your server may be trying to do a reverse lookup of your IP.  That is why you
should check the DNS config of your server.  Also check the configs of apache
and/or your ftp service and see if you can turn off reverse lookups to try and
get rid of the problem.

> I thought I would bypass DNS if I use the IP to ftp to the machine? Is that
> not correct? What in the DNS should I look for?

> >       I am running Red Hat 7.0 with mod_ssl 2.7.1, apache 1.3.14, php
> > 4.0.4.pl1 and OpenSSL 0.9.6
> >
> > When I ftp to my server, there is a long (~25 second delay before I see
> any
> > life) and when I access the web site, I get a similar lag. It seemed to be
> a
> 
> Check your dns setup. Sounds like something in there isn't working
> correctly.