How can I change the FTP timeout

To be other than 300 seconds

[david752]

Yes, I've searched the Web on this, but with no success.

Whenever I run a program that does ftp uploading, and I connect to my hosting service's server, and I do some other work, the program disconnects after 300 seconds. I can easily use up 5 minutes just preparing files for upload.

Does anyone know how I can change the timeout value?

Is this done on the client or on the server?

If relevant, I am using Windows 98. My hosting service uses Apache/Unix. I don't know what ftp server they use.

David

[hasbeen]

what FTP client are you using? Generally (well, with SmartFTP and CuteFTP..what I use) you can set the timeout in the client properties.

[david752]

It happens with any ftp program. One that I use is SmartFTP; I asked them and they thought it had to be done on the server.

I've explored SmartFTP and cannot find such a property.

David

[justa]

I don't know too much about this problem but I'll throw in an idea.

I'm guessing that the server you are ftping to is apache (60% of the web is so it's a good bet). The default httpd.conf configuration is Timout 300.

It's my understanding that when the browser requests a page from the server it creates one connection, which usually lasts between 0 and 5 seconds. The timeout setting is the maximum time one request can last on the server before it is cut loose, otherwise the server would slow and crash.

Is it possible you are connecting via http rather then ftp? That would explain the timeout after 300 seconds.

Any thoughts?

[DaveAtIFG]

Welcome to WmW david752! The timeout is controlled by the server. The idea is to avoid have a lot of inactive connections open and using up the resources this entails.

CuteFTP (for one) can be configured to maintain a connection indefinitely by periodically sending "do nothing" commands to the server before it times out. CuteFTP calls this "Smart Keep Alive," there are probably other FTP clients that can do something similar.

[Brett_Tabke]

Additionally, most newer ftp servers can be set to ignor the noop command. Some go so far as to even discount directory listings (you have to up/download something to restart the idle timer).