[Info-vax] preventing FTP from timing out

[Richard B. Gilbert]

On 10/2/2012 8:53 AM, Stephen Hoffman wrote:
> On 2012-10-02 12:14:27 +0000, Phillip Helbig---undress to reply said:
>
>>   HP TCP/IP Services for OpenVMS Alpha Version V5.4 - ECO 7
>>
>> ########################################################
>>
>> 421 Service not available, remote server timed out. Connection closed.
>> 122054124 bytes sent in 07:56 (250.35 KiB/s)
>>
>> What causes this timeout?  (I thought one reason for hash was to keep
>> things from timing out.)  The connection is otherwise OK, as far as I
>> can tell.
>>
>> Is there somehow I can increase the timeout?  At least if something is
>> actually being transferred, I don't want it to time out.
>
> This is likely a bug, and not a feature.  And in general, timeouts are
> not something to be adjusted; they're often precariously balanced and
> changes to the defaults can have unexpected repurcussions.
>
> Your network is either screwed up, or (if the timeout is consistent)
> you're dealing with an FTP client or server with a size limit or with a
> bug.
>
> Check the FTP logs on both ends, check the patch levels, etc.  Check
> available space on the target disk, and fragmentation, etc.
>
> And given I routinely get vastly better speeds over WiFi connections,
> this is definitely operating on lower-grade networking hardware.
>
> FTP is a hideous protocol.  It's inherently incompatible with modern
> networks, and it's wildly insecure.
>
>
>

Okay, how *should* we transfer files over the network?  Nothing I send 
or receive has or had any monetary value.  I would assume that anything 
with monetary value will be encrypted, or be written to CD-ROM and 
entrusted to the U.S. Postal Service!

I used FTP without problems for many years!  It was the only way I knew 
to send files over the network.  I haven't needed to use it for the last 
ten years or so.  Windows manages to download things to my PC.  It never 
occurred to me to wonder what protocol(s) it was using.