developerWorks: Troubleshoot GridFTP

“You have probably used the FTP command line tool at least once
or twice to transfer files to or from a server. Although it is not
the most productive and user-friendly tool, at least it is very
interactive. For each command you type, the server usually provides
feedback, positive or negative. With GridFTP server, it’s much less
interactive. You submit your request, and the server will try its
best, but by default, there is no feedback. This is partly because
grid jobs are usually batch style — you submit a job and the grid
scheduler decides when it’s the best time to run it. Therefore,
interactivity is not really necessary. But if you’re trying to
troubleshoot a problem, then you’ll realize that feedback is
precious.

“I’ve encountered many problems while testing file transfer with
GridFTP server on some Linux and AIX machines, and I thought that
my build of GridFTP server was missing something. However, it
turned out that most of the problems I encountered are related to
system configuration, and after reading the limited technical
documentation on GridFTP available on the Web, I’ve finally
overcome most of those problems…”

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