Anyone here using FTP and Namecheap hosting?

[Xairbusdriver]

Title says it all. I'm having a problem getting answers from low level support concerning FTP paths.

[Paddy]

Hmmm...I have one remaining site (client's) at NameCheap - and it's likely being moved before next week. They're a very good registrar, but their shared hosting is a tad on the slow side according to the tests I ran today. I tested same bare-bones site on NC hosting and at Crocweb, where I have 90% of my clients now. Crocweb was almost twice as fast loading the same page - and has several other advantages as well - like Let's Encrypt free SSL. Better overall specs on the hosting and Litespeed servers. Just not "unlimited" storage - which is a snare and a delusion anyway.

What exactly are you trying to do? I've never had any issues with uploads - but I usually do it via Cpanel if it's not done through Wordpress. Can't even remember the last time I connected to a site with Filezilla or Transmit! If you're trying to set up FTP accounts for other users, what have you done so far? Hostgator actually has a good little tutorial on it: https://www.hostgator.com/help/article/how-to-create-an-ftp-account-in-cpanel

So I just ftp'ed into the one site I still have at NC - no issues with either Transmit or Filezilla. Started with root level - ftp://sitename.com

[Xairbusdriver]

Skip to the 4th paragraph for the "short" version of why I use FTP.

I use some fairly sophisticated, but consumer-level weather monitoring hardware. I then use an app that collects and maintains a record of the data that is measured every few seconds 24 hrs a day. The data is used to update half a dozen html templates that include specific "placeholders" for various weather events; current temp, dew point, wind direction and speed, pressure, rain, etc.

I have a separate pages for current data in textual form, current data in ~12 customizable gauges, daily and weekly customizable graphs, and a statistics page showing maximum and minimum values for yesterday, current & last week, current & last month, current & last year, and from the first date the hardware was started. There are a few other pages for  a journal, a contact form, links for several weather data sharing sites, local geographical area, etc.

The app collects the weather data from the weather hardware and generates the gauges, graphs and edits the html "templates". It then sends the edited html pages and all the graphics to my web space. Normally that is done every two minutes. Obviously, I would be pretty busy doing these uploads manually, even if I did it only during daylight hours! The app uses FTP (PASV mode), I've attached a screen shot of the FTP Settings dialog. I sent that to the support folks and their comment was:

you have added an 'ftp://' part to the file path. We suggest removing it completely as 'ftp://' is not a part of the file path for your domain.

I guess I need to tell the developer that he needs to change how his app has been working for over a decade... I will admit, the "URL" label is confusing when discussing "FTP". OTOH, it is still a Universal Resource Locator. It's just being used for different Internet protocols!

Sorry, I can't show you how it looks right now as the FTP credentials for Namecheap are still not working. The site is mid-southweather.com. A few things on the home page still work because they use php scripts and links to external sites. There are also cron scripts at Namecheap and on my mini that handle computer and software uptime computations.

I think the problem is that the folks I'm talking to at Namecheap don't seem to have any idea of what can be done via FTP other than cPanel or an FTP Client (Fetch or Cyberduck). They seem to keep thinking I need help setting up cPanel or Cyberduck. Nope!! That's already done.

[Paddy]

So a couple of questions here:

1. Was it working on Namecheap previously? If so, what changed?
2. Why do you have "public_html" in the ftp address? I've tried three different options for ftp'ing into the Hurontario site, and in none of them did I use public_html - just the site. (ftp://sitename.com) So I tried it just now with "public_html" in there - and sure enough, it didn't like it and wouldn't connect.

So I'd suggest you start there, assuming you've not tried that already, of course. Also, is the ftp user name you're using the actual Cpanel name? They're usually a shortened version of the domain URL - like "midsout" or something - NOT an email address. Never seen an email address used as the user name for FTP for the main site - but if you've set up a new FTP account for this, then it will connect to the folder related to the user name (which it will create, if you haven't done it already). You need to be using the main Cpanel login if you're logging into the root level of your account, as you appear to be doing.

I had no luck creating another FTP login that would log into the root level (main URL) of the account - tried it on another domain at Crocweb too just to be sure. It would always create a FOLDER with the domain name and then a folder inside that with the new FTP user name. Not the right path at all! (I could log into that, but as I said...not where I wanted to be).

Anyway, I've fiddled enough - I'm assuming here that:
1. mid-southweather.com is the main URL for this account (ie: the one you set up the hosting with)
2. the files for the weather app are supposed to be going to the root level, since you don't have a directory specified in the path

[Xairbusdriver]

OK, perhaps I should just start over.
First two answers:
1.a. Was it working on Namecheap previously?
   Ans: No. "It" being the FTP uploading. The site works fine from any browser.
        Even the php scripts (which download files from the federal aviation weather sites) and
        cron jobs work fine.
1.b. If so, what changed?
   Ans: 30 days ago, the hosting was with Hostgator. That's what changed; I canceled Hostgator
       to avoid EIG.
2. Why do you have "public_html" in the ftp address?
   Ans: That's what Namecheap "support" keeps telling me to use. However, I think that is because
       they think I'm talking about cPanel or an FTP client like Cyberduck.

Skipping to your "assumptions":
I'm assuming here that:
1. mid-southweather.com is the main URL for this account (ie: the one you set up the hosting with)
Answer: Actually, the "primary" account is "mailscamalert.com". Hostgator called mid-southweather a "sub domain". Namecheap says it is an "Addon" domain. Both domains are and were register through Namecheap some years ago.

In reality, I think "sub/addon" is simply the hosting verbage and what is important is the file higherarchy. It is the same at Namecheap as it was at Hostgator, as far as I can remember. The attached image is a partial display of what is seen in cPanel File Manager. To my human eyes, it would appear that mid-southweather is accessed via this path: mailscamalert.com/public_html/mid-southweather.com.

It is possible that Namecheap has that path 'built into' any http request. However, when using Cyberduck to download the index.html file, for example, it is opened in BBEdit with a path of:
   ftp://mailscamalert.com/public_html/mid-southweather.com/index.html
I can edit that file, hit "Save" and it is uploaded by BBEdit (via Cyberduck, I assume).
I can use BBEdit to directly download a file and the path then shows as:
   ftp://xairbus2:@mid-southweather.com//public_html/mid-southweather.com/index.html
That is using the default username and password for the entire web space.
Note the : and the added @mid-southweather.com to the default username and the double"//" before the public_html!

Since I can get BBEdit to work with FTP, I am going to try using the same path in the weather app. Back shortly...
Nope. Back to Namecheap emails.

[Paddy]

I think I've figured it out....maybe. I managed to shut my own site down with too many wonky FTP requests, so I've taken the liberty of ASKING Crocweb for assistance, figuring maybe they might be able to tell me. Basically, the issue is accessing the root level of a SUBDOMAIN (or add-on domain) - which every time I've tried it has failed. If you create a user with the subdomain as the user name it just creates new folders...etc. But then I got to thinking. I know that one of the reasons for having reseller accounts is that one can give individual logins to the subdomains - so they can't muck about anywhere else. I suspect that feature/ability is lacking in a regular account.

However, I DID manage to ftp into my subdomain folder quite nicely using the main ftp login - and putting the name of the subdomain as the path. Have you tried that?

So: ftp: mailscamalert.com
PW - your cpanel PW
path: /mid-southweather.com

No need for anything else in my test - worked a treat. I don't know if you've tried that yet...

[Paddy]

Ok - well, it turns out it's even simpler than that.

Here's the response from Crocweb - and yes, it worked. (newcastlehistorical.ca, like your mid-southweather.com, is a subdomain)

Hello,

I created an FTP user for you which is restricted to the directory "/home/xxxx/newcastlehistorical.ca". (where xxxx is my Cpanel user name) Please try testing it:

FTP Host: newcastlehistorical.ca
FTP User: xxxxx@newcastlehistorical.ca
FTP Password: xxxxxx

So you see....I DIDN'T need to put the path in. So I'm wondering if that can be done with your app, or does it complain if you don't put in the ftp path?

[Xairbusdriver]

I see Croc also uses the "email" thing. Good to know, I was thinking of transferring from Namecheap to Croc before my 30 days run out.

I really appreciate all this free support you are providing, you really shouldn't!

I don't plan on trying your FTP account. A stand-alone FTP client is not the problem, nor is accessing my files through cPanel/File Manager, nor my web sites via HTTP (no, they don't use an SSL Certificate, that's another story!!).

The problem is getting the weather app to use the correct settings so it can access my domain root.

Please check the attached image to see where I need to insert my info. The only other info I have on the built-in FTP function(client) is that it uses "PASV". I'm sure you know what that means, I looked it to be sure I knew:

Passive File Transfer Protocol (PASV FTP) is the process of transferring data in passive mode where the data flow is initiated by the FTP client rather than The FTP server.

Only the error changes with each combination of inputs I use: usually 6 (couldn't resolve host) & 56 (response reading failed). The app's logs also show errors, when attempting to connect via FFTP, are 666 (Unknown FTP error) & 911 (Could not upload (null) - Aborting upload).

I should probably make a list of all the combinations of those three items I've tried. It would fill a small small spreadsheet. I might as well take the time to do that...

Thanks so much, AGAIN!!!!

[Paddy]

So the app won't let you leave the path to the directory blank?

Can you contact the app developer?

And yes - Crocweb uses a ticket system, but they respond incredibly fast - often within minutes (13 minutes when I locked myself out yesterday - and it was fixed, with how to fix it myself should I do it again, 10 minutes on the next question.) So I have no issues at ALL with it. Been using them for 3 years and still very happy. They've even helped me with things that weren't actually their problem (stuff related to Wordpress, as it turns out) and given that companies like Siteground are getting a very bad rap these days for refusing to help/cutting people off from ANY help because they're deemed to have asked too many questions (!!) and telling people to "hire a developer"...that's something. Plus, unlike Namecheap, Crocweb's help desk is here in Canada, not offshore somewhere in Russia...although most of the people I've dealt with at Namecheap do seem to have a good grasp of English, but the chats take a lot longer in my experience, both to explain things and get stuff fixed. Lots of "let me go check that"...

Oh - and they have Let's Encrypt, so you get free SSL certificates, auto-renewed. Namecheap of course own ssls.com and are in the business of selling certificates, so no freebies there.

[Xairbusdriver]

So the app won't let you leave the path to the directory blank?

No. I'm not sure how it would know who/what/where to FTP (send) the files without that. Every user (with a web site) will have a different path. As I understand it, it should be the root of one's web site; "mid-southweather.com" in my case. Theoretically, the only thing I should have needed to change after I transferred from Hostgator to Namecheap would be my password.
The (Namecheap) "Log In" (for my entire web space) is the same as with Hostgator: xairbus2.
The path should also be the same; the hierarchy of the files seems to be exactly the same.

I still think the older domain (mailscamalert.com) should be in the path since mid-southweather is the "Add On" account. NC is now suggesting I try:

ftp://ftp.mid-southweather.com or ftp://ftp.mid-southweather.com/

That first one does not have the "/" and the app will complain/fail since simply adds the name of the file in that directory. As I understand it, the app simply creates an FTP connection that included the path set in the dialog and adds the name of the file that it wants to upload. The actual FTP actions may simply open the mid-south...com as directory and then upload the files in a recursive process. All I really know is that the dialog will not accept a path without it ending with a "/" nor will it append one to the path you enter. It saves these three items securely and can then use them in as many operations by the app as necessary. And it always worked... for over five years!

Locking yourself out of your own files may have been caused by simply making so many attempts. The last message from Namecheap had this:

We have also noticed that with all the login attempts [caused] the permissions of the ftp folder folder [to be] changed, but we have updated them to the default ones. This does not strictly influence functionality. [emphasis added]

Despite their claim that "This does not strictly influence functionality", I would think having not allowing an FTP connection to even read the list of files in a directory, especially root, would make doing anything in that directory pretty difficult! But, what do I know? Permissions for directories may be a lot different than for a file.

Try to have a great, safe and Fall season!!

[Paddy]

Yes - I locked myself out by attempting every permutation I could think of. You know...sort of like a hacker might.

So...what's the app? If it's free I could try it on my test site...(that is, if testing the FTP would be an independent quickly done operation, and not something one does after a whole bunch of other things...)

RE: permissions, you need read, write and execute, no? The question is WHO needs read, write and execute - definitely the owner, so the minimum would likely be 750, I think. Might have to try 755, but don't know if that's necessary. What are the permissions on the folder now? The odd thing is - the permissions on my public_html folder where the main domain lives are 750, as they are on one of the subdomains, but they're 755 on the other. And that was the one that Crocweb added the FTP user for - so I'm wondering if they changed the permissions when they did that? (Public FTP folder has permission of 750)

BTW - the first "r" in "server" is missing on the bit about the NOAA servers on the Forecast page.

[Xairbusdriver]

The app (WeatherCat) is quite large and would not be of much use without the hardware that actually collects weather data. It has a 14-day trial period. I may manually update a few of the pages with current data and you would, hopefully, get a better idea of what it can do. Even though it cannot send its output to my web space, it is still updating the pages, graphics and databases locally. Here's the index.html without some of the php.

All the weather data is inserted into an html file I created. Here is a sample line:

Code: [Select]

<tr>
<td class="right">Temperature:&nbsp;</td>
<td class="left">CT$</td>
</tr>Here is what the app does:

Code: [Select]

<tr>
<td class="right">Temperature:&nbsp;</td>
<td class="left">61.5°F (1.1)</td>
</tr>
The app "simply" parses the html file looking for one of the app-specific 'tags'; "CT$" for example. It then inserts the actual data it has received from the weather hardware. It saves the file locally and uploads it to my web space on a schedule I set. Does the same thing for the gauges, graphs and daily videos.

Since the mid-south... domain is what Namecheap calls an "Add On" domain, it could well not have write privileges. I'll try to find that info. I assume cPanel should display that somewhere.

My last attempt with Namecheap may be to ask them to simply delete everything related to the old and seldom accessed mailscamalert.com. I would simply block/hide/"park"(?) that domain.

[Xairbusdriver]

Here are examples of the apps graphics creation capabilities. The first is the dialog for setting what data the gauge uses, its size and colors. The second one shows what ends up on my web space. The html code for that second gauge (and two other wind-related gauges) is very simple:

Code: [Select]

<!-- Wind: Speed, Gusts & Direction -->
<div class="centered_content_group gradient_background shadow-box">
<img class="wide_gauge" src="customgauge7.png" alt="Gauge-Wind Speed">
<img class="narrow_gauge move_up" src="customgauge8.png" alt="Gauge-Wind Gusts">
<img class="wide_gauge" src="customgauge9.png" alt="Gauge-Wind Direction">
</div>

[Paddy]

If you look at the cPanel File Manager, there is a tab for permissions. You can check any directory or file there.

[Xairbusdriver]

The mid-southweather.com directory has 755 ( -rwxr-xr-x ) as it should.
All the sub-directories also have 755.
All my own web site files (png, jpg, gif, mp4, m4v, txt, htnl, and even an old mov) have 644 ( -rw-r--r-- ).
The host-generated file, .ftpquota, has 600 ( -rw------- ).

They have finally suggested that I should contact the developer as they say their end is working correctly. I guess I'll ask the dev to create a one-off compile of his app just for me.

I do still have a couple of options:

• 1. The 1 TB SSD has arrived. I can install it and make a clean install of the WeatherCat app. There is a new version of the app that came out just before I did the hosting transfer. I'm pretty sure I can transfer all the current databases and its several .plists that would at least avoid having to re-built all the custom graph and gauges from scratch.
• 2. I can switch to CrocWeb and create "empty" space with only the mid-southweather domain 'active'. I could then manually upload just the mid-southweather.com files.
• 3. Just wait for one more reply from Namecheap Support.

Not being known for my work-ethic, that's why I became a pilot*; I don't like yard work", I think I'll try number 3...

* It is the first day of kindergarten and the teacher is going around the room asking everyone what their father does for work.
1st Child: My dad is a policeman, he sends bad guys to jail!
2nd Child: My dad is a fireman, he puts out fires!
3rd Child: My dad is a pilot, he does yard work!

Many major airline pilots fly only a few days a week, international pilots only a few times a month. That usually means they may have weeks of time off. Then they may be home a lot which often causes neighbors into thinking he/she may be unemployed!!