Intermittent FTP issue. "FAIL TO RETRIEVE DIRECTORY LISTING"

[BuildMyWeb]

not sure if this is the right place to post about help with FTP clients but i see an FTP thread stickied here and no other forums seems more appropriate.  please move if im in the wrong place.

 

we have a reseller hosting account with crocweb.  their service has been great the first few months.  we recently hit a hiccup where for the last few days we have difficulty ftp-ing to the server.  nothing that i can think of was changed on our side.  the problem just started spontaneously from our perspective.  i am in NY and my partner in NC.  on the same night we both had trouble getting or staying connected via ftp.  i was using WINSCP and he tried FileZilla, the built-in Mac FTP client, and CyberDuck.  we could connect but sometimes while surfing directories, we would get a FAIL TO RETRIEVE DIRECTORY LISTING error.  or the ftp client would timeout. 

 

the problem seems to have cleared up for my colleague but continues sporadically for me.  crocweb support was very quick to say they could not replicate the problem but insisted it has to be client side so they refuse to investigate any further.  their "solution" was for me to switch ftp programs.  theyve told me its my problem and they wont assist with it. 

 

i did download and try filezilla both in passive and active mode.  same problems.  tried both modes in WINSCP too and still problems.  not sure what else to do at this point.  have been googling the topic but no luck figuring this out.  from what ive read, it frequently can be a setting in the ftp program that (such as switching to passive mode) can be the fix.  tried whatever ive found.  also have read that there could be a server configuration problem. port not configured properly or something.  i really dont know.

 

anyone have any ideas what i can do?

[BuildMyWeb]

sometimes the issue seems to be specific to my ip, as per the error message:

 

"Could not retrieve directory listing
I won't open a connection to 192.168.x.x (only to xx.xxx.xx.xxx)

[BuildMyWeb]

anyone able to point me to a better place to ask?  or a resource to consult?

[kicken]

sometimes the issue seems to be specific to my ip, as per the error message:

 

"Could not retrieve directory listing

I won't open a connection to 192.168.x.x (only to xx.xxx.xx.xxx)

That sounds like a NAT problem. Normally the FTP client would open a listening socket on a random port, then send your IP and port number to the server so it can connect. Your client is sending a private IP (192.168.x.x) which the server is then rejecting (because it'd be pointless for it to try and connect to a private IP). This issue is typically resolved by using passive mode FTP so check your settings and ensure you have that option enabled. For WinSCP it is under the advanced settings in the connection category.

 

As for the other times when it just times out, you can try running a traceroute to the FTP server when you have issues. The problem may lie somewhere between you and the server, at one of the intermediate hops. A traceroute might help to identify if that is the case.

[jazzman1]

 

That sounds like a NAT problem

Or, his personal firewall conflicts with those ftp clients....or some other software tries to use the same ports....or his antivirus software blocks some ports need to be used..

Tips:: Connect your PC directly without any router(s) to the network cable, stop the firewall and your antivirus software and try again. You need to know in passive mode, the client has no control over what port the server chooses for the data connection, you need to ask them ( or just scan the remote machine) what is the range of ports using on server side and manually open those ports in your personal firewall in case your ftp program couldn't do it itself.