problem encountered using ftp-ssl with opalis (and corrected)

for a few days, i have been intermittently pulling my hair out trying to figure out why ftp-ssl with the opalis “upload file” object wasn’t working. after trying many permutations, i finally figured it out. sigh.

it required some opening ports and other stuff… but the last thing that got me was this particular setting which i’ll get to in a second. for now, let’s examine the error in the output:

Error Summary: Connection to FTP site failed

Details:

OPR-FTP(9560) v3.6.17.8 SCRIPT LOG FILE

Thu Sep 13 08:46:52 -- Line 6:     FTPLOGON "myftpsite" /user=xxxxxxxx /pw=************** /port=xxx /servertype=FTPSDATA /trust=ALL /timeout=30

Thu Sep 13 08:46:52             => *Logging on to <myftpsite> as SSL/FTP with secure control and data channels.

Thu Sep 13 08:46:52             => *Logon in progress...

Thu Sep 13 08:47:07             => *Change directory (CWD) failed during log on -- may need to use /allowerrors option.

Thu Sep 13 08:47:08             => *Connection to FTP site failed. [1152]

Thu Sep 13 08:47:08 -- Line 7:     IFERROR goto errorexit

Thu Sep 13 08:47:08 -- Line 14:    :errorexit

Thu Sep 13 08:47:09 -- Line 15:    LOGMSG "Error executing FTP script"

Thu Sep 13 08:47:09             => Error executing FTP script

Thu Sep 13 08:47:09 -- Line 16:    EXIT

Thu Sep 13 08:47:09             => *Exit OPR-FTP.

<** CLOSED SCRIPT LOG FILE

 

from the way this looks, during the CWD command, something failed around the log on process. this is what threw me. had i been smart enough to turn on trace logging at this point, i would have spent much less time trying to figure this out. as it were, i went through every permutation i could think of trying to figure out the magic combination. after many cycles of dumb, i discovered tracing was an option (not in the manual) and turned it on.

tracing the error revealed the following (truncated):

ReadServerResponse::read 47 bytes: 250 CWD successful. "/" is current directory.

ReadServerResponse::read 46 bytes: 150 Opening data channel for directory list.

ReadServerResponse::read 33 bytes: 425 Can't open data connection.

 

so as you can see, the misleading error indicated it was in the log on process when in actuality, the log on worked fine. now i knew i could stop screwing around with security and test some of the other options and stumbled upon the one that worked.

 

once again, if you look at the trace logs, it shows it here (truncated again):

ReadServerResponse::read 47 bytes: 250 CWD successful. "/" is current directory.

ReadServerResponse::read 52 bytes: 227 Entering Passive Mode (216,133,255,186,254,27)

ReadServerResponse::read 25 bytes: 150 Connection accepted

ReadServerResponse::read 17 bytes: 226 Transfer OK

ReadServerResponse::read 19 bytes: 200 Type set to A

ReadServerResponse::read 17 bytes: 226 Transfer OK