Check the connection

  • Is ftp.ecurep.ibm.com server up?

    To check if the site is responding, click on the following link: View the FTP site. If the site is up and your connection is active, text will be loaded.

  • The ping command will not work. The firewall will block these requests

    Note: If you are behind a firewall, ping generally only works within your local network.

  • How far did the connection get or where did it fail?

    Run traceroute, which shows the path to the server. The last IP address is the probable source of connection failure. The command traceroute will not show the FTP server, the firewall will block these requests

    Note: If you are behind a firewall, traceroute generally only works within your local network.

    • MS/DOS command - tracert
    • Unix command - traceroute
    • MVS, VM, OS/390 command - tracerte

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Check for timeouts

The FTP server timeout is 10 minutes if no data transfer. If your FTP session times out in less than 10 minutes, it is not the server that is timing out. The timeout value for the FTP client can usually be specified when FTP is invoked (i.e. timeout=nn where nn is in seconds). Check the documentation for the FTP client you are using to verify the parameters and/or syntax.

If you are submitting a large file via batch FTP, the batch job may time out. This is a function of the TIME= parameter on the JOB card. The file size can be reduced by compression (TRSMAIN), or the TIME= parameter can be increased or set to 1440.

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Files not on the server

Files received in /toibm/xxx/ directory not following the defined naming convention are routinely purged from the FTP server. These files require manual intervention by your IBM service representative or they are deleted after 7 days.

Because of security considerations, the display of files on the server site '/toibm/' directories is limited to the directories themselves. Uploads are only allowed for subdirectories of the /toibm directory, e.g. /toibm/aix, /toibm/zos. No individual files can be listed. Only files in the '/fromibm/' directories may be listed.
View the FTP site.

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Server error messages

If you receive error messages from the server, a connection is occurring. The server will return a 'Permission Denied…' message for any of the following conditions:

  • Permission Denied upload name.

    The filename cannot contain quotes or national characters (#,@,$). It can contain only a-z, A-Z, 0-9 and . (period).

  • Permission Denied upload.

    The file already exists. You cannot replace existing files. Any 'replacements' must be loaded with a new file name.

  • Permission Denied on Server.

    Invalid directory is specified. Uploads are only allowed for subdirectories of the /toibm directory, e.g. /toibm/aix, /toibm/zos ...
    View the FTP site

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Passive mode

It is recommended that to use "passive" mode for FTP transmissions.

If none of these procedures solves the problem, further diagnosis can be performed to identify the failure. The server maintains logs of all activity, and the date and time of the transfer problem is needed for further diagnosis. Use the PMR for which the file is being transfered to report any FTP problems you are unable to resolve.

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Binary mode

It is recommended to use "binary " mode for FTP transmissions. If not the server will get incorrect data.

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Common Firewall

  • I can connect to the FTP server. The connection hangs after the ls, dir, put or get command.

    Use passive FTP. This is done with the "passive" command for most command line clients. If your client does not offer the passive command it will use active FTP properly.

  • My FTP client is using passive FTP, but the session still hangs after the ls, dir, put or get commands.

    Ask your firewall administrator to allow connections to the port range 65024 - 65535 for our FTP server.

  • Your firewall may check the control connection for the protocol.

    Ask your firewall administrator about the setup of your firewall. For a CheckPoint Firewall-1 NG, for example, the new line character check must be disabled. Check out Solution ID sk22632.

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Videos

Watch our Video "Using ECuRep to submit problem diagnostic data to IBM" on YouTube:
Using ECuRep to submit problem diagnostic data to IBM (3:57min.)

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Related links

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