Substitute for ftp_connect

[[deleted]]

Hi all,

I'm trying to solve a problem in php.

Like many others, "ftp_connect" is not working for me, even though php was compiled with --enable-ftp etc.

I believe the problem is the hosting company's firewall, and I wanted to attempt to make my ftp connection the way it was decribed at php.net, ie:

// Connect to firewall
$conn_id = ftp_connect("firewall.yournet.com");

// Open a session to an external ftp site
$login_result = ftp_login ($conn_id, "[e-mail]", "password");

However, when I attempted to connect to the firewall, it still did not work.

I thought that perhaps I should attempt to connect to some non-default port (not 21) on the firewall... but the hosting company apparently thought it would be a security risk to tell me which port I should use to route an ftp connection out through the firewall, so I was never able to try that.

Since I am unable to transfer the domain to a new host, does someone have some sample code of how to create an ftp connection WITHOUT using ftp_connect? Is it possible?

Thanks for your helpful replies.

[AstroTeg]

Do you get errors saying function ftp_connect() does not exist? If you do, then you have a PHP function. If you don't, then you have a firewall problem.

If its a firewall problem, then you're stuck until you talk with your ISP. Even trying to write code around ftp_connect() isn't going to help since you're still getting blocked by the firewall.

[[deleted]]

Whoops, sorry, must have been tired.

The error I get is "Warning: ftp_connect() [function.ftp-connect <http://www.php.net/function.ftp-connect>]: php_hostconnect: connect failed in blah blah blah"

I CAN ftp out by using shell scripts, for example, although I'm not sure of the ramifications of that.

[AstroTeg]

Hmm... Make sure you can establish and FTP connection from shell. If you can, then thats a promising sign - go into PHP and setup the exact same connection and give it a whirl. From the looks of that error, PHP knows the FTP functions are installed, but I'm not sure why you would get a host connection error if you were able to connect to it from shell.

[[deleted]]

Yes, I can use ftp from bash and from shell scripts.

Strange indeed.

My thought was that since I had to connect to the firewall first (According to the "notes" post regarding this function at php.net), I might also have to attempt to reach whatever port they are routing ftp connections through, like this, perhaps:

$some_firewall_port =2160;

// Connect to firewall
$conn_id = ftp_connect("firewall.yournet.com", $some_firewall_port );

// Open a session to an external ftp site
$login_result = ftp_login ($conn_id, "[e-mail]", "password");

But I have no experience with it and don't see anything in the documentation about such a thing... in theory, it sounds like it might be a plan, but with the uncooperative hosting company, I was thinking there may be some other way to set up a stream.

[AstroTeg]

Do you have to mess around with a firewall when you FTP from shell? Have you tried in PHP to connect without the firewall stuff?

[[deleted]]

Hi,

No, I can ignore the firewall languages other than PHP.

Yes, I've tried the straigh ftp_connect. In fact, it USED to work in this very script, but then it quit working one day. I don't know much more about the circumstances of that, however.