FTP Properties

These properties are related to registered FTP servers. You can access them from the data source pane.

Dialog items description:

• FTP server:
  • Server address - Specifies the Internet address of the server.
  • Security - Specifies the method used to build a secure SSL connection to the server.
  • Type - This selection describes the type of the FTP server and affects the server-specific functionality (e.g. parsing of the directory entries).
  • User - User name used in the login sequence. This edit box is enabled only when the Anonymous option is not selected.
  • Password - Password used in the login sequence. This edit box is enabled only when the Anonymous option is not selected.
  • Account - Account used in the login sequence. This edit box is enabled only when the Anonymous option is not selected.
  • Anonymous - Turn the "anonymous" login on/off here. When checked, "anonymous" will be used in the login sequence as the login name and the password specified in the parent ftp folder (rather than the user/password/account values specified in the dialog).
• Anonymous login:
  • Anonymous password - This password will be used for anonymous logins by all data sources stored in this folder.
• FTP protocol:
  • Keep-alive: Interval - The remote server usually closes the control connection automatically after a period of time when no requests are received from the client. Using this option, BitKinex can send dummy requests to the server and prevent so the automatic disconnect.
    Command - Some servers do not recognize the NOOP command as a real request and close the control connection anyway. Therefore the PWD command can be used to prevent the automatic disconnect.
  • Use absolute paths rather than CWD - Some FTP servers do not parse absolute paths properly. In such case BitKinex can use the CWD (Change Working Directory) command to avoid the usage of absolute paths in FTP commands.
  • Use Unicode (UTF8) encoding - This option enables or disables the usage of Unicode-compatible character sets on servers supporting this standard.
  • Resolve symbolic links - Use this option if the server does not support the LIST -L option. BitKinex will try to resolve symbolic links by sending additional commands to the server.
  • Assume absolute link paths - Some FTP servers (like sun1894) return the destination paths of symbolic links without leading slashes (even if they identify absolute locations). Use this option to instruct BitKinex to assume absolute link paths.
  • LIST command parameters - The FTP LIST command is used to retrieve a directory's content. These parameters are useful especially for UNIX servers containing symbolic links and hidden files. Some servers (e.g. VM, VMS) don't accept these settings and in such cases BitKinex simply ignores the selections and starts the LIST command without any of these parameters.
    Unreliable file sizes - Please turn this option on only if the server does not report correct file sizes as a response to the LIST command. In such cases, BitKinex will not check the sizes of transferred files (there is no guarantee that the destination file matches the source file exactly).
• Data connection:
  • Data connection establishment - Here you can choose the method BitKinex uses to establish the data connection (used for directory listings and data transfers). If you are connecting to the FTP server from within a local network the passive mode must be used (the IP address of your computer is not accessible for the remote server). In most cases you can let the data connection establishment method remain set to "automatic" (in such cases BitKinex remembers the last successful method).
  • Resume broken uploads using: - Some FTP servers do not implement the functionality of the REST or APPE commands properly. The user can adjust the command sequence used for broken upload resumption. Deselecting both of these options disables the possibility of upload resumption at the end file position (broken uploads will restart from the beginning of the file).
  • Do not strictly require transfer acknowledgments for uploads - According to the official FTP protocol specification should the server send an acknowledgment upon each transfer. This option helps to solve problems with buggy servers which do not implement this mechanism properly. When checked, BitKinex will no strictly require acknowledgments from the server for uploads running in binary mode.
  • Direct data connection (FXP) - This option controls the default behavior when transferring files from one FTP server to another. Turning this option on causes BitKinex to initiate a direct connection between the servers whenever there is a copy request started on these data sources. It's obvious that such transfers run much faster than if the data would flow through the client machine (which is the default behavior). On the other hand, you must be sure that both servers support such transfers and that there is no firewall between them. The third state of the checkbox means that BitKinex presets the direct server-to-server transfer option when copying files from one directory to another on the same server.
• Port Ranges:
  • Limit ports used by the PORT command to the following intervals: - Turn this option on if you wish to limit the port ranges BitKinex uses for the data connection establishment.
  • Add/Remove - Use these buttons to add or remove an item to/from the list of allowed port ranges.
• Advanced:
  • Timeout settings - These values specify the most important timeout values used during the communication with an FTP server. Changing these values can result in serious communication problems and it is therefore recommended to adjust the settings for slow connections only.
  • Buffer sizes - Change these settings to set the sizes of internal buffers used by the low-level (TCP/IP) protocol layer. Low values will slow down the transfer speeds. High values can lead to memory allocation problems.
  • No delay - This option disables the Nagle algorithm for send coalescing.
  • Preferred IP protocol - Select the protocol version BitKinex should use to connect to the server.