[comp.dcom.lans] NCSA ftp problem

jpd@gordon.UUCP (Jim Drummey) (05/24/91)

We've got the 3c503 packet driver running along with IPX and NET3 and
are having no problems accessing the Novell servers. We also use NCSA Telnet
and the lpr facility to our unix machines ..that works fine too. The ftp
however, allows a login OK but hangs as soon as transfer starts. Is there a
known problem with the NCSA ftp? Other ftps work. 


========================================================================
Jim Drummey
Access Technology, Inc.
Natick, MA 01760              harvard!necntc!gordon!jpd
========================================================================

RBYAML@ROHVM1.BITNET (Aengus Lawlor) (05/25/91)

In article <227@gordon.UUCP>, jpd@gordon.UUCP (Jim Drummey) says:
>We've got the 3c503 packet driver running along with IPX and NET3 and
>are having no problems accessing the Novell servers. We also use NCSA Telnet
>and the lpr facility to our unix machines ..that works fine too. The ftp
>however, allows a login OK but hangs as soon as transfer starts. Is there a
>known problem with the NCSA ftp? Other ftps work.
>========================================================================
>Jim Drummey
>Access Technology, Inc.
>Natick, MA 01760              harvard!necntc!gordon!jpd
>========================================================================
We use the same configuration here (3C503s, packet drivers, ipx for packet
drivers, lpr) but with Clarksons CUTCP, which is based on NCSA. It all
works fine here, including FTP. As far as I can remember, it worked fine
before we moved from NCSA to CUTCP, so that shouldn't be a problem.

Aengus.
--
RBYAML@ROHMHAAS.COM                    Aengus Lawlor
RBYAML@ROHVM1.BITNET                   (who used to be ALAWLOR@DIT.IE)
"How about some of that famous Dublin wit, Barman?"
"Certainly, sir. Would that be Dry or Sparkling?"

rbraun@spdcc.COM (Rich Braun) (05/25/91)

I'll second that.  Get CUTCP from omnigate.clarkson.edu; it is considerably
enhanced over NCSA telnet.  You can get it via anonymous ftp or by
e-mail (send the one-liner 'help' to archive-server@omnigate.clarkson.edu).

Your problem with hangs is probably unrelated to the PC side, but it's
worth trying the new package and you'll probably want to switch anyway
once you've seen it.

-rich

mikes@iuvax.cs.indiana.edu (Michael Squires) (05/28/91)

In article <91144.182624RBYAML@ROHVM1.BITNET> RBYAML@ROHVM1.BITNET (Aengus Lawlor) writes:
>In article <227@gordon.UUCP>, jpd@gordon.UUCP (Jim Drummey) says:
>>however, allows a login OK but hangs as soon as transfer starts. Is there a
>>known problem with the NCSA ftp? Other ftps work.

We have a heavily used thinnet network (35+ Suns, many NFS mounts; 8800 VAX
with ULTRIX, etc., etc.) and have standardized on the WD8003E.  We had 
trouble with the 3C501 and 3C503 under NCSA Telnet, until recently no
trouble with the 8003E.  It appears that the changes in SunOS 4.1.1 may
have finally caused the WD8003E's to crash (lockups under NETWATCH after
large NFS packets (multple UDP "fragments"); DESQView 386 crashing with
illegal instruction errors) and we've found that running WD8013's solves
the Telnet problem.

The 3C501 and 3C503 also do not work properly in an SCO UNIX V box on the
same wire, WD8003E works fine.

ftp works reliably for us only if started at the UNIX host end and only
if one file is transferred at a time; mput/mget can cause crashes or
corrupted files.  If we use the PC ftpbin.exe performance is erratic.  

rcp from the UNIX host to
the PC works most of the time for small files but crashes with large files
(400K or more).  The use of mput/mget will usually cause problems, including
corrupted files.

"lpr" does not work reliably either (on some systems it works almost all
the time, on others it just as reliably locks up).

These problems seem to occur whether we use NCSA 2.2, NCSA 2.3 beta, 
the NCSA 2.2D (from Clarkson?), or CUTCP Telnet with or without the
packet drivers.

The Mac version of NCSA Telnet (2.2 or 2.3) does not seem to have these
problems.

I believe these problems are due to our network, which is heavily loaded
(35 plus Suns, VAX 8800, Alliant, NeXT's, etc., etc.) and which has very
long runs (600 feet) of marginal thinnet (impedance isn't right, varies
from 52 to over 60 ohms).  Systems on subnets with little traffic have
none of these problems.
-- 

Mike Squires (mikes@iuvax.cs.indiana.edu)     812 855 3974 (w) 812 333 6564 (h)
mikes@iuvax.cs.indiana.edu          546 N Park Ridge Rd., Bloomington, IN 47408
Under construction: mikes@sir-alan.cica.indiana.edu