Using the File Transfer Protocol client on the System i platform

With the File Transfer Protocol (FTP) client on your system, you can start and stop client sessions, transfer and receive files, and set up FTP batch jobs.

With the FTP client, you can transfer files that are found on your system, including those in the Root, QSYS.Lib, QOpenSys, QOPT, and QFileSvr.400 file systems. You can also transfer folders and documents in the document library services (QDLS) file system. The FTP client can be run interactively in an unattended batch mode where client subcommands are read from a file and the responses to these subcommands are written to a file. It also includes other features for manipulating files on your system.

The client has a user interface from which you can enter client subcommands for making requests to an FTP server. The results of these requests are then displayed.

To transfer files between the client and the server, two connections are established. The control connection is used to request services from the server with FTP server commands. The server sends replies back to the client to indicate how the request was handled. The second connection, called the data connection, is used for transferring lists of files and the actual file data.

Both the client and the server have a data transfer function that interfaces to the resident file systems. These functions read or write data to the local file systems and to and from the data connection.

• Starting and stopping a client session
  After you obtain a logon ID and password to a remote File Transfer Protocol (FTP) server, you can start a client session with that FTP server. You can end the client session using the QUIT FTP subcommand.

• Server timeout considerations
  The inactivity timeout value is the time in seconds without File Transfer Protocol (FTP) server activities that cause the FTP server to close the session. You can keep your FTP connection from timing out.

• Transferring files with File Transfer Protocol
  You can send and receive files with File Transfer Protocol (FTP).

• Running File Transfer Protocol in unattended mode using a batch job
  In addition to running the FTP client interactively, you can run the FTP client in an unattended mode. This topic provides a simple example and a complex example of the batch FTP method.

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