KeepAlive and automatic reconnect needed

[johanrosenson]

I'm new to github, are the issues a good place to report bugs? Great that someone have taken up development of NppFTP again btw, looking forward to seeing updates! :)

This is issue is two-part, when the connection to the FTP is lost is should automatically be re-established, as it is now it freezes and you have to manually reconnect.

But alot could be done to prevent it from disconnecting in the first place, some options for KeepAlive would be great, it is in my opinion one of the few things missing. KeepAlive could be implemented by sending NOOP, TYPE I or some other command, if it's possible to let the user set the interval per profile that would also be great.

[ashkulz]

Can you post a sequence of steps to show that the UI freezes? I saw it mentioned in TODO.txt but was unable to reproduce it, it gave an error message:

[johanrosenson]

This happends every time i try to save a file/or change directory and i havent interacted with the FTP for a few minutes.

I am using: Windows 7 SP1 (x64), all updates latest version of Notepad++ and latest of nppFTP

Attaching an image of how it looked just recently when i tried to change directory. the UI was totally unresponsive between 14:22:06 and 14:22:17.

I wish that NppFTP would detect this and reconnect automatically, also a keepalive option would prevent many of the disconnects becouse of inactivity.

[ashkulz]

So this is required for FTP? I was testing with SFTP above.

[johanrosenson]

Sorry, forgot to mention that. Yes, the problems are with FTP, havent tested SFTP, sadly the server im connecting to doesnt support SFTP.

[ashkulz]

Can you confirm that it has the same issue with Filezilla? If so, I'll try to see if I can do some changes to implement this feature.

[lukesky333]

I've the same problem. I'm using some free webspace provider for simple development tasks. some of them are closing ftp connections automaticaly after X minutes.

220---------- Welcome to Pure-FTPd [privsep] [TLS] ----------
220-You are user number 1 of 500 allowed.
220-Local time is now 05:32. Server port: 21.
220-This is a private system - No anonymous login
220 You will be disconnected after 3 minutes of inactivity.

A KeepAlive option would be a great feature - and it should be (more or less) easy to implement for you. If you need somebody to test it, please feel free to contact me or register a free webspace account at www.serversfree.com. They are using a 3 minutes inactivity-disconnect...

[johanrosenson]

Sorry, dont understand what you mean with Filezilla? What do you want me to test in Filezilla? and why? :)

[ashkulz]

@Ishra: just wanted to know how to reproduce it, so I could use as a test case when attempting to fix the issue.

[tgely]

Hi all!

I could confirm this issue but I have two different platform for use. One is bad and one is good. The issue depends on dsl modem service. One enable to keep FTP connection as long as I want but the other never keep it.

The filezilla is a good way for the issue demonstaration in bad enviroment because it can keep the connection with keep alive setup.

Some months ago I tried to use an old FTP Notepad++ plugin where was built in keep alive, but it is working for some minutes only.

[ashkulz]

Having looked into the code, the problem is that it is very easy to add support for KeepAlives at the connection level (see the issue_1 branch) but not easy at all to know when to call it, because the connection may already be in use. One approach is to use a Windows timer, but then one would have to keep track (via locking?) so that a keep alive is not sent when the connection is active, as I don't think that the underlying library is safe to use from multiple threads.

[Gergely]

I cant make dll file at this moment but for help I have tested FTP_syncronize plugin and it could keep the connection for some minutes.

[xblitz]

also looking for KeepAlive in SFTP connection :+1:

[vonp]

it has been a while, but ...

since we are all dealing with proto 2 here, you should find in your client src somewhere the 'ServerAliveCountMax' 'ServerAliveInterval' and 'TCPKeepAlive'

we need to turn TCPKeepAlive *** OFF ***. this is a hold-over from ancient times in ftp and utilizes the signalling channel (unsecure). the "ServerAlive" on the client and "ClientAlive" on the server use the encrypted channel (secure and non-spoofable).

"Interval" is in seconds of inactivity from the opposing side and "Count" is the number of ignored messages. so, after "interval" of inactivity received, a response request is made and after "Count" such messages being ignored the connection is dropped.

since many people doing dev work on a server somewhere will at least have knowledge of the server's config for sshd, one should set the "Interval" to a shorter time-frame than the server's and the "Count" to whatever seems reasonable for the operating environment.

i think providing this config option for the plug-in is highly desirable.

thank you,

johann

[HBinswanger]

Please, please. The lack of KeepAlives is driving me crazy. I hit ctrl-S and think I've saved on the remote server when I haven't. All sorts of confusion and time loss results.

[fredrikbernspang]

I agree with the previous comments, the missing KeepAlive feature is causing a great deal of frustration when using NppFTP.

[romikette]

I have arrived here with the same issue. connection stops after few mins. can't save unless I reconnect

[Troyd-Destin]

Adding my voice to this chorus.

While working, I am continually disconnected due to keep alives not being sent every x often to avoid losing my port connection.

This often means I have to save a file twice, in order to get it to 'reconnect' and re-establish the connection.

[paulfeakins]

Agree with everyone above. This one issue has caused our dev team to move to Kate which handles FTP seamlessly.

[sLim2368]

What about this problem in last release ? Can developer add this feature in FTP settings? May be we can use some parameters for keep connections alive?

And for information: I download fresh release NppFTP-0.26.6.zip, when extract dll and replace it in plugin directory i see in plugin manager version 0.26.5 ). And can't find changelist on github

[johnmarlow007]

Hi all. I too am missing this feature, since I am loosing my connection and then you don't know if the file is saved or not on the server and all sorts of complications from that... If only I would be nearly as smart as the plugin creator so I can contribute and add this feature... :) But, maybe he or all our minds put together can sort out this little issue that keeps NPP from being one of the best plugins on the web...

[wandererkh]

Hi all, FTP_synchronize plugin has KeepAlive functionality: https://sourceforge.net/projects/npp-plugins/files/FTP_synchronize/ FTP_synchronize_0_9_5_0_src.zip has source codes

[andymule]

This seems fixed, but appears to still be open? Regardless, my new code should circumvent this by automatically connecting to proper host for a given file. Doesn't need KeepAlive in this case, and works for simultaneous files across multiple hosts.

https://github.com/ashkulz/NppFTP/pull/225

[PapyJP]

Hi everybody! I recently noticed that the KeepAlive functionality does not work any more after upgrading to Notepad.. v7.7 Does anyone encounter the same issue?

[Rolf-Herbert]

Keep alive does not work for me with sFTP on version 0.29.12 on notepad++ version 8.3.3

After a few minutes of inactivity the connection is in a limbo failed state..it also completely freezes the UI when attempting to cancel/reconnection and it takes 10-20 seconds to return to the unconnected state.

I'm connected to the same server (running Filzilla server) with WinSCP and the connection always stays open.

Thanks

[icefront]

Here also a esperate need of a feature: keep the connection alive...