FTP Log On Icon

FTP Log On

Declaration

<AMFTPLOGIN SERVER="text" USERNAME="text" PASSWORD="text" PORT="number" LOGFILE="text" PASSIVEMODE="yes/no" PROXYTYPE="text [options]" PROXYSERVER="text" PROXYPORT="text" PROXYUSERNAME="text" PROXYPASSWORD="text" SESSION="text">

See Also

FTP Log On, FTP Download, FTP Upload, FTP Delete, FTP Rename, FTP Create Folder, FTP Remove Folder, FTP Change Folder, FTP Log Off, HTTP Download, HTTP Post, Dial Up

Description

Starts a transaction with a File Transfer Protocol (FTP) server. Other FTP related commands can follow this step. Be sure to end FTP transactions with an "FTP Log Off" step.

Practical Usage

Used to begin a transaction on an FTP server, use FTP Download FTP Upload to actually perform the action.

Parameters

General Tab

Host
Text, Required
MARKUP: SERVER="ftp.unisyn.com"

Specifies the FTP server to connect to. This can be an IP address (e.g. xxx.xxx.xxx.xxx) or a server and domain name (e.g. server.domain.com).

User Name
Text, Required
MARKUP: USERNAME="Anonymous"

Specifies the username that should be used when logging on to the FTP Server. The Username should be preconfigured at the server level.

Password
Text, Required
MARKUP: PASSWORD="password here"

Specifies the password that should be used when logging on to the FTP Server. The Username should be preconfigured at the server level. When the step is created using the Task Builder it is written to the task encrypted.

Port
Number, Optional - Default - 21
MARKUP: PORT="7777"

Specifies the port that that should be used to connect to the FTP Server. Most FTP servers operate on port 21 - however it is possible to customize this setting on the server.

Use Anonymous Log On
Yes/No, Optional - Default NO
MARKUP: ANONYMOUSLOGIN="YES"

Specifies the FTP server should be logged onto as an "Anonymous" user. The server must be configured to accept Anonymous connections. If set to YES, the username parameter is ignored.

Session Name
Text, Optional - Default "Default"
MARKUP: SESSION="YES"

Specifies the session name to identify this login request in subsequent FTP steps. This allows several connections to be active simultaneously.

Server Type
Text [options], Optional - Default YES
MARKUP: SERVERTYPE="VMS"

Specifies the type of FTP server that is being connected. Since different operating systems present their file-systems in different formats, it may be necessary to specify a specific server type. By default, AutoMate attempts to Auto-detect the proper server.

Available Options Are:

AutoDetect
UNIX

Windows/DOS

VMS

MultiNet

Port
Number, Optional - Default 21
MARKUP: PORT="100"

Specifies the port that should be used to connect to the server. Most FTP servers operate on port 21 (the default) however the server can be customized to operate on other ports.

FTP Log File Location
Text, Optional - Default (none)
MARKUP: LOGFILE="c:\errorlog.log"

Specifies the location of the detailed FTP log file. This log file contains the exact text of the FTP session which can be useful in diagnosing elusive problems.

Overwrite Existing Log File
Yes/No, Optional - Default YES
MARKUP: OVERWRITELOG="NO"

Specifies that the log file should be overwritten if the same file already exists.

Passive Mode (for firewalls)
Yes/No, Optional - Default NO
MARKUP: PASSIVEMODE="YES"

Determines how a File Transfer Protocol Data connection is made. If Passive is set to NO, the PORT method is used. In this method, AutoMate listens for a data connection which is established by the server and the PORT command tells the server where to connect to. If Passive is set to True, the PASV method is used. In this method, AutoMate issues the PASV command and the server tells AutoMate where to establish the data connection. AutoMate then connects to the server where the server indicated. This method is sometimes used with some proxy configurations. However, some proxy configurations require PORT transfers and some FTP servers do not support PASV transfers.

Proxy Tab

Proxy Type
Text [options], Optional - Default (none)
MARKUP: PROXYTYPE="Socks5"

Specifies proxy protocol that should be used.  If you are unsure of the value to use in this parameter, contact your network administrator.

Available Options Are:

System Default (default, recommended) - The settings specified in the Task Administrator preferences are used.
None - Explicitly instructs the action not to use a proxy server regardless of the system default
Socks 4 - Instructs the action to go through a Socks 4 compliant server
Socks 4a - Instructs the action to go through a Socks 4a compliant server
Socks 5 - Instructs the action to go through a Socks 5 compliant server

Note:  To create the most portable tasks it is best to specify "system default" and specify proxy settings in the Preferences of the Task Administrator (Proxy Tab).  By proceeding this way, tasks created in one environment that may have a proxy server will be portable to others that do not - and vice-versa.

Proxy Port
Number, Optional - Default 1028
MARKUP: PROXYPORT="3000"

Specifies the port that should be used to connect to the proxy server. Most proxy servers operate on port 1028 (the default) however the proxy server can be customized to operate on other ports

Proxy Host
Text, Optional - Default (blank)
MARKUP: PROXYSERVER="proxy.host.com"

Specifies the hostname (server.domain.com) or IP address (xxx.xxx.xxx.xxx) of the proxy server.

User Name (Proxy)
Text, Optional - Default (none)
MARKUP: PROXYUSERNAME="username"

Specifies the username that should be used to authenticate when connecting through the proxy server. This option is only valid when Socks 5 is specified in the Proxy type as it is the only version that supports authentication.

Password (Proxy)
Text, Optional - Default (none)
MARKUP: PROXYPASSWORD="encrypted"

Specifies the password that should be used to authenticate when connecting through the proxy server. When the step is created using the Task Builder it is written to the task encrypted. This option is only valid when Socks 5 is specified in the Proxy type as it is the only version that supports authentication.

Notes

Standard Error Handling Options
This action also includes the standard "Error Causes" and "On Error" failure handling options/tabs

More on Error Handling Options

Variables and Expressions
All text fields allow the use of expressions by surrounding the expression in percentage signs (example: %MYVARIABLE%, %Left('Text',2)%). To help construct these expressions, a popup expression builder is available in all these fields by pressing F2.
More on variables...

More on expressions...

More on the expression builder...

Example

<AMFTPLOGIN SERVER="ftp.unisyn.com" ANONYMOUSLOGIN="YES" LOGFILE="C:\errorlog.log" OVERWRITELOG="NO">