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Accepted
Andrew Winter
Asked: 2011-03-24 04:07:25 +0800 CST

Uploading files larger than ~4MB results in "The connection was reset" error

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On two of our servers we have an Ubuntu LAMP setup with PHP code designed to allow large image and audio uploads. One of our clients is having an issue where they are unable to upload any files larger than ~4MB from any computer in their office. They get a "The connection was reset" this error in FireFox and in chrome they get "Error 101 (net::ERR_CONNECTION_RESET): Unknown error." In chrome I can watch the upload percentage and see the upload fail around the time ~4MB is reached (53%) on an 7.79MB file.

It's not a speed issue as I've successfully uploaded files from slower networks.

Apache is returning no errors in the logs, and is recording the start of the post in the access log.

The PHP.ini is set to allow files up to 500MB and we have other clients doing this with no problems. I've upped the script timeouts of PHP as well.

I've tested uploading from a number of other locations to the servers with no errors; and I've also tested uploading from the clients location to other services, also with no errors.

I'm really at a loss i can't tell if it's a server error a client and I'm hoping someone might know of something I can use to test or perhapses possibly a setting I might have missed.

php apache-2.2 upload

3 Answers

  1. and is recording the start of the post in the access log

    No - apache only ever logs completion of a request in the access_log (unless you have some thing like mod_security which can be explicitly configured to post a log on submission). Which rather implies some of your other assertions may be wrong too.

    The PHP.ini is set to allow files up to 500MB and we have other clients doing this with no problems. I've upped the script timeouts of PHP as well.

    What is the apache config? (particularly LimitRequestBody, LimitRequestFieldsize, TimeOut) What version of apache?

    One of our clients is having an issue ... from any computer in their office ... successfully uploaded files from slower networks. ... 500MB and we have other clients doing this with no problems

    That implies something specific to the connection between that office and your servers - e.g. a firewall. You can demonstrate by capturing a session using wireshark or similar (client is receiving a RST ostensibly from your server - you would be able to that packet at your end if it was your servers terminating the connection - if its something else terminating, then you won't see a RST packet leaving your server). Alternatively just direct them to the nerarest internet cafe and ask them to try from there to confirm its their problem.

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  2. Best Answer

    Is there a Firewall/IPS in between? We had this exact issue when a certain part of a file popped a false positive on our IPS, causing all sorts of drops and hangs with website access.

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  3. Have you checked the place where the uploads in progress are stored? /tmp or otherwise?

    Do you have more than 4 MB space left? dmesg or system error log giving any clues?

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