IP Unattended File Transfer 2

[JJRMIA]

We are actually transfering files at night between two locations using dial-up modems.The program automatically set-up the modem in each location, establish communication, send the required files and hang-up once the whole file(s) are transfered.This most be done every day, very late at night and without user intervention. Size of the files vary between 650KB to 1.5MB (zipped).
Unfortunatelly this process is constantly aborted due to noisy lines, weather or many other uncontrollable phone/modem issues.

Since we actually have a fast DSL internet connection and public static IP addresses in both locations I wonder how may we utilize the internet instead, to transfer those files and at the same time, save a lot of money and headaches ?
Is that possible? Any ideas? Tools available? Resources?

Thanks in advance for your help.

John

 

[wybnormal]

Let me toss a few things out...

FTP is not encrypted but you CAN encrypt the zip file.

You could just setup a FTP server.. OR.. use a webserver of choice and then run it through SSL

There are 100 different ways to script this.. so that is really not a problem..

MikeS Find me at

http://www.packetattack.com

"Diplomacy; the art of saying 'nice doggie' till you can find a rock" Wynn Catlin

 

[JJRMIA]

Thanks for your prompt answer.
First, What SSL means?
Also,do I have to setup a FTP in each location?Where can I find information of setting up that protocol? Is it a complicated, time consuming thing to do?
When you says ' another webserver' means that I can use the ISP's as it is right now?. (we have no in-house web server)

As far as the 'automatic' transfer the script should use a timer to trigger the program on scheduled time(s), right?

 

[hnd]

An another solution may be to use pgp-net, which gives you the possibility to perform a secure transfer.
hnd
hasso55@yahoo.com

 

[wybnormal]

SSL- secure socket layer.. used when you have the HTTPS web page.. notice the S..

FTP server at the source end.. FTP client at the far end..

The scripts can automate the entire thing.. from logging in via FTP to the transfer.. CRON on a unix box will do the scheduling.. AT on NT can do scheduling.. there are a few million script apps out there to choose from.

MikeS
Find me at

http://www.packetattack.com

"Diplomacy; the art of saying 'nice doggie' till you can find a rock" Wynn Catlin

 

[dilettante]

To buy a solution look at these guys' products:

http://www.hilgraeve.com/dropchute/

 

[JJRMIA]

Thanks a million to all who responded.

I'm now investigating about FTP/SSL, pgp-net and DropShute Enterprise.The latter looks very promising.

John

 

[JJRMIA]

DropShute Enterprise is a no-no since you have to pay $1195 per location (we have 3 locations) and with that money I can buy 2 powerful PC with W2K-Sever on it.

I think that I'd have to learn how to set up FTP/SSL as wybnormal wisely suggested.

Is there any place/book that can give me a jump on it?And, also, can somebody please (wybnormal?)point me where I can get or buy some script applications to achieve what I'm looking for (automation and file schedule transfer trough the Internet) ?

Again, Thanks a lot!!!

 

[wybnormal]

The scripting depends on what platform and what you wish to do with it. For windoze.. Winbatch is very useful.. KIX is useful.. On a web box, CGI and PERL come to mind.. there are a few billion scripts already written in both..

http://worldwidemart.com/scripts/

http://cgi.resourceindex.com/

Automated FTP (50 bucks)

http://www.primasoft.com/32org/32ftpro.htm

More FTP

http://www.bpftp.com/

Winbatch

http://www.winbatch.com/

MikeS


Find me at

http://www.packetattack.com

"Diplomacy; the art of saying 'nice doggie' till you can find a rock" Wynn Catlin

 

[JJRMIA]

Wow!!
WyBNormal, You can't imagine how grateful I'm with your extraordinary help.

THANK YOU, VERY, VERY MUCH!!!!

 

[dilettante]

Wow!

Guess I should have investigated DropChute's ridiculous pricing before ever suggesting it.

Personally I do a lot of automated FTPing by having the clients use Windows Scheduler to run the command-line FTP client in unattended mode.

You simply use the "s" switch, as in:

ftp -s:script.txt

Where "script.txt" is just a text file containing the same commands (the user name, password, get command(s), etc.) a person would type in manually to run it.

Fairly brainless (and free). Of course you don't get automatic retries of failed transfers or anything fancy. I generally have the last step of my "script.txt" download a fresh copy over itself. Then if the set of files to download is supposed to change the next night I can set that up once at the server.

 

[JJRMIA]

Good point Dilettante.
Your solution looks extremely simple yet useful.Where may I get more info about those FTP switches? And are they used at the Windows Scheduler side?

I didnt understand the last part of your reply when you say 'download a fresh copy over itself'.Are you overwritting your scrip.txt file?

Thanks.

 

[dilettante]

Just open a command prompt and type "ftp -?" for the switches.

In scheduler you just set it up something like:

ftp –s:script.txt

I wanted FTP's output logged, so I tried scheduling:

ftp –s:ftpcmds.txt >log.txt

But this didn't work quite right! What I did instead was schedule:

C:\WINNT\system32\CMD.EXE /c ftp –s:ftpcmds.txt >log.txt

This worked just fine. I still don't know why Windows Scheduler couldn't cope with the output redirection.


Oh, and yes. I am overwriting the script.txt file each night with a new one for the next night's transfers. This way I can vary what set of files get transferred the next night.

Donnt forget to include "quit" as the last command in script.exe!

 

[dilettante]

Oops!

That last comment was re. script.txt, NOT .exe!

 

[JJRMIA]

Thanks a lot , dilettante.Your solution cant be simplier and it's the one I'm implementing right now.Like you said, it's effective and very inexpensive (free!).

How can somebody charge big bucks for something that simple?
Unbeliavable.I'm glad I asked.

I'll be recomending this great forum to all the people that I know...Thanks a million.

JJR