should be downloaded to a server in our
back-room. This has not been done since last Thursday morning. The
last successful notification I have of this is dated: 13 December
2007 01:20. The attempt on 14 Dec, 1:15 resulted in only 7Mb being
transfered before the download broke. It looks like the script
used to run the automatic download had not run since then, or if it
has run, it has stopped before attempting the ftp download. Is
there any way that the server patch installed on last Friday (at
about 11:00) could be stopping my script from running? I have
scripts on both the remote server (which holds the database) and my
local server. The remote script backs the database up and does an
MD5 check. The local script copies the backup and Md5 check over to
the local server, validates the MD5 fingerprint and sends me an
email indicating success or failure.

The typical size of a database backup is now 76Mb.

There seems to be a problem at the our office end but the network
administrator, here insists there are no such ftp problems.

Here is my ftp script:

open xxx.xxx.xxx.xxx
myUserName
myPassword
cd private
lcd C:\Data\Development\myApp\Database
ascii
get MW40.MD5
binary
get MW40.BAK
disconnect
bye

How can the script be improved? If I use the actual ftp location
ftp://myapp.com/private rather than the IP would that be better?

Should I consider using a script written in WSH instead?

The remote server has no problem creating the daily backup.

I used the native WinXP version of ftp.exe to download a 50 MByte
binary file from an external FTP server, using the commands you
listed above, and had no problem at all.

If this was my own problem then I would narrow the problem down
by a process of elimination:
- Download the same file while working on a different machine;
- Download a file from a different (e.g. external) ftp server to your
current machine;
- Repeat both exercises at a different site, e.g. from your home.

The results should be revealing.

Thanks for your help. It seems that there may be a problem or
configuration change in the internet at this office which is causing
problems.

I can't get ftp.exe to work properly. I was able to get FileZilla to
work by setting the transfer mode to passive and enabling keep alive
messages. ftp.exe doesn't have such a feature (keep alives). I will
investigate writing a WSH program which calls a suitable .net object.
If nothing exists in .net we may buy something in. I've given up on
ftp.exe

I even extended the server ftp timeout to 240 seconds and it had no
effect on ftp.exe
.

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