Topic: Connection timeouts with E-smith, but not Win PCs

[Charles Emley]

all services are now running, thanks to the help i got on this board.  however, my client PCs are not able to maintain persistent connections when using the e-smith gateway.

i am sure it is a problem at my Linux box, though not sure if it is related to the hardware configuration or what.  ftp's from the client PCs (using DHCP) but also ftp sessions i have made directly on the e-smith server never complete with large file downloads.  if i hook my windows PCs directly to the DSL modem (reconfiguring them as static IP), i can instantly download the same large files.

so i figure it could be:
1.  a poor ftp application on the e-smith server
2.  something screwy with the gateway NIC or it's configuration

any suggestions on what i can or should read to begin diagnosing this problem.  does it sound like a problem anyone else has had?  i figure i'll try usenet as well, since it looks to me like a linux/hardware issue more than an e-smith problem.

thanks again for all the help from this board!

[Charlie Brady]

Charles Emley wrote:

> all services are now running, thanks to the help i got on this
> board.  however, my client PCs are not able to maintain
> persistent connections when using the e-smith gateway.
>
> i am sure it is a problem at my Linux box, though not sure if
> it is related to the hardware configuration or what.  ftp's
> from the client PCs (using DHCP) but also ftp sessions i have
> made directly on the e-smith server never complete with large
> file downloads.  if i hook my windows PCs directly to the DSL
> modem (reconfiguring them as static IP), i can instantly
> download the same large files.

I cannot explain ftp sessions you have made directly on the e-smith server, but long ftp connections from machines on your LAN can be explained. The ftp protocol uses two connections, a control and a data connection. If you use IP masquerading to make large ftp downloads, the control connection becomes inactive long enough for the the IP masquerading system to time out and close the connection. The solution to that is to use the squid proxy on your e-smith server as an ftp proxy, configure your browser to use the proxy then download using your web browser.

If you really have timeouts when doing ftp fetches directly from your e-smith server then I'd like to hear about it.

Regards

Charlie

[Charles Emley]

well, i continue to have performance problems under both NICs installed in the e-smith server, and whether i am using the server directly or the Windows client PCs.  i also experience these problems with the squid proxy.

in a nutshell, my Windows 2000 and 98 clients experience the following:
1.  large webpages frequently timeout and require a refresh command to be issued
2.  even small (100k) Windows update files usually fail to download and install
3.  AOL will connect via TCP the first time, but fail thereafter.  rebooting the e-smith server is then required for subsequent connections
4.  ftp downloads of 1MB or more rarely ever finish

i have experienced NONE of these problems with the Windows PCs directly connected to my cable modem.  furthermore, i have tried the ftp downloads immediately after they cease downloading, by direct connection and had great performance.  i have also failed to download by ftp directly onto the e-smith box.  i therefore have ruled out connection issues outside the e-smith box.

i think the ftp sessions directly on the e-smith box are the most interesting to troubleshoot, so let me give an example there.  the location for the FrontPage extensions for Apache on Linux are located at:

ftp://ftp.microsoft.com/products/frontpage/fp40.linux.tar.Z

i cannot download this file to the e-smith directly.  i even let it continue running overnight without success or more than 3.5 MB being copied.  however, i have done so several times with my W2k PC directly connected, and immediately after cancelling the ftp session on the e-smith server.

thanks for any suggestions.