Akeeba Backup for Joomla!

Wednesday, 23 March 2011 20:23 CDT

robinson2002

I am having a problem configuring 'upload to a remote FTP server' post processing in Akeeba backup pro.
What ever ftp host name I put in the connection test fails with...
"FTP Connection Test
Could not connect to the remote FTP server.

Wrong FTP hostname or port (host:port = ftp.robinson2002.co.uk:21)"

I can connect to the ftp server I am specifying from the commandline of the web server.

Akeeba Backup Professional 3.2.4 (2011-03-11)
Joomla 1.5.22
PHP 5.2.10
mysql Ver 14.12 Distrib 5.0.84
Hosted on a VPS centos vm

Thursday, 24 March 2011 03:52 CDT

nicholas

This denotes a problem with the firewall of your host where Akeeba Backup is running on. Please ask your host to open TCP/IP connections over port 21 to the remote FTP server.

Nicholas K. Dionysopoulos

Lead Developer and Director

🇬🇷Greek: native 🇬🇧English: excellent 🇫🇷French: basic • 🕐 My time zone is Europe / Athens
Please keep in mind my timezone and cultural differences when reading my replies. Thank you!

Thursday, 24 March 2011 04:04 CDT

robinson2002

It cannot be a firewall issue I can ftp from commandline from the webserver that akkeba is running on to the ftp server I am connecting to.
All outbound connections are allowed through the firewall on the webserver.

Thursday, 24 March 2011 04:09 CDT

nicholas

Something is blocking Akeeba Backup from contacting the remote host. If it's not a firewall, could it be some modification of the PHP binary by your host, or a DNS resolution issue? Can you try using an IP address instead of a domain name, i.e. 213.171.193.5 instead of ftp.robinson2002.co.uk?

Nicholas K. Dionysopoulos

Lead Developer and Director

🇬🇷Greek: native 🇬🇧English: excellent 🇫🇷French: basic • 🕐 My time zone is Europe / Athens
Please keep in mind my timezone and cultural differences when reading my replies. Thank you!

Thursday, 24 March 2011 05:17 CDT

robinson2002

I tried the IP instead of DNS name and the error remains the same.
There is effectivley no "hosting provider" involved here, I have full controll of the server and the entire OS it is a VPS (virtual private server).
I can modify the PHP config however I like however it is a standard centos package install.

Are there any external php tests you could suggest to help further diagnose the problem ?

Thanks

Steve

Thursday, 24 March 2011 05:19 CDT

robinson2002

DNS is obviously working I can run:
ftp ftp.robinson2002.co.uk from the command line and that connects and works fine.

I am wondering how I can further test/diagnose the php call that akeeba is using?

Thanks

Steve

Thursday, 24 March 2011 15:37 CDT

nicholas

Can you send me a Personal Message with the URL to your site and Super Administrator login information? This will allow me to debug this issue directly on the server, as we have exhausted all troubleshooting steps which can be performed remotely. Please also include a link back to this thread so that I know why you're emailing me.

Nicholas K. Dionysopoulos

Lead Developer and Director

🇬🇷Greek: native 🇬🇧English: excellent 🇫🇷French: basic • 🕐 My time zone is Europe / Athens
Please keep in mind my timezone and cultural differences when reading my replies. Thank you!

Friday, 25 March 2011 05:48 CDT

nicholas

Steve,

On your server I can see exactly what I could see remotely. Any domain name can be resolved to an IP address without any problem, so it's not a DNS issue. However, trying to use PHP's ftp_connect() to open a connection to any FTP server (I tried a few of my own which I know they work with other on-line servers) it immediately returns false. The only explanation is that, even though your server resolves the domain name to an IP address, PHP is not allowed to connect to the remote server.

Besides an IPTables firewall I am not sure what else on your server setup could cause this. I have not heard of a per-user firewall which can be deployed on a Linux server. Maybe it's something in your specific PHP build? Can you try rebuilding your PHP?

Nicholas K. Dionysopoulos

Lead Developer and Director

🇬🇷Greek: native 🇬🇧English: excellent 🇫🇷French: basic • 🕐 My time zone is Europe / Athens
Please keep in mind my timezone and cultural differences when reading my replies. Thank you!

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