upload timeout chestnut

[pinbrook]

We have identified a possible problem in how Actinic uploads, which has been present since v4. It is all to do with how Actinic continues the upload when the connection is reset for whatever reason. Actinic takes a long time to time out and re-try with certain sorts of internet connections.
We are going to change this in the next maintenance release of v6 - which will come out after the next major release is completed. C Dicken 22.03.04

It's possible that the flurry of problems is causesd by something that Microsoft have changed. Actinic uses Microsoft DLLs to perform the upload. Having said that, it seems to only impact a minority of users and is actually quite hard to reproduce.

We have a team that sits between development and support that investigates this type of problem and where necessary changes the code. They're investigating this as their top priority at the moment. Chris Barling 23.03.04

We are getting a number of sites with timeout problems. The consensus of opinion to date seemed to be that the server needed to allow a greater time before issuing a timeout. We were considering increasing ours. But now it appears (from the above 2 quotes) that this isn't the case and it is an actinic issue and not a server issue.

Could someone from Actinic clarify this please and maybe suggest steps that could be taken in the meanwhile to help the problem.

[cdicken]

With regards to the posts above, have a read of http://support.microsoft.com/default.aspx?kbid=831167

From what I understand, the problem with IE6 that was introduced by Microsoft is that when a HTTP POST request times out, then IE6 re-sends the request but without any header information.

When the standard Actinic FTP upload fails (for whatever reason), Actinic will switch over to using HTTP (using the IE dlls) and uploads the HTML and images via calls to the nq00001.pl script.

If the server then times out the request, it may be that Actinic re-sends the request without the necessary header information - thus everything hangs and Actinic does not respond.

The solution is therefore to ensure you have a working update for Internet Explorer 6 - and also increase the server time out length to hopefully avoid this problem in the first place.

[pinbrook]

Thanks for that Chris

We have changed our server timeouts to


# Time settings for FTP connections st stay alive
TimeoutLogin 120
TimeoutIdle 3600
TimeoutNoTransfer 3600
TimeoutStalled 3600

# Disable reverse DNS to speed connections
UseReverseDNS off

Do those settings look OK?

I'll have a look at IE6 to.

at least I am beginning to understand this issue properly now

[fleetwood]

Hi Joe and Chris

First up, thank 'goodness' (expletives held back on!) there is finally some official acknowledgment that this problem exists.

Can you please explain how we go about changing our server time outs. Is this something I can do, or do we notify our hosts (Claranet)?

Chris

Whilst I am eagerly awaiting version 7, could you please clarify my upgrade path from version 5. By purchasing 1 year support when 7 is released, does this then entitle me to upgrade from 5 to 7?

Many thanks

Martin

[fleetwood]

ps: sorry about the misspelling of your name Jo!

[pinbrook]

Hi Martin

Can you please explain how we go about changing our server time outs. Is this something I can do, or do we notify our hosts (Claranet)?

Changing timeouts have to be done by your host.

Hang on for a day will you, because I want to test to see if changing the timeout time has had any effect on uploading to our servers

[fleetwood]

thanks Jo

will await your findings

[cdicken]

Whilst I am eagerly awaiting version 7, could you please clarify my upgrade path from version 5. By purchasing 1 year support when 7 is released, does this then entitle me to upgrade from 5 to 7?

Yes - upgrades will be included in the costs of Actinic Cover.

First up, thank 'goodness' (expletives held back on!) there is finally some official acknowledgment that this problem exists.

Please understand that there has been no cover up or consipiracy of silence about this problem. We have been as baffled about this upload problem as you have as there seems to be no rhyme and reason to it. This is why we have been hesitant to say it is an Actinic problem. It still might not be - but it could well be.

At the moment we are addressing an issue that looks like the most likely cause - we will know for sure in the first maintenance of v7.

[george]

I've had 6.1.3 for ages now, but the uploading problems have only been apparent the last few weeks. With no changes to my pc or Windows updates, etc. Does this not mean it must be a host/server issue? as all other issues stay the same?

[Mike Hughes]

No. read the bit about IE 6 above.

IE 6 had an update around mid feb which has caused problems with customers at checkout and may also be causing problems here.

Mike

[george]

I use IE5.5.

[Mike Hughes]

Oops. I missed the no updates bit.

I guess if the problem has only recently occured and you haven't changed anything then it has to be something else that's causing it.

Not necessarily the host/server though. It could also be your ISP has changed something in their routers, network speed, FTP handling, etc.

Mike

[george]

That's what I mean Mike, I have the same hosts as Fleetwood, which is Claranet. Coincidence or connection?

[pinbrook]

This thread needs to be read in conjunction with http://community.actinic.com/showthr...&threadid=5225

Whilst Nick is our resident teccie at pinbrook, I just have to add my bit too.

i have been uploading both V6 and V5 sites to one of our servers today.

The V6 upload timeouts all the way, 4 I think this afternoon.

The v5 upload doesn't timeout at all. Same server, same PC with IE6 patched, same connection.

Now comes my theory!! This relates to the Microsoft security patch. I assume that Actinic inbuilds the dll files into its upload. Therefore can I assume that V5 is ok because it has older non faulty dlls, whilst the later builds of V6 do have the microsoft buglett?

I am also guessing that this timeout issue applies to 6.1.4 maybe 6.1.3, but probably not 6.1.2 and less


Am I suggesting b%%%%?

[fleetwood]

Hi Chris

Re:

Please understand that there has been no cover up or consipiracy of silence about this problem

I did not mean to sound accusational, so sorry if you took my comments the wrong way. Its just that this issue has been raised a lot recently, and to those of us affected it is extremely frustrating, as the day-to-day business of keeping our sites updated is nigh on impossible at times.
I look forward to any progress being made.

regards

MArtin