Only small FTP files can be downloaded

Hello,

we have a Win2k3 R2 root server hosted by a provider, so it is directly
conntected to the internet. When trying to download files via FTP, this
works only with small files. Bigger files cause an error message like "File
cannot be copied." at the end of the transfer. Neither the message does
provide any details nor the event log has an entry. So we do not know what
went wrong.

Until now we are not sure wether the file size or the time needed to
download a file with that size causes our problem.

In our concrete case a file with 7 MB works, a file with 28 MB does not.
Both are from the same type and from the same FTP server. Downloading this
"big" file with other servers or workstations is no problem.

I do not use a FTP client tool but I use the windows internal "My Computer"
window instead by inserting the URL in format ftp://userwd@domain/file
into the address field. I never had troubles doing so before with other
servers. This problem occures since we had to reinstall the whole operating
system after a total break down. The old system was no R2. Are there any
differences in default settings between Win2k3 and Win2k3 R2 causing our
troubles?

Additionally the server is running IIS 6.0 which hosts several FTP sites.
This FTP sites are not running proper too. Only small files can be uploaded.
As in the case described above, there are no log entries or messages giving
a hint what the cause might be.

Any help is welcome

Thomas Zaruba

Thomas Zaruba wrote:
> Hello,
>
> we have a Win2k3 R2 root server hosted by a provider, so it is directly
> conntected to the internet. When trying to download files via FTP, this
> works only with small files. Bigger files cause an error message like "File
> cannot be copied." at the end of the transfer. Neither the message does
> provide any details nor the event log has an entry. So we do not know what
> went wrong.
>
> Until now we are not sure wether the file size or the time needed to
> download a file with that size causes our problem.
>
> In our concrete case a file with 7 MB works, a file with 28 MB does not.
> Both are from the same type and from the same FTP server. Downloading this
> "big" file with other servers or workstations is no problem.
>
> I do not use a FTP client tool but I use the windows internal "My Computer"
> window instead by inserting the URL in format ftp://userwd@domain/file
> into the address field. I never had troubles doing so before with other
> servers. This problem occures since we had to reinstall the whole operating
> system after a total break down. The old system was no R2. Are there any
> differences in default settings between Win2k3 and Win2k3 R2 causing our
> troubles?
>
> Additionally the server is running IIS 6.0 which hosts several FTP sites.
> This FTP sites are not running proper too. Only small files can be uploaded.
> As in the case described above, there are no log entries or messages giving
> a hint what the cause might be.
>
> Any help is welcome
>
> Thomas Zaruba
>
>

Disclaimer - I'm no expert in this field, but I dimly remember a similar
problem. In our case it was traced to the fact that a router somewhere
in the connection had an unusually small MTU (dictates maximum packet
size) and a firewall was blocking the ICMP indication that packets were
too big for it to handle. Sorry to be so vague, and it might not be
relevant, but it might be worth looking into.

Phil, London