FTP Mirror

The FTP Mirror module is an enhanced built-in FTP client which lets you transfer files and contents of a local hard drive folder (including its subfolders) to a predefined folder on an FTP server located at an arbitrary position. It is available from the Tree view item Trimble 4D Control Server. Trimble 4D Control Server needs (and accepts) only one FTP Mirror module for the whole system.

Note - FTP requests in Trimble 4D Control Server are configured to not use a proxy.

FTP Mirror uses the concept of scheduled jobs to build up connections to an FTP server and to transfer the data in customized intervals.

The FTP Mirror module organizes its tasks in "jobs". Each job defines

• the source location: computer and the folder on it (including sub-folders) to be mirrored,
• the target on the FTP server site: host name and port, destination folder, user authentication
• the scheduled times, when file mirroring should occur,
• conditions which files should or should not be mirrored, depending on file age,
• a selection of files to be mirrored, depending on file extensions.

Additionally, the following applies:

• If the FTP Mirror module is loaded, its jobs are enabled; if the module is unloaded, the jobs stop executing their tasks.
• You can pause and re-start any job,
• A job can cause an alarm in the Alarm Manager module.

The FTP Mirror module can run multiple jobs. For example, to monitor two different root folders on a computer, set up two jobs.

Settings

When the module is being added, the FTP Mirror Properties dialog appears. It lets you define and select FTP Mirror configurations. Each configuration holds one or several jobs, which you define first, before the FTP Mirror module can start executing its tasks. You also may remove a configuration or a job from here, if you do not need them anymore. You can add further jobs to the selected FTP Mirror configuration at any time.

Status and history, database

Use the tree view to see the module status: If at least one job results in a warning, the module icon is replaced by the yellow warning icon; if at least one job has errors or there is another severe problem (such as missing connection), the error icon appears.

The module displays the FTP Mirror Status and History module-view pages, where you can see the current status and history of individual jobs.

All finished jobs are logged into the database. To view the history of jobs, use the History module-view or the FTP Mirror reports. The database contains the following tables referring to FTP Mirror:

Security concept

The FTP Mirror module is especially designed for transferring files to destinations in other LANs or WANs behind the firewall using elaborate security mechanisms. This includes the possibility to select between active and passive connections, as well as a communication method using the SSL encryption standard.

Note - To be able to select SSL encryption, the FTP server must support this method according to the RFC 4217 standard. For details about the standard refer to http://www.ietf.org/rfc/rfc4217.txt. It uses the FTP commands 'AUTH TLS', 'PBSZ 0', 'PROT P', for the encryption of both, the control data and the application data. The server identification is done using the X.509 certificate. FTP Mirror does not support client certification.
If the FTP server uses a self-signed certificate, you have to import this certificate in the Windows certificate store on the computer where the FTP Mirror runs. Ensure that the Host name property is identical to the server name for which the certificate was issued, including the full domain name.