RE: FTP problem

Have you tried to set Passive mode? 


Christopher Bipes
Information Services Director
CrossCheck, Inc.
-----Original Message-----
From: midrange-l-bounces@xxxxxxxxxxxx
[mailto:midrange-l-bounces@xxxxxxxxxxxx] On Behalf Of Steve McKay
Sent: Monday, August 14, 2006 12:02 PM
To: midrange-l@xxxxxxxxxxxx
Subject: FTP problem

We are attempting to FTP a file from a bank using the FTP command -

FTP RMTSYS('bank.ftpserver.com') PORT(20021) SECCNN(*SSL)

This connects to a Sterling Commerce FTP server on the bank's mainframe.

Once connected, I can provide user ID and password, move around in
directories, and pretty much do anything I want to except list contents
of directories and retrieve files.  When I try to actually retrieve a
file, the session hangs and eventually gives me a "No response from FTP
server" 
message.

The odd thing is, I am already connecting to another bank which uses
Sterling Commerce and have been retrieving files from them for several
months.  I have gone back and forth with the bank's (semi-)technical
support personnel to describe the problem as a firewall configuration
issue based on many messages here on Midrange-L to no avail.  Today I
received this e-mail from the (not very) technical support person:

"The problem is that the FTP control data is encrypted as it comes
through the firewalls, so it cannot be read to do the IP "natting" at
the firewall. 
Most third-party clients handle this by storing the original control
address and using it during the transmission. Native FTP programs such
as MSDOS and IBM's FTP do not allow for this and uses each control block
as it is sent. 
There is also a feature called Clear Control Channel that allows the
userid and password to be sent encrypted, then all other data exchanged
over the control channel to be sent as clear text. In our case, this
would allow the firewall to see the IP address and correctly "nat" it to
the proper IP. All data sent over the data channel will remain
encrypted. According to our vendor, this is a feature normally found
only in third-party FTP software, and they are fairly certain this
feature would not be available on the default AS/400 operating system
FTP software."

This response seems highly incorrect in light of the fact that we are
already FTPing from another bank using Sterling Software.

Is their response correct?