Subject: [619] ftpd doesn't die on disconnect

From: [email-masked] (Walter R. Bosch)
Date: Tue, 01 Nov 1994 12:59:32 -0600 (CST)

Does anyone have experience with the following problem.

I am running wu-ftpd v2.4 on an SGI Indigo2 under IRIX 4.0.5H.
Generally the server works well, but some distant users (in
California and Florida, for example) are frequently disconnected
during file transfers.

Often when this happens I notice that ftpd does not die properly.
As a consequence, when users retry another daemon is spawned and
we wind up with many disconnected ftpd processes which won't
die and eventually the login limit is exceeded and nobody can
get in.

1.  Is this a known problem for wu-ftpd under IRIX?  If so,
    is there a fix that will allow the ftpd to die properly?

2.  Can I tweak some timeout parameter to reduce the chance
    that a connection will disconnect?

Any ideas or help would be much appreciated.

Walter

-- 

+----------------------------------------------------+
| Walter R. Bosch, D.Sc.   <[email-masked]> |
| Radiation Oncology / Physics        (314) 362-2632 |
| Washington University in St. Louis                 |
+----------------------------------------------------+

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From: Brad Burdick <[email-masked]>
Date: Tue, 01 Nov 1994 16:43:55 -0500 (EST)

> Any ideas or help would be much appreciated.

We've recently (in the last 2 weeks) started experiencing the same problem
on a Solaris 2.3 system.

It appears that the hung ftpd processes were started by a web client
(passwd is Mosaic@whatever) in most, if not all, cases.  This doesn't prove
that it really is a web client logging in, but...any new web clients in use
that aren't ending their ftp sessions nicely?

This is a problem with wu-ftpd not timing out properly it seems, but not sure
how to fix it as changing the ftpd timeout doesn't help.

We've had to manually kill off the offending ftpd processes so far.

-brad
-- 
Brad Burdick                                            [email-masked]
UUcom/Internet Multicasting Service, NPB, Suite 1155, Washington, DC 20045

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From: Thomas Leavitt <[email-masked]>
Date: Tue, 01 Nov 1994 21:00:08 -0800 (PST)

> that aren't ending their ftp sessions nicely?

I have a couple of ftp processes lying around that appear to be due to
similar reasons. I was wondering what was going on.

--
Web Communications (sm)            Thomas [email-masked]
Voice: (408) 457-9671              Lead Systems & Network Admin./Tech Suppt.
 
<a href="http://www.webcom.com/">Web Communications Home Page</a>

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From: Brian 'Doc' O'Neill <[email-masked]>
Date: Wed, 02 Nov 1994 09:04:15 -0500 (EST)

I also have ftpd processes that don't go away, on Ultrix and OSF/1 systems.
I generally have to guess which ones have been idle for a while (by process
state and PID) and kill them. Unfortunately, OSF/1 3.0 does not use a
sequential PID allocation system now...

I don't see any necessary tie in to Web users however...I see regular e-mail
addresses as well.

-- 
===========================================================================
Brian O'Neill - Systems Manager, Computer Science         [email-masked]
University of Massachusetts at Lowell        Chief Editor, InterWeb Journal
(508) 934-3645 				  http://interweb.uml.edu/InterWeb/
"Nothing's the same anymore." - Sinclair, Babylon 5, _Chrysalis_

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From: Mark Bieniulis <[email-masked]>
Date: Wed, 02 Nov 1994 08:20:42 -0700 (MST)

> I don't see any necessary tie in to Web users however...I see regular e-mail

i noticed the same problem with windows netscape users connecting to the 
ftp server on a solaris 2.3 machine.  however netscape from a unix 
machine, and mosaic connections from both unix and windows does not cause
a problem.

mark

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From: Brad Burdick <[email-masked]>
Date: Wed, 02 Nov 1994 13:52:43 -0500 (EST)

> machine, and mosaic connections from both unix and windows does not cause

That's what we are seeing as well (Solaris 2.3).  Didn't want to point any
fingers at netscape without real proof, however. :)

-brad