Ftp/Fxp Client (FtpAnt)

Contents

Notes:

» If you find it has problems with another particular type of server, send me an address and login account if required (not your own personal accounts) and I will do my best to see what the problem is and fix it.

» The most likely problem will be that files do not list correctly. There is no common standard amongst servers for this.

» Most Microsoft ftp servers do not allow Fxp (in theory to protect themselves from bounce attacks)

FtpAnt

 FtpAnt has the following features:

  Simultaneous transfers

  RAPIDFIRE (see below)

FXP (with progress bars) (FXP is currently unavailable because I changed the way code works a low level.. when I do get it working again it will be nice)

  Smart Cache

FtpAnt has a "Lame" queueà which I will improveà it is not really needed anyway as fileant rarely (if ever messes up a download)à and as fileant checks for file sizes b4 download you can redrag the all the files again and it will skip complete files and resume others.

Intelligent Resumeà small files are never resumedà the first packet of a file after the resume is checked against the existing file for integrity.

Ftp Bookmarks

 Ftp sites are entered here.

 The right mouse button is used to add site folders.

 The right mouse button is then used to add sites to these site folders.

 <F2> to rename items.

 <Delete> deletes items

 The section "Ftp Settings" is used to set up Default Properties for newly created sites.

Site Properties

  HOST : The site

 USER : Username

 PASS : Password

 Resume Mode

  0 : no resume

  1 : resume

  2 : auto detect

 Command Timeout

  Number of seconds to wait before flushing the command wait cue.

 Connect Retries

  The number of times to auto re-connect if disconnected

 Auto-Reconnect

  Re-connect if disconnected

  0 : No

  1 : Yes

  Retry Delay

  The number of seconds to wait to re-connect if disconnected

 Maximum Workers

  Number of FtpAnt processes to spawn for simultaneous transfers.

  The workers do the uploading/downloading etc.

  This can now be changed while connected.. using <n>.

  Where n = number of configured workers.

  A worker will wait till it has finished a task b4 unloading itself.

 You can "Force" a worker to close by double clicking its close button twice.

 PASV Mode

  0 : off

  1 : on

 Rapid Fire Mode

  0 : off (wait for response(s) from server)

  1 : instant (group commands)

  2 : 100 ms

  3 : 150 ms

  4 : 200 ms

  ...and so on

  Rapid fire mode is an idea i had.

 Basically ftp commands are fired off to the server as a group or quickly without waiting. 0 or 1 are usually the best settings.

 If a server stops respondingà Disconnect and set to 0

  FtpAnt is aware of which sequences it must wait for.

  This is compliant with the TCP/IP specification.

 Microsoft ftp servers seem to actually ignore commands that are sent close together (Strangeà maybe flood protection).

 A setting of 1 works very nicely on SERV-U servers (which I tested on first) and many other good servers.

 The net effect is that you wait half the time for directory listings or anything that involves a command sequence.

  Purple text in the log denotes.. that FtpAnt is waiting

  Blue text denotes that it has been RAPIDFIRE'd

 Worker Timeout

 The number of seconds that a worker should idle for before disconnecting.

 Stay Connected

  Not supported yet. (next version of FtpAnt)

  The command to send during idle to create an impression of activity.

 Usually NOOP (No Operation) but you could set it to others such as STAT or LIST even.

 ASCII Files

  Files to treat as text files for downloads.

 Port

  Remote Port For the control connection (usually 21)

 Initial Dir

  Remote folder to change to.

 Initial Local Dir

  (may not be implemented yet)

  Local Folder to change to (if the other panel is a file panel at the time)

Connecting to an FTP Site

 Double click the site that you have created.

 Return/Enter Key also works for this.

Disconnecting from an FTP Site

 You can allow a worker to close by clicking its close button once. 

w0 is the "Master Worker" or "The folder browser" if you close him then the other workers will close after the finish their current job.

 You can "Force" a worker to close by double clicking its close button twice. 

If you want to empty the Queue then select all the files in the queue and hit <Del>.. or close FileAnt completely using the tray and restart in the start menu (this empties FileAnts Special Folders).

Using FXP

 Simply connect to another site and Drag and Drop files between them.

 Not all servers support FXP.

Note: Fxp is currently disabled in fileant!!! Will be able to use this again one day if I get up to it.