SWFUpload prematurely closing the connection on upload (nginx 499)

Question

I'm using swfupload to upload files to nginx. It works fine for me & 99% of our users. For a couple of users, however, it fails somehow during upload. It opens a connection, but seems to close it before it's complete - nginx reports a 499 status in its access log, which is NGX_HTTP_CLIENT_CLOSED_REQUEST.

I managed to get hold of one of those users to get some more information. They're running Flash 10.0.42, on XP with Firefox 3.5.7.

Has anyone seen anything like this? Any suggestions on fixing it / how I might investigate further?

-Jonathan

Answer 1

In case nothing specific comes up here, here is a list of things I would ask the users for whom it does not work out.

• What kind of Internet connection do you have? Are you behind a (company) firewall?

• What kind of file were you trying to upload (file type and size)? What medium was that file stored on? (To exclude read errors when uploading from CD for example)

• OS version, Browser version, Flash version, personal firewall and/or antivirus software installed (to check for patterns)

• Did it work on the 2nd attempt?

Answer 2

A few possibilities,

• The user refreshed the page before the upload was complete.

• The user's internet connection cut-out or hiccuped during the upload.

• If you're using PHP ( im guessing ) check the following settings in your php.ini.

max_execution_time

If the script takes too long to execute, the server will stop it based on this setting.

max_file_uploads

If the user tries to upload more files than this setting at once, then that might be the cause.

upload_max_filesize

If any of the files are larger than this setting, the file wont be uploaded. This can be handled before it hits the server on the client side with:

Sorry, but without more specific information, I can't narrow it down any further.

If it's only affecting 1% of your users, that's acceptable in my opinion ;) Personally I wouldn't waste time fixing a bug for the 1% unless its the client.