So the 2 nodes that fail, can you connect to them from the system where you run this script using the same protocol from the command line (not from your perl script)? Has anything changed on these 2 nodes? Has the network changed? If this once worked and now does not it's likely that something has changed. Your job is to debug the problem to find out why this is no longer working for 2 out of 1000 nodes. Please read and understand Debugging and Optimization, Basic debugging checklist and How do I post a question effectively?.

Update: Slight rewording.

Many thanks for your reply.

So have you checked the FTP server logs for problems? The connection seems to die after ~ 9 minutes. Could the server be timing out the client connection? Continue debugging your problem. Debugging and Optimization => Basic debugging checklist. Please put code and data within <code></code> tags. How do I post a question effectively?.

Update: Also, I asked you if this failed when you attempt the samething outside of your program.