Subject: in.ftpd - multiple instances

From: Ron Brogden <[email-masked]>
Date: Thu, 24 Apr 1997 11:02:43 -0700

Hopefully this hasn't been asked a million times but the FAQ nor the ftpd
documentation make any reference to this (I hope so anyways).  I am exactly
how in.ftpd deals with each connection.  I was under the impression that
the in.ftpd daemon sat around waiting for connections and then spawned new
ftpd sessions as needed.  Is this correct?  

Our ftp server "hiccuped" last night and stopped accepting connections.
When we checked out the server we noticed a whole pile of in.ftpd processes
sitting around.  Shouldn't there only be one in.ftpd process?  Any ideas
what would cause multiple instances?  

Thanks for any feedback.

Ron
 
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From: [email-masked] (Koos van den Hout _U nix and we all_)
Date: Thu, 24 Apr 1997 21:40:49 +0200 (MET DST)

> ftpd sessions as needed.  Is this correct?  

No. inetd does the waiting for connections bit and spawns an ftpd when
needed. wu-ftpd itself has no idea of this 'accept()' and 'fork()'
stuff to put it mildly.

[ This goes back to the time when memory was expensive, and network
delays where enough to cover for fork-delays. pre-forking daemons didn't
exist, inetd just sat (and still sits) there waiting on all those ports
to see which daemon to kick into gear ]

> what would cause multiple instances?  

Hanging ftp processes maybe ? Or a real big interest in your ftp site
all of a sudden (CHECK your incoming for hidden subdirs). There has
been some talk of improving timeouts in certain spots of wu-ftpd.

                                        Grtx Koos

-- 
  Koos van den Hout,     Internetter, Unix freak, ISFJ and BBS SysOp at large
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