Appendix C Troubleshooting

Here are the answers to some frequently asked and particular questions.

FTP

Is there any way that the FTP can be configured to execute a script to automatically copy an entire directory from the host back to the PC?

It is impossible in the Point-and-Click mode (graphical interface). In the Command Line mode (text interface), you can:

• Create all necessary subdirectories (tree) at the local side;
• Run the mget DIR command where DIR is the name of the directory.

In this case, all files from DIR and its subdirectories on the remote host will be copied to the current directory and its corresponding subdirectories on the local host.

But the best way to copy a directory with its subdirectories from a remote host to your PC is turning on the Include Subdirectories check box in the Copying Directory dialog box.

Can your FTP client make use of ELPF?

Yes it can. XSecurePro's FTP client automatically recognizes 'anonftpd', a secure FTP server supported EPLF.

The File Transfer Protocol (FTP) supports two commands that list files: NLST and LIST. The NLST response is easy to parse but provides very little information. The LIST response provides more information, but in a format that varies from system to system. The most common LIST formats are undocumented and impossible to parse reliably.

Easily Parsed LIST Format (EPLF) is a format for the LIST response that is usable by humans yet easy for programs to handle. This format is supported by 'anonftpd', a secure FTP server.

One visible advantage of EPLF is that a browser can easily display dates in the viewer's time zone and native language.

An EPLF server must respond to "LIST filename" with information about that file and no others, even if that file is a directory. A client that wants an EPLF list of the contents of a directory must first CWD to that directory. A client that merely wants a list of file names in a different directory may use NLST.

There are some problems with 'special' Unix file names.

FTP can choose the remote host's OS type (DOS, Unix, etc.). This gets FTP to 'understand' file names of the remote host's directory. To choose the OS type on the remote host, you may use the Server Types Option.

Problem: I need to be able to run an ftp command from a command-line that initiates a "PASSIVE" ftp connection. Is this possible with your product?

Yes, XSecurePro's FTP supports the PASSIVE ftp connection mode. You can check the Passive Transfers check box on the Settings tab of the main FTP window before clicking the Connect button. (See section Transfer Options in chapter FTP.)

You can add the following line to the [FTP] section of the xwp.ini file

Passive=1

to reflect the Passive Transfers option turned on or

Passive=0

to reflect the Passive Transfers option turned off.

You can create two ini-files for FTP: one with Passive=0 and another with Passive=1.

You can launch FTP with the command line parameter:

PATH\ftp.exe -xini <IniFilePath>

where <IniFilePath> specifies a full path to a specific ini-file and PATH indicates your XSecurePro home directory.