### Common Issue 0007 Author: Artex (aka: IceDragon) Timestamp: 06.Oct.2005 @ 0840 Relation: Bugge Hunters Section: Furcadia Title: Fileserver access problems Description: Commonly, the user would tell you that they can't upload and/or download dreams and poraits and that their download/upload does not start (important part since if it /does/ start, we are dealing with a different problem). In general, the user won't tell you about this with this much detail, but will only mention the main part (either the fact that they tried to upload a dream and failed or to download it or it was a portrait instead of a dream). It is your job to find out the rest by asking questions. Problem: The access to Furcadia file server is being denied - either by the service provider (can be on both sides, most likely server's), by a misconfigured firewall that only allows access to the gameserver port, another program that seems to block access to the fileserver as a security precaution or the user simply configured in their proxy settings that the proxy they use is responsible for handling fileserver transaction while the proxy itself can not do that. Solution: This particular case has many different possible reasons and many different solutions, I will try listing most of them here. To make sure that the user has the suitable problem you can present them with your own version - ask them if they can't download and/or upload dreams along with portraits and that the download/upload doesn't actually start (pass the point of 0KB). It is important to know if the portraits are also the case since both dreams and portraits are downloaded with an exactly the same method! If dreams can't download, but portraits can, we might be having a different problem. It is also encouraged to check that the file server ports actually work before doing anything else! You might be wasting time fixing a client while the problem is server-side. Before proceeding with solving the problem, ask the user if they are using Furcadia proxies such as Dog Proxy, Mreow Proxy, Furnarchy, etc. If they do, ask them to try performing dream upload/download directly - with the proxy turned off. If that method works, chances are that either the proxy is problematic or the proxy settings are not correct - skip two paragraphs and continue from there if you want to try and fix the problem. Note that you are not expected to help the user with their proxy, for it's a third party program and is not supported by Furcadia or the help beekins for that matter. Obviously, helping the user out with the proxy will give you a more positive look and reputation in their eyes - the choice is in your hands. Once you have verified that the problem matches, first thing you would ever do is suggest the user to change the fileserver ports to something else, seeming how they can connect to Furcadia on the gameserver port (unless their friend is connecting between you two, then you should try changing gameserver port as well), but can't connect to the fileserver port(s). The ports can be changed by going to the configuration utility (Tab C -> `edit my settings` button or START-> Programs->Furcadia->Configuration and Troubleshooting) and switching to the "Connection" section once there. In that section you can see the ports we need to change. The topmost port is the gameserver port (connection to Furcadia itself), the other two are the fileserver ports where the middle one is the upload port and the lowermost one is the download port. In my opinion, the ideal ports are 22 for the gameserver (port 80 may be proxied by the ISP and is not always the best choice!) and 21 for the fileserver - both download and upload. These ports are commonly used for the File Transfer Protocol (FTP - 21) and Secure Shell (SSH - 22), rather useful and widely used network services - these ports have the least chance to be blocked by firewalls or system administrators at school (port 80 is the best if we deal with sysadmins - it's used to access web pages on the internet ;). The checkbox below - for the sake of feeling safe with our changes, make sure it is unchecked. Once the ports are changed, save, restart Furcadia and see if this tactic has helped any. If it did - your job here is successfully done... If the user still claims that the problem persists, no matter what ports do they put, we might have a complex firewall on our hands (especially if the user confirms its presense). Since you will probably not have enough experience with their firewall, suggest the user to check it out on their own and make sure Furcadia has outgoing access to the ports we've set in the config utility. If they have no idea how to use the firewall, you have no choice but to encourage them to try checking this out or see if it's the firewall's fault in the first place by temporarily disabling it. Try to avoid the disabling idea as much as possible since the user might have an insecure system and disabling the firewall will expose them to potential hacker threat (5 minutes exposure is enough, trust me). If it is the firewall, setting rules mentioned above (or simply permitting all incoming/outgoing connections to Furcadia) should solve the problem. Again, you are in no way expected to help them with the firewall - suggest them to make such rules on their own! Of course it's more useful to help with the firewall, too, but you are not expected to. What to do if the problem persists and it's not the firewall's fault? There is still one more thing we could try - the proxy settings in the configuration. Normally, public proxies set their address in a special file (proxy.ini) instead of the settings, so this case normally doesn't happen. However, to make sure this is not the case here either, instruct the user to enter the configuration utility again and go to the "Proxies and Firewalls" section. If the "Use proxy or firewall" checkbox above is checked, make sure the checkbox /below/ is not! The checkbox below will route fileserver queries through the proxy and if it's a simple Furcadia proxy, it will not know what to do with such queries and will simply drop them. Do note, however, that if the user connects to the internet through a proxy like SOCKS4, they must have the checkbox below checked instead, so these queries will be passed to the internet through the proxy - that one would know what to do with such requests. Additionally, if the proxy settings can be disabled, try doing so by unchecking the checkbox above. Chances are these settings are incorrect and are simply interfering with Furcadia. Once all the changes are done, instruct the user to save the settings and restart Furcadia to apply them, hoping this would solve the problem. At this point we've exhausted pretty much every common resource and if you - personally - know of anything else the user could try, this is a good time to suggest that. Otherwise, if you are not a bugge hunter, you can forward the call further (since we've covered a lot of tactics here, it is very important to let the hunters know you've done all this so they won't be wasting time going through the same steps!). Otherwise, you can politely tell the user that you've tried every possible option that you had and you are out of ideas, being unable to help them with their issue. Also, suggest them the problem is somewhere within their system since the file server works just fine and leave them enough clues to try and figure the problem on their own - after you give up, that's what the user will most likely try to do. Obviously, before telling that the file server works, check it! A lie like this can place you in a very awkward situation once uncovered. Finally, remember that not every problem can be solved and there are many of those in Furcadia. The most important thing is that you did your best and by going through all these steps, you did quite a lot!..