FTP Uploads to Memset's Cloud Storage
Posted: Mon 22 Oct 2012 09:50
Those of you who are using Memset's cloud storage (Memset being the company that hosts the BCA server) might wish to note the following points.
1) Generally, the FTP server at ftp://ftp.storage.memset.com works quite well, and does not suffer from the problems I outlined here: http://british-caving.org.uk/phpBB3/vie ... f=31&t=415 This means that you can use a web browser for FTP access in a straightforward manner.
2) However... If you create a user who does not have access to your root 'container' then, if you attempt to log in to the root container as that user you will not see a directory listing for the site. This means that you will have to 'manually' change directory to the container you wish to use.
3) The FTP server does not implement the extension to the MDTM command that allows you to timestamp files. This means that the 'last modified' date of any file you upload will be shown as the time you uploaded it and not as the time you actually last modified the file contents. This behaviour is as I described here: http://british-caving.org.uk/phpBB3/vie ... f=31&t=490
Further notes on (2)
This problem might not actually manifest itself - it depends on how your FTP client works. Some packages will let you specify a complete URL and you can log in directly to the container to which you have access. Other packages will only let you specify a host, not a directory, and this could lead to your users complaining that when they log in, they just see a blank screen. As an example...
I have set up a CNAME DNS entry so that cloud.bcra.org.uk points to ftp.storage.memset.com. One of the cloud containers is (let us say) called testing and so staff can - in theory - log in to ftp://cloud.bcra.org.uk/testing. However, although this seems to work in browsers (Chrome, Firefox, Internet Explorer, Windows Explorer), if you use an FTP client it is likely to log you in to ftp://cloud.bcra.org.uk, i.e. without the 'testing' bit. Because the user does not have access to this container, he sees a blank screen and it is necessary to issue a 'manual' instruction to change directory to testing. How you do this depends on your FTP package - you might have an address bar, or you might have to type a CD or CWD command.
1) Generally, the FTP server at ftp://ftp.storage.memset.com works quite well, and does not suffer from the problems I outlined here: http://british-caving.org.uk/phpBB3/vie ... f=31&t=415 This means that you can use a web browser for FTP access in a straightforward manner.
2) However... If you create a user who does not have access to your root 'container' then, if you attempt to log in to the root container as that user you will not see a directory listing for the site. This means that you will have to 'manually' change directory to the container you wish to use.
3) The FTP server does not implement the extension to the MDTM command that allows you to timestamp files. This means that the 'last modified' date of any file you upload will be shown as the time you uploaded it and not as the time you actually last modified the file contents. This behaviour is as I described here: http://british-caving.org.uk/phpBB3/vie ... f=31&t=490
Further notes on (2)
This problem might not actually manifest itself - it depends on how your FTP client works. Some packages will let you specify a complete URL and you can log in directly to the container to which you have access. Other packages will only let you specify a host, not a directory, and this could lead to your users complaining that when they log in, they just see a blank screen. As an example...
I have set up a CNAME DNS entry so that cloud.bcra.org.uk points to ftp.storage.memset.com. One of the cloud containers is (let us say) called testing and so staff can - in theory - log in to ftp://cloud.bcra.org.uk/testing. However, although this seems to work in browsers (Chrome, Firefox, Internet Explorer, Windows Explorer), if you use an FTP client it is likely to log you in to ftp://cloud.bcra.org.uk, i.e. without the 'testing' bit. Because the user does not have access to this container, he sees a blank screen and it is necessary to issue a 'manual' instruction to change directory to testing. How you do this depends on your FTP package - you might have an address bar, or you might have to type a CD or CWD command.