FTP

[ivan]

I have a need to move some rather large files between two networks, by large I mean greater than 12GB.

The easiest way to do this is via FTP.  The problem is that I have not been able to discover an OS/2 FTP client that can handle that size of file, most clag out at 2GB.

Is there such an OS/2 FTP client that will do the job or do I have to look at some sort of kludge to get the job done?   

[Andy Willis]

There may be others but IBM did put a set out on testcase that support greater than 2G but then closed the PMR as a permanent restriction and later released an updated FTP server/client that did not have the 2G updates in it.  I am not sure now where to find the >2g cable ones but they are available. 

[Doug Bissett]

I have a need to move some rather large files between two networks, by large I mean greater than 12GB.

The easiest way to do this is via FTP.  The problem is that I have not been able to discover an OS/2 FTP client that can handle that size of file, most clag out at 2GB.

Is there such an OS/2 FTP client that will do the job or do I have to look at some sort of kludge to get the job done?   

I just used QFTP ftp://ftp.netlabs.org/pub/qtapps/qftp-1.5.2-os2.7z to transfer a 5.1 GB file. I am also using Peter Moylan's FTP server http://hobbes.nmsu.edu/download/pub/os2/apps/internet/ftp/server/ftpser1.35.zip at the other end. It did some very strange things during the transfer, but it did do the complete transfer, correctly.

FWIW, I usually use RSYNC http://hobbes.nmsu.edu/download/pub/os2/util/file/rsync-3.0.9-20120425-shl.zip to do transfers like that. SAMBA, with the SAMBA client http://svn.netlabs.org/samba, will also handle large files.

[Ben]

Hello, Ivan...

Allow me to make it easy for you:

OS/2 FTP Update with large file support.

[ivan]

Thank you all for the suggestions which I will try out tomorrow if it's not as hot as it was today (45 degree C outside and about 60 C inside because the AC is off for its yearly check).

I have the IBM FTP update for greater than 2GB files from testcase and so far it has died after transferring just under 5GB (maybe a standard DVD).

As I said these are larger than 12GB, actually 12.5GB to 25.8GB virtual machine files that my client now wants to put back in operation after the arson of last year. 

[Ben]

There is no question regarding OS/2 and the need for a good FTP client; it simply does not exist.

Strange, really.

Filezilla used to work with ODIN, but has not done so in years, (though I have not tried it with the latest ODIN updates).

Also, the need for FTP has diminished since Webrowsers integrated FTP into themselves.

There is still a need, just a diminished one, hence fewer clients.

That's too damn bad! in my opinion for I use FTP everyday and would welcome a proper client.

[Andy Willis]

http://hobbes.nmsu.edu/h-search.php?key=ncftp&pushbutton=Search
Starting with 3.2.3 it supports large files but not sure on OS/2.

[ivan]

Andy, I've already tried ncftp and it appears to be stuck at the 2GB barrier on OS/2.  It did flag up a warning that it couldn't continue though which is more than the others did.

It now looks as if I will borrow a windows notebook and use FileZilla to transfer the files from the old server to it and then transfer them to a NAS box.  Then use SAMBA to transfer the files from the NAS to their new home.

I have to agree with Ben we do need a GOOD FTP client for OS/2 that has no restrictions on file size.

[Andy Willis]

Andy, I've already tried ncftp and it appears to be stuck at the 2GB barrier on OS/2.  It did flag up a warning that it couldn't continue though which is more than the others did.

Just to verify I have the right information... you were using 3.2.5 without success?  I don't know that there were any previous OS/2 releases after the large file support was added.  I had 3.2.2 previous to this discussion myself and it wasn't introduced till 3.2.3.
Andy

[Doug Bissett]

There is no question regarding OS/2 and the need for a good FTP client; it simply does not exist.

I have to agree with Ben we do need a GOOD FTP client for OS/2 that has no restrictions on file size.

Perhaps if we define what "good" means, somebody will take that information and create a "good" client. IMO we already have a "good" FTP server (Thanks to Peter Moylan).

My "requirements" would be:

1) Follows the latest RFC for FTP. I would assume that that would include large file support.

2) It works easily, and in the OS/2 way. Probably as a file system, similar to what SAMBA does, or even the way that Firefox does it (what is wrong with Firefox? I haven't checked, but I think it will handle files greater than 2 GB. I would assume that SeaMonkey does it the same way).

What else is there, that I haven't thought about? I admit that I usually use the old FTP-PM program for most things, and it does what needs to be done, quickly, and easily. I haven't used the version that supports greater than 2 GB files, but  would assume that it is the same as far as the user is concerned (whether it actually works, or not, is unknown to me - I must try it).

[Doug Bissett]

I should have mentioned that Firefox (and, I assume, SeaMonkey) will only download from FTP sites (and it does handle files greater than 2 GB), without some sort of add on to do uploading.

[Andi B.]

netdrive ftp plugin support >2GB too. I use it as ftp client in conjunction with LarsenCommander but can't remember if I ever tested it with >5GB. Server from Peter Moylan.

Edit: just tested with a 19GB file. Worked ok.

[Andy Willis]

I should have mentioned that Firefox (and, I assume, SeaMonkey) will only download from FTP sites (and it does handle files greater than 2 GB), without some sort of add on to do uploading.

Seamonkey still shows having upload file under File - Upload File.

[ivan]

Thank you everyone for your helpful ideas, several of which have been noted down for possible future use.  I went the multi hop route and the VMs are now up and running in their new server.

Now another question.

During the course of trying various things I loaded the latest OS/2 version of firefox on the server and all went well.  That is until I found a picture of a circuit board I was interested in and clicked MB2 to bring up the save image menu.  On clicking ok firefox vanished - it did save the image though.  I tried it several times with different images all giving the same results.  I also get the same thing happening on other multi core processor boxes so the question is, is firefox SMP safe?

[Doug Bissett]

is firefox SMP safe?

I am pretty sure that it is supposed to be SMP safe. I don't see the problem that you describe, although FF does have a few other, similar, problems (at least one is probably related to FLASH). I do have the latest ACPI installed (acpi-3.22.02.exe), along with the SMP updates for various things that were released with the recent ACPI updates (but have nothing to do with ACPI directly). Perhaps you need them?