Date: 04/28/05 (PHP Community)    Keywords: php, mysql, database, sql, web, linux, hosting

I have a hosting company that runs Linux with PHP and MySQL through Plesk (a kind of server control panel) I can’t get into the control panel at work because I’m behind a firewall that blocks port 8443. I can, however use “my network places” in windows 200 to create an FTP connection to my server. The down side is: with FTP I can’t interface with the MySQL database… but, at least, I can upload and download files…Right?

Wrong.

This is the weirdest thing I’ve ever seen. The files I upload using FTP on my home computer or Plesk at home can be accessed from the web by typing the URL, but they do not appear in windows FTP flooder for the site. Yes, I have refreshed and restarted and connected and disconnected. They just don’t show up.

I can copy a file in to the FTP folder in windows… and it returns no error and appears to have uploaded correctly. But, if I type in the URL for the file the server says “file not found” I believe the upload is not working because when I go home and look in FTP on the other side of the firewall the file is not there! But, it appears to be there in windows. It was even there the next day. What on earth is going on!

Moreover, if I use a web-based FTP like http://01ftp.com/index.php it will show be a different set of files depending on what side of the firewall I’m on.

I can’t turn the firewall off but I’d like to, at least, understand why this is happening.

Why didn’t windows return an error when the file failed to upload? What if that file had been important? How can it show the file in the FTP folder for my site when it’s not really there? I think that’s a pretty scary and unreliable thing for an OS to do!

I think this might have something to do with actve and passive FTP... I'm reading up on it now... but honestly I don't have a clue.

The firewall is Mcaffe desktop firewall, and it's centrally controlled so no way to shut it off without being some kind of evil little haXX0r.

Source: http://www.livejournal.com/community/php/293012.html