New to FTP... help please?

[GB24Hours]

Hello.... I've always used the CNC Upload Files function for loading my pages, since I generally design them one at at time anyway... all has worked fine.

But now I have some fairly large files I'd like to store (10mb or so) and figured FTP was the way to go.

Being cheap as I am, I found a free FTP program called LeechFTP. I'm fairly certain I set it up right, but when I try to connect, it says "Connected to ftp.mysite.com, waiting for response..." But the response never comes, and it times out.

Any general suggestions as to where I should be looking for errors? I've checked my addresses and URL's and login names and passwords... they all seem to be correct. It just seems that I'm missing something and I don't know what it is.

Or should I just uninstall it and crack open my wallet for a quality FTP program? =)

thanks in advance for any help/advice.

Glenn

[Brian]

Are you running a fire wall program? If so you should check that it is configured to allow your FTP program to access the Internet.

-Brian

[kitchin]

If you're using Windows and just want to check that your ftp access is working, you can open up the ms-dos/command prompt and type "ftp yourdomain".
If you're actually going to use it, "ftp -i yourdomain" works better, then, when connected, try "?" and "? mput". Or control-c to give up.

[GB24Hours]

Hmmmm..... yes, I am using a firewall... ZoneAlarm. I didn't even think of that, I'll have to check the access.... Thanks.

And thanks for the tip on MSDOS prompt... I'll try that too.

[Jeff]

Running ZoneAlarm set to medium/high I found I had to add mydomain.com under Security -> Advanced -> Add Host/Site (which then adds the correct IP address for your site for you)

[GB24Hours]

Hey, thanks a bunch, folks.

Sorry for my late reply, but it turned out to be exactly that.... the firewall. As a quick fix, I just disable it whenever I need to upload something, but I'll try what you describe, Jeff.

I appreciate the quick and accurate help. :)

[Syneryder]

Which version of ZoneAlarm are you using, version 3? I'm running 2.6.362, have my Internet security set to high, and I've had no problems with FTP - it just asks me if I want to allow my FTP program to access the net.

Incidentally I use SmartFTP (http://www.smartftp.com/) which is another free FTP client, with an interface that's similar to Windows Explorer. I've never been able to make much sense of clients like CuteFTP or WSFTP.

[janderk]

Most ftp applications have a setting called "passive ftp". It generally helps if your firewall blocks the normal ftp access.

Jan Derk

[Jeff]

Which version of ZoneAlarm are you using, version 3? I'm running 2.6.362, have my Internet security set to high, and I've had no problems with FTP - it just asks me if I want to allow my FTP program to access the net.
With Version 2.6.88 I found that after FutureQuest switched to the TwoFTPd ftp server (I believe) I needed to add ftp.mydomain.com to the local zone section of zone alarm or else when it went to connect on a high port it would get blocked (even though WSFTP was given access under programs.)

[Syneryder]

Oh no. I just discovered that I've had my settings on ZoneAlarm all wrong, I had the Local Zone set to Medium instead of High. That explains why I never encountered these FTP problems... I didn't realise that the Local Zone affected internet access, thought it applied to the local network only. (Nuts, I've probably been hacked several times this year and never known.)