FTP server back up (sorta)!

[mrpijey]

We've made some changes to how the BetaArchive server talks to the file server (remember, they are in two different countries) which has some positive and negative sides.

The positive sides is that it should be a lot more stable now and it also gives us a lot of options for the future when it comes to changes. Since the main server now talks directly to the file server through a VPN we can monitor everything much more closely now and also work towards a proper database connection.

The negative side is that navigating the FTP is a bit slower. Since the VPN connection (and the SMB protocol it uses to talk to the file server) is a lot slower than pure FTP traffic navigating the large folders can take time, up to 10 seconds. So when you navigate the tree there will be delays, so be sure to not have a too short timeout setting in your clients otherwise it will disconnect before it lists the files. And if you can enable caching then do it as well, it should improve navigation.

We will work towards a new way of sharing these files and eventually abandon FTP alltogether, but for now this is what we can do since the old solution failed in the end. And as always, suggestions are welcome but remember that we won't share the files completely openly so we need a solution that can manage the connection as well as files. Torrents are out of the question, so is FTP in the long run.

Please report any issues in the proper forum but remember, increase your connection timeout in the client and be patient.

[mibrab]

I've turned off the timeout in FileZilla off a few days ago anyway because of the timeout issues

how is this going to affect the regular download speed though?

[Andy]

Download speed should not be affected. It seems to give me approximately 6MB/s without a hitch which I'd consider pretty quick.

[mrpijey]

During the next few days we'll monitor the FTP and how well it performs, so don't be alarmed if it goes down as we may have to restart services to tweak settings etc. But overall the VPN connection seems stable and speeds are good enough for the majority of the members.

[Windows OS]

I'm curious. What was the old way of handling these connections?

[mrpijey]

Ye olde way:

Client <-- BA server FTP <---SSL FTP LINK---> File server FTP


The new way:

Client <-- BA server FTP <---SSL VPN LINK---> File server SMB share


I hope it illustrates it well .

[computebrute]

Basically everything goes through a VPN now.

[mrpijey]

No, since the user end is still FTP. But the traffic between the servers has been replaced with a VPN.

[Win7]

The negative side is that navigating the FTP is a bit slower. Since the VPN connection (and the SMB protocol it uses to talk to the file server) is a lot slower than pure FTP traffic navigating the large folders can take time, up to 10 seconds. So when you navigate the tree there will be delays, so be sure to not have a too short timeout setting in your clients otherwise it will disconnect before it lists the files. And if you can enable caching then do it as well, it should improve navigation.

On my own end, there's no sensible slow-down. Either way, a navigation slow-down isn't such a pain, as long as I'm able to download at the same speeds as before the incident occurred.

As always, BetaArchive stays strong!

Win7

[Overdoze]

Perhaps there's a couple of seconds slowdown with large folders, as said in the OP, but other than that, no notable differences (as expected).

[Battler]

1. Nice, the FTP should be more stable now.

2. And in Win7's post above, we have another occurrence of a phpBB-generated BBCode UID being caught by the forum's swear filter and therefore making the post look weird.

[Andy]

2. And in Win7's post above, we have another occurrence of a phpBB-generated BBCode UID being caught by the forum's swear filter and therefore making the post look weird.

Could you elaborate on the cause of this issue? I was confused about what was causing it earlier.

[Darkstar]

2. And in Win7's post above, we have another occurrence of a phpBB-generated BBCode UID being caught by the forum's swear filter and therefore making the post look weird.

Could you elaborate on the cause of this issue? I was confused about what was causing it earlier.

Apparently the spam filter sees "mrpijey" as a swear word now

[Andy]

I don't think it does since it works for you right now. Plus when I edit the post the quote has no username in it... That's what confused me.

[Win7]

Apparently the spam filter sees "mrpijey" as a swear word now

Should it be true (but then we should open a new thread about this) then I'm going to write mrpijey here.

Win7

EDIT: Seems definitely fixed. Sorry for going off-topic...

[longhornwhistler]

Thanks for all you guys do. You truly are the best