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Data connection mode When your File Transfer Protocol (FTP) server runs behind a firewall or Network Address Translation (NAT) router, your users may sometimes encounter connectivity issues. One of the most common causes of FTP connection issues is the data connection mode being used. This mode can be either active or passive. Certain firewall configurations will only allow FTP connections if the data connection is set to a mode that works with a given configuration. This blog will explain the differences between active and passive FTP data connection modes, how they impact firewall configurations and what mode we recommend you use going forward. Although active and passive modes are mentioned in RFC 959, the explanations can be too technical. Before we tackle the main discussion, let’s first review how FTP connections are designed.

Topics: SFTP, FTP, ftp active mode, ftp active vs passive, ftp passive mode, sftp port

Overview [Last updated: December 2020] Malicious insiders and careless insiders are increasingly posing serious risks to file transfer systems. If nothing is done to mitigate them, these internal threats can cause data loss or, worse, massive penalty-inducing data breaches. In this post, we take a closer look at internal threats, how they put file transfer systems at risk, and what you can do to mitigate them.

Topics: JSCAPE MFT, Business Process Automation, Secure File Transfer, FTP

When transferring files through the File Transfer Protocol (FTP), you sometimes need to pay attention to the type of file you transfer and the transfer mode used. When these two don’t match, you could end up with a corrupted file that doesn’t function or appear as expected.

Topics: FTP, ASCII, Transfer mode, File transfer, Binary mode, Binary transfer

When it comes to moving files across networks, not many protocols are as established as File Transfer Protocol (FTP), File Transfer Protocol Secure (FTPS) and Secure File Transfer Protocol (SFTP). Organizations rely on these protocols to move files internally — between branches or departments — or externally to suppliers, customers or trading partners.

Topics: Managed File Transfer, Secure File Transfer, SFTP, FTPS, FTP

Overview Last time, we tackled the problem system administrators encounter when their passive FTP or FTPS connections have to pass through a NAT firewall or router. A similar problem can happen when you're dealing with the same type of connections and a reverse proxy. It gets even more complicated when you have to deal with both external and internal users. Let me show you how to deal with that.

Topics: JSCAPE MFT, Tutorials, FTPS, FTP, Reverse Proxy

It’s never easy to set up an FTP server the moment firewalls get involved. But it gets even more complicated once you start using the secure version of FTP, known as FTPS. In this post, we’ll talk about the problem you’ll usually encounter when your FTPS server is behind a firewall and your client attempts to perform a file transfer using passive mode or PASV.

Topics: JSCAPE MFT, Secure File Transfer, FTPS, FTP

EPSV is a command issued by an FTP/S client to signal the server that it wishes to enter into what is known as Extended Passive Mode. But what is Extended Passive Mode, and when is it appropriate to use EPSV? Let’s find out.

Topics: JSCAPE MFT, Managed File Transfer, FTPS, FTP, FTP/S

Overview As explained in the first section of the article Preparing Trading Partner Servers For SFTP Automation, the process of establishing an automated file transfer can be greatly simplified by employing what is known as a trading partner. In this post, we'll teach you how to set up a trading partner designed for automated FTP/S transmissions. What you'll be able construct by the end of this tutorial can then be used for a variety of automated FTP/S-based transactions.

Topics: JSCAPE MFT, Managed File Transfer, Business Process Automation, FTP

Overview There will be times when you'll want to transfer files over a secure connection. One option is to use FTPS (FTP over SSL) which provides data-in-motion encryption through SSL (Secure Sockets Layer). When you setup an FTPS service in JSCAPE MFT Server, you'll notice that you actually have 3 modes to choose from explicit SSL, forced explicit SSL and implicit SSL. This post was originally published on May 6, 2012 but was updated and republished on November 4, 2018.

Topics: JSCAPE MFT, Secure File Transfer, FTPS, FTP

This post was originally published on June 2013 but was last updated on August 16, 2018. Overview Sending someone multi-megabyte or even gigabyte-sized files is getting more common these days. For example, in our Help Desk, it's normal to receive a zip file of log data of over 100MB. While it might seem this is just a highly specialized case that's only common in the tech business, it's not. A single high resolution image can already run up to a few megabytes, while a regular video can easily exceed 50MB.We often use videos and images in our Power Point presentations and other files, so media file attachments of these types can be pretty common. The problem is, people often resort to solutions that aren't suitable for sending large files, especially in an enterprise environment. Email, which is the most common way of sending files, is not a suitable big file transfer method for this. So are other methods many people unwisely use at work for sharing really big files; files that are even much larger than a gigabyte.

Topics: JSCAPE MFT, FTP, Accelerated File Transfer