Subject: RE: Timeout problems with ftpd

From: Afraz Neikar <[email-masked]>
Date: Tue, 17 Nov 1998 13:57:08 -0800

We are running version 2.4 Does this version cause any time out problems...
We are reluctant to go with a beta version....

Another problem is that some of ftpd daemons are spawned by root and others
by ftp..This seems strange..

Afraz

-----Original Message-----
From: [email-masked]
[mailto:[email-masked]]On Behalf Of Gregory A Lundberg
Sent: Monday, November 16, 1998 3:38 PM
To: Afraz Neikar
Cc: [email-masked]'
Subject: Re: Timeout problems with ftpd

On Mon, 16 Nov 1998, Afraz Neikar wrote:

> We are experiencing frequent timeout problems with wu-ftpd. It seems
> to be a problem when the load is high. We find that there are some old
> ftpd processes hanging, they don't seem to be closed. The total no of
> connections is set to 180...Any Ideas?

First, make sure you running the current version, 2.4.2 (beta 18).  Back,
beta-12 days or so, there were some problems with connections hanging.

The location of the latest version of wu-ftpd can be found in the 
directory
 
      ftp://ftp.academ.com/pub/wu-ftpd/private/
 
You can't see the directory contents, so read the message informing you
of the actual filename to retrieve. It's there.
 
wu-ftpd Resource Center:  http://www.landfield.com/wu-ftpd/
wu-ftpd FAQ:              http://www.cetis.hvu.nl/~koos/wu-ftpd-faq.html
wu-ftpd list archive:     http://www.landfield.com/wu-ftpd/mail-archive/

-- 

Gregory A Lundberg		Senior Partner, VRnet Company
1441 Elmdale Drive              [email-masked]
Kettering, OH 45409-1615 USA    1-800-809-2195

---

From: Gregory A Lundberg <[email-masked]>
Date: Tue, 17 Nov 1998 18:42:49 -0500 (EST)

On Tue, 17 Nov 1998, Afraz Neikar wrote:

> We are running version 2.4 Does this version cause any time out
> problems... We are reluctant to go with a beta version....

Don't let the 'beta' fool you.  It doesn't mean the software is 'testing'
instead it simply means the man who claims to maintain it doesn't want to
make a commitment by calling it a full release.  The software itself is
quite stable.  In fact, you should NOT .. I can't stress that strongly
enough .. **NOT** .. be running the old 2.4 version.

You have two choices if you care about system security:

- run the 2.4.2 (beta 18) version

- disconnect from all networks, including LANs.

anything else and your system is open to abuse including a number of
widely-know root breakin and denial-of-service attacks.

As for problems in 2.4 .. all I can say is "who knows, nobody's run it for
YEARS"

> Another problem is that some of ftpd daemons are spawned by root and
> others by ftp.  This seems strange.

Not really.  It depends upon where in the login sequence the daemon thinks
it is. When first started, all ftpd are running as root.  Once someone
logs in, the daemon becomes that user (ftp, lundberg, whatever).

-- 

Gregory A Lundberg		Senior Partner, VRnet Company
1441 Elmdale Drive              [email-masked]
Kettering, OH 45409-1615 USA    1-800-809-2195