FTP Error – 421 Too Many Connections

In this tutorial, we will show you how to view and drop idle FTP connections in cPanel and limit your FTP connections in FileZilla. These steps should help fix or avoid the 421 Too many connections error.

Idle FTP Connections

What is / causes an idle FTP connection?

Idle FTP connections are caused when an FTP client opens multiple connections without closing the previous ones, or due to an incorrect setting.

With VPS, and Dedicated hosting plans you can modify the number of simultaneous connections allowed in their WHM and the default setting is usually 8 or 10. Increasing this limit will prevent the error messages that we’ll review later in this tutorial. Our Shared plans and Reseller hosting plans allow up to 8 simultaneous FTP connections from 1 IP address at a time, but you cannot raise this limit.

Response: 421 Too many connections (8) from this IP

If your FTP client is using more than 8 connections at the same time, you’ll get an error message similar to this:

Response: 421 Too many connections (8) from this IP Error: Could not connect to server

Viewing / Closing Idle Connections in cPanel

On a Shared Hosting Plan, there is currently no direct way to access cPanel’s FTP Connections tool and manually disconnect extra connections. If you’re having trouble with a particular user, you can always delete and recreate an FTP account with a different password, change an FTP password, or get in touch with our 24/7 Support Staff to help you resolve the issue.

1. Login to cPanel on your VPS or Dedicated Server hosting account.
2. Click on FTP Connections in the Files section.
   
3. You will then see a list of all your current FTP connections. Click the Disconnect link in the Actions column.
   
4. You will see a message similar to “Are you sure you want to disconnect [email protected] FTP user?.” Click Disconnect to proceed.
   
5. You are finished when you see a message like this: “The FTP session with PID 27510 was terminated.”

Limiting Simultaneous Connections in FileZilla

1. Open FileZilla.
2. Access the Site Manager.
   
3. Click your site, then select the Transfer Settings tab.
   
4. Check the box for Limit number of simultaneous connections and set the Maximum number of connections to 8.
   
5. Click OK. Now when you are using FileZilla, it will not allow you to go over your limitation of 8 simultaneous FTP connections.

Congratulations, now you know how to drop idle FTP connections in cPanel and limit your FTP connections in FileZilla. We also have helpful guides on how to Enable Logging in FileZilla, Troubleshooting FileZilla Error Logs, and Managing your files in FileZilla.