tunneling ftp through ssh

[Brian Stults <bs7452@csc.albany.edu>]

Hello,

I am trying to set up ftp tunneling through ssh.  I would like to have
secure ftp connections, but I don't like the limited command line of
sftp.  I really want to be able to use ncftp through ssh.

I collected several sources of documentation, and I think I am close to
success.  From an xterm on the remote system, I type this:

ssh -L2121:REMOTEIP:21 REMOTEIP

This logs me into the local server.

Then, from another remote xterm, I type this:

ncftp -P 2121 -u USERNAME localhost

This is equivalent to "ftp localhost 2121", which I have also tried. 
When I try the above ncftp command, I can log into the ftp server just
fine, but when I try "ls", I get this:

connect failed: Transport endpoint is not connected.
List failed.

When I try it with ftp, again I can login to the ftp server, but I get
this error:

500 Illegal PORT command.
425 Can't build data connection: Connection refused

My understanding is that this method requires passive transfer, which I
am using.  I also tried without passive and got just the "list failed"
part of the error.  Any suggestions would be greatly appreciated.

Thanks.

-- 

Brian J. Stults
Doctoral Candidate
Department of Sociology
University at Albany - SUNY
Phone: (518) 442-4652  Fax: (518) 442-4936
Web: http://www.albany.edu/~bs7452