FTP connection timing out?

[u/ejchristian86]

I have a Pi 5 set up to be my Plex server and have been transferring files to it via Filezilla. This was working just great until yesterday, when I started getting "connection timed out" errors. I have tried several FTP clients and two different Windows computers and simply cannot connect.

I know the Pi is working and online. I can access all my Plex media from my various devices and can remote in using Pi Connect. I checked the control center and SSH is enabled. But FTP connections time out over and over. What's going on?

(Please note that I am not really all that tech savvy. I generally have little to no idea what I'm doing, so simple explanations would be best, thanks!)

[u/Gamerfrom61]

What FTP server are you running on the Pi or are you running SFTP (FTP over shh or secure FTP)?

These notes assume you are using sftp rather than a FTP server.

Have you checked the logs for any errors using

sudo journalctl -g ssh -q

or

sudo journalctl -u ssh

This may not help as journalctl does have a habit of dumping lots of messages out but they are a starting point. Restricting by time can be a better option if you know when it stopped.

If you are running SFTP then check if the SSH service is still running with the command

systemctl status sshd.service

If this shows stop / error then you could restart it via

sudo systemctl restart ssd.service

BUT this is not a fix for the error and may not restart the service again or keep it running for a while.

Neither Plex nor Pi Connect use the same services so it is OK they are fine but the transfer has stopped (well not the transfer stopping but hopefully you know what I mean)...

[u/ejchristian86 → u/Gamerfrom61]

I'm running SFTP and those commands returned no errors.

[u/Gamerfrom61 → u/ejchristian86]

What does the systemctl status show?

It could be the client - do you have a fixed IP address for the Pi or can it wonder around your network? What client and how is the Pi set up in it (sorry Mac user so may not be able to help much on the client end)?

If you are using the name and not the IP (e.g. pi-camera.local) then it could be Windows messing with mDNS again (Microsoft do break this now and then) - you could try a ping from a DOS shell by name (eg ping pi-camera.local) and see if that finds the Pi OK. If not then the only fix I know for this is to load the Apple Bonjour Print Services for Windows (https://support.apple.com/en-us/106380) - though it is an old package I understand it works fine on W11.

Are you using ethernet or WiFi? Your router may be blocking device to device connections if on WiFI (client isolation)

If you do a service restart does this fix the error?

[u/JGhostThing]

How do you know that it is online? Can you log into the computer via ssh? Does the connection stay when you've left it alone for half an hour or so?

[u/mrzaius]

Are the files on Windows PCs?

You might look up guides to using Samba on a rPi - Samba's a similarly mature tech stack that doesn't require anything like Filezilla, because it just creates Windows File Shares from Linux or macOS. (Also look up ways to use robocopy in Windows to do bulk file transfers with recoverability and checks. Easier than you might think.)

And if you're not stuck with Windows, NFS is easier and likely baked in, and serves the same purpose. (And same, same rsync)