First of all make sure you read the article about setting up an FTP project. Be aware that we do not support active FTP, SFTP or FTPS, but only passive FTP (please refer below for the required firewall settings). 

Secondly, your first source of information for problems in the workspace would be the FTP log. It is in the bottom of the screen, where the console used to be. If you do not see it, please enable it in the menu ('View' -> 'Console').

Also, please make sure you succeed the login test when creating a project. If you didn't try it when creating the project, just click in "FTP settings" (next to Start Editing) in the dashboard. In the pop up window, you can do the login test again:

Please note that if the password is not displayed it should be specified to make testing successful. 

We are aware that the implementation of ftp projects is not perfect yet. When leaving the workspace open but untouched for some time will auto logout of the FTP server. Refreshing the file tree helps in many cases. Right-click the file tree and 'refresh' or use it from the settings/gear icon just above it.

Another possible problem is a wrong "Initial Path". Did you set the "Initial Path" in the FTP project? If so, could you not set it? Some users seem to be having problems with it when the path they put doesn't exist or is a relative path. This is not a bug, but a misunderstanding of absolute vs relative paths. If you put a relative path (that is, if the initial path does not start with a /), then Cloud9 assumes that you want to start from the folder your FTP server leaves you after login (home or default folder). If you put an initial path that leaves you in a location where you don't have write privileges, that could cause problems too.

Passive FTP & firewalls

The following connections should be allowed in the firewall rule set:

• FTP server's port 21 from anywhere (Client initiates connection)
• FTP server's port 21 to ports > 1023 (Server responds to client's control port)
• FTP server's ports > 1023 from anywhere (Client initiates data connection to random port specified by server)
• FTP server's ports > 1023 to remote ports > 1023 (Server sends ACKs (and data) to client's data port)

Q&A

Please find some information below in reply to questions asked here. Thank you for suggestions, appreciated.

We have had problems with FTP projects in the past, but we believe we resolved all. FTP projects should be working correctly. 

Q: how to run in FTP projects?

A: The FTP protocol is a file transfer protocol and is therefore unfortunately restricted in some features. Unlike SSH/git projects, running code in an FTP project is not possible. FTP projects are commonly used for hosting solutions where SSH access is not allowed.

Q: Does deleting the workspace delete all files?

A: No it does not. It is a warning that applies to git workspaces and incorrectly reused in FTP workspaces.  We understand the message is confusing, sorry for this.

Q: Which IP is accessing my FTP server?

A: At this moment it could be either 107.21.24.104 or 107.23.123.140. However, we cannot guarantee it will never change. A more generic way to find out is checking the ftp server log or firewall log for blocked connection attempts on port 21.