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Scott,

I want to clarify that this is an Expect 5.43 issue (one of your products), which is not supported by IBM.
Second, majority of the SFTP and SSH documentation does not apply when Expect is used.
Third, based on my testing and attempting to change config files, the ssh_config and sshd_config files are not used.
ClinetAliveCountMax ; ClinetAliveInterval ; TCPKeepAlive had no impact.

The reason this product was installed years ago, we needed an SFTP solution for when the remote site could/would NOT support the use of keys, only user and password.
Originally, only one remote vendor.
Now we are using for seven vendors.

Could you confirm my findings?
Do you have a newer version of Expect?
Is there a fix or workaround for this issue?

I've been testing sending the same file(s) via Expect 5.43 to 3 different servers using V7R1 as the client.

1) Remote Vendor OS unknown
2) Remote Local Production i5 V7R1
3) Remote Local Linux CENTOS 6.7

CALL PGM(QP2SHELL) PARM('/QOpenSys/usr/bin/sh' +
'-c' +
'/home/SFTPXFER/PAULS/paulsP05.expect > +
/home/SFTPXFER/PAULS/paulsP05.output')

It appears Expect 5.43 has a default "set timeout" of 20 seconds when no "set timeout" is coded.
Files taking longer than 20 seconds will not complete.
By adding a "set timeout NNN" to the script, longer/larger files can be sent.
However, the "set timeout NNN" has different maximums depending on the remote OS.
When the "set timeout NNN" is above the maximum, file never starts sending, connection is closed.
Sending to the Remote Vendor OS unknown, "set timeout 290" works, higher values fail.
Sending to the Remote Local V7R1 i5, "set timeout 120" works, higher values fail.
Sending to the Remote Local Linux CENTOS 6.7, "set timeout 119" works, higher values fail.

Below are my testing results, showing the maximums allowed, sending from a V7R1 OS client to:


Remote Vendor OS unknown Rem Production i5 V7R1 Rem Local Linux CENTOS 6.7
7mb 20 sec 12 sec 12 sec
10mb 23 sec 12 sec 12 sec
15mb 23 sec 12 sec 12 sec
20mb 49 sec with ST 30 12 sec 12 sec
25mb 49 sec with ST 30 12 sec 13 sec
50mb 1m 49 sec with ST 60 15 sec 15 sec
75mb 1m 52 sec with ST 60 17 sec 17 sec
100mb 2m 49 sec with ST 90 21 sec 19 sec
125mb 2m 54 sec with ST 90 44 sec with ST 30 41 sec with ST 30
150mb 3m 46 sec with ST 120 44 sec with ST 30 45 sec with ST 30
200mb 4m 50 sec with ST 150 50 sec with ST 30 58 sec with ST 30
300mb 7m 42 sec with ST 240 60 sec with ST 30 58 sec with ST 30
400mb 8m 38 sec with ST 290 1m 49 sec with ST 60 1m 44 sec with ST 60
500mb 8m 40 sec with ST 290 1m 49 sec with ST 60 1m 46 sec with ST 60
600mb 10m with ST 290 88% 1m 57 sec with ST 60 1m 47 sec with ST 60
700mb 2m 35 sec with ST 90 2m 33 sec with ST 90
800mb 2m 57 sec with ST 90 2m 48 sec with ST 90
900mb 3m 31 sec with ST 120 3m 14 sec with ST 110
1gb 3m 39 sec with ST 120 3m 24 sec with ST 110
1.1gb 3m 51 sec with ST 120 3m 24 sec with ST 110
1.2gb 3m 55 sec with ST 120 3m 38 sec with ST 110
1.3gb 4m 00 sec with ST120 98% 4m 00 sec with ST 119 88%

Paul


-----Original Message-----
From: MIDRANGE-L [mailto:midrange-l-bounces@xxxxxxxxxxxx] On Behalf Of Scott Klement
Sent: Wednesday, November 18, 2015 3:00 PM
To: Midrange Systems Technical Discussion
Subject: Re: SFTP client via PASE, large files possibly timing out

Paul,

The 'set timeout' in Expect makes perfect sense. That didn't occur to me before seeing your recent messages, but it makes a lot of sense.

Expect is not part of SSH (like SFTP is). It is a generic program that pretends to be a user at a terminal, and automates what the user might do... so it keys in values, and sits and waits for responses to be sent to the "screen" (the virtual screen it's reading under the covers, not your actual display) and based on what it sees on the screen, it does something in response, etc. It can be used to automate any user interaction with a PASE command-line environment.

So if you've written your script to timeout during a put/get command, it makes perfect sense that it's killing the file transfer when the timeout occurs. It doesn't know what the command is doing under the covers, it only knows what's displayed to the screen.

So, my question to you... why code expect to do a timeout during the actual put/get command? are you having trouble with it 'freezing'
during file transfers and never completing?

Sorry this response was a bit slow... I was out of the office for a few days.

-SK




On 11/14/2015 11:43 AM, Steinmetz, Paul wrote:
Scott,

Those were settings recommended to check by IBM support.
By increasing "Set Timeout" from 30 to 90 included in the .expect input script, I was successful in resolving this issue.
I tested using higher values, successful up to 296.
297 and higher fails.
Why is this?
I'd like to confirm for future for large files or when times are longer.

Paul

-----Original Message-----
From: MIDRANGE-L [mailto:midrange-l-bounces@xxxxxxxxxxxx] On Behalf Of
Scott Klement
Sent: Friday, November 13, 2015 12:49 AM
To: Midrange Systems Technical Discussion
Subject: Re: SFTP client via PASE, large files possibly timing out

Paul,

Unless I'm misunderstanding your symptoms, you're looking at the wrong settings, here...

My understanding is that your file transfer is looking good, transferring data successfully until all of the sudden, mysteriously, the transfer is cut off after 45 seconds.

But, you are checking things related to "inactivity". Inactivity means that NOTHING is sent for the timeout period. Inactivity would never cut you off in the middle of a file transfer that's progressing!

I know the timeout settings are set higher, but let's use 45 seconds as an example to explain what 'inactivity' timeouts mean... if you had an inactivity timeout of 45 seconds that was affecting you, this is what would happen: (1) You'd start the transfer. (2) At some point (maybe right away, or maybe several minutes later) the transfer would "freeze"
where no new data was transfering for some reason like a network glitch or something. (3) 45 seconds after freezing up -- which is to say, 45 seconds without a single byte being transferred -- the timeout would
kick in and disconnect you. If the transfer never froze up, the
timeout would never occur (even if the file took hours to send)

That's what an inactivity timeout is... it means things are stalled.
Nothing at all is transferred in the timeout period, not even a single byte. As long as at least one byte is sent in that 45 seconds, it would not occur.

However, that's not how I understand your symptom. I understood that it was cutting you off while the transfer was successfully going.. So unless i'm misunderstnading, what you're experiencing cannot be an inactivity timeout. It's a timeout that occurs even on an active session... right?

The 4 settings you mentioned, however...

1- an INACTIVITY timeout on your router.

2- Keepalive... this is completely unrelated.

3- FTP server settings -- completely unrelated, you are not using FTP.
Even if you were, it's not the server.

4- SSH is the right tool to check for settings on... but again, this is an INACTIVITY timeout.

Unfortunately, I have no clue what would cause the issue you're seeing.
I've never seen this happen before. But, unless the session _is_
stalling for 45 seconds, this isn't an "inactivity" timeout. It's a "you only have 45 seconds total to use this connection before I cut you off" timeout, which is very different.

It's like saying to your teenaged daughter "you can only be on the phone for 10 minutes per day". (Time limit) That's very different from "as long as you say at least one word every 10 minutes you can stay on the phone, but if you don't say anything for 10 minutes i'll cut you off"
(inactivity timeout)




On 11/12/2015 2:03 PM, Steinmetz, Paul wrote:
I discovered a new piece to this puzzle.
For this one specific remote server:
All files are successful that complete in 45 seconds or less.
All files taking longer than 45 seconds fail.

Somewhere, there must be a 45 second timer/timeout setting.
These have been checked and confirmed.

1- It could be at the firewall/router's idle timeout level. - 5 minutes.
2- Verify the TCP keepalive on the iSeries (CHGTCPA). - TCP keep alive . . . . . . . . . 5
3- General FTP Server Inactivity Timeout Value see the following doc: The default inactivity timeout value is 300 seconds. The default transfer timeout value is 420 seconds. Inactivity timeout . . . . . . . 300
-http://www.ibm.com/support/docview.wss?uid=nas8N1011178
4- Timeout in SSH: Disconnecting Inactive SSH Sessions on the IBM I The TMOUT and TIMEOUT PASE environment variables have a value of 600 seconds. If there is no activity within an SSH session for 10 minutes
-http://www.ibm.com/support/docview.wss?uid=nas8N1013311

Paul


-----Original Message-----
From: MIDRANGE-L [mailto:midrange-l-bounces@xxxxxxxxxxxx] On Behalf
Of Scott Klement
Sent: Tuesday, November 03, 2015 4:39 PM
To: Midrange Systems Technical Discussion
Subject: Re: SFTP client via PASE, large files possibly timing out

FWIW.. I have used sftp to send extremely large files, such as whole server backups, without any problems at all. I did not have to set up anything in particular, it just worked.

When you are having trouble with your larger files (imho, 110mb isn't really very big) does it always stop at the exact same byte position?
Or does it vary?

If it varies, I'd suggest this is probably a network issue rather than a software issue. A flaky cable/switch/router/etc is causing the data to get screwed up somewhere, causing the transfer to abort.

IF it's always the same, then I would look for some sort of size limit being set up somewhere, most likely on the server-side.

Also, you could also try using scp rather than sftp and see if that matters at all. Just as a lark...


On 11/3/2015 8:34 AM, Steinmetz, Paul wrote:
I changed the SFTP process to send a 3mb zip file instead of the 110mb uncompressed file.
SFTP now working with a zipped 3mb file.
Large file issue for SFTP still exists, possibly 30 to 40mb limit.
Still looking to resolve this issue.


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