FTP Profiles

Last modified: Mon Jul 23 23:52:47 2001

What is FTP?

FTP (File Transfer Protocol) is an Internet protocol for transferring files from a local computer (called client) to a remote computer (called server). The remote computer must offer the FTP service. FTP is often used to upload parts of your homepage to the host of your Internet Service Provider. Therefore FTP is the right way to upload images from your MOBOTIX Camera to keep your homepage actual or to store images outside the camera.

FTP on MOBOTIX Camera M1

The FTP protocol on the MOBOTIX Camera M1 can be used to send images to a remote computer. The camera is acting as a FTP client while the remote computer must offer the FTP server.

You can define two FTP Profiles. Every profile contains all information necessary for a successful upload. The uploads are triggered by Time Tasks or by events defined in Event Control,

Defining Profiles

For each profile you can fill out the following fields in FTP Profiles:

Profile Profile must be an unique symbolic name reference to identify the profile. It is used in Time Tasks to refer to the profile. This field must be filled out.

Host Here you have to define the host, where the FTP transmission will be sent to. You can use an IP address (e.g. 10.24.123.129) or a symbolic hostname (e.g. ftp.myhome.com) if the DNS is installed correctly in your camera.
You have to set up properly your Network Interface, DNS, and Gateway. If your network is protected by a firewall it has to be configured by your administrator to allow the camera to send image outside.

User Name The User Name is the login name, that is expected by the remote FTP server.

Password The user´s password for the remote FTP server. It has to be typed twice. (Note the password is not stored encrypted in the configuration.)

Directory
This field defines the directory, where the image will be put on. You can use any name that is valid on your FTP host. Missing directories or subdirectories will be created by the file transfer.

An empty field means that the image will be stored in the user´s entry directory. For example on UNIX machines Images/camera will store the image in the directory Images/camera relative to the entry directory. Beginning the directory name with a slash "/" gives a directory structure relative to the FTP servers root directory. Ensure that the user on the FTP host have rights to write files and create the directories.

File Name
Within this field the filename on the remote host, where to put the image in, is set. You can choose any name, which is allowed on the remote FTP server. Don't forget the extension (e.g. jpg for images).

active FTP
FTP connection is usually established as a passive FTP session. Setting active FTP will open FTP in an active mode. To change passive FTP to active FTP is necessary, if your FTP server does not support passive FTP.

temp. name
Selecting this switch will give the transmitted file a temporary name on the remote computer till it is transfered completely. This option is always useful, if you want to update a image on the remote FTP computer as a "live" image.

event subdirs
If this checkbox is actived sets of images before and after an event will not be stored by the time of each image, but the whole set is stored together unter the given directory in a new subdirectory.

remove
If the profile was accepted, the remove switch enables to remove the profile.

Profile	Profile must be an unique symbolic name reference to identify the profile. It is used in Time Tasks to refer to the profile. This field must be filled out.
Host	Here you have to define the host, where the FTP transmission will be sent to. You can use an IP address (e.g. 10.24.123.129) or a symbolic hostname (e.g. ftp.myhome.com) if the DNS is installed correctly in your camera. You have to set up properly your Network Interface, DNS, and Gateway. If your network is protected by a firewall it has to be configured by your administrator to allow the camera to send image outside.
User Name	The User Name is the login name, that is expected by the remote FTP server.
Password	The user´s password for the remote FTP server. It has to be typed twice. (Note the password is not stored encrypted in the configuration.)
Directory	This field defines the directory, where the image will be put on. You can use any name that is valid on your FTP host. Missing directories or subdirectories will be created by the file transfer. An empty field means that the image will be stored in the user´s entry directory. For example on UNIX machines `Images/camera` will store the image in the directory Images/camera relative to the entry directory. Beginning the directory name with a slash "/" gives a directory structure relative to the FTP servers root directory. Ensure that the user on the FTP host have rights to write files and create the directories.
File Name	Within this field the filename on the remote host, where to put the image in, is set. You can choose any name, which is allowed on the remote FTP server. Don't forget the extension (e.g. jpg for images).
active FTP	FTP connection is usually established as a passive FTP session. Setting active FTP will open FTP in an active mode. To change passive FTP to active FTP is necessary, if your FTP server does not support passive FTP.
temp. name	Selecting this switch will give the transmitted file a temporary name on the remote computer till it is transfered completely. This option is always useful, if you want to update a image on the remote FTP computer as a "live" image.
event subdirs	If this checkbox is actived sets of images before and after an event will not be stored by the time of each image, but the whole set is stored together unter the given directory in a new subdirectory.
remove	If the profile was accepted, the remove switch enables to remove the profile.

On bottom of the profile field you will find a line telling the destination of your image by expanding the ~D and ~F using the current time.

Saving Profiles

By pressing Check and Save the profiles are checked and saved. If any error occurs an error message will be shown, in this case the profiles will not be saved till the error is fixed.

After saving the profiles you can use them for defining Time Tasks and actions in Event Control. Note that the FTP profile is not activated until the camera is rebooted.

Storing Profiles

To activate and store the profiles over a power fail of the camera you have to Store Configuration (see also Configuration).

Activating Profiles

To activate the profiles, time tasks etc., you have to reboot the camera.

Wildcards for Directory and File Names

Inside the file name or directory name you can use different wildcards to get an unique name for each picture.

The wildcards standing for time and date function will be replaced by the time and date of the image that is transfered.

~D	MOBOTIX default Directory Name. The wildcard is expanded to `Cam-name/yyyy/mm/dd/hh` by the values of the image where Cam-name camera name defined by user or DHCP yyyy four digit number of the current year mm two digit number of the current month dd two digit number of the current day hh two digit number of the current hour (with leading zero)
~F	MOBOTIX default Filename. This wildcard is expanded to an unique filename `myymmddhhmmss.jpg` for each image, where m The letter "m" yy two digit number of the current year mm two digit number of the current moth dd two digit number of the current day hh two digit number of the current hour (with leading zero) mm two digit number of the current minute (with leading zero) ss two digit number of the current second (with leading zero) mmm three digit number of the current milli second (with leading zero)
~H	Camera name like set in camera name by user or DHCP
~c	Frame counter, 6 digits with leading zeros
~C	Frame counter, 10 digits with leading zeros
~M	Milliseconds of time, 3 digits with leading zeros
~E	Current IP Address of camera
~N	Default Factory IP Address of camera
~S	Serial Number of camera
%H	hour 00 to 23
%I	hour 00 to 12
%M	minute 00 to 59
%p	AM or PM
%S	second 00 to 59
%Z	time zone or empty
%a	shorten name of weekday
%A	full name of weekday
%b or %h	shorten name of month
%B	full name of month
%d	day of month 00 to 31
%A	full name of weekday
%j	day number in year 000 to 366
%m	number of month 00 to 12
%U	number of week in year, beginning with Sunday
%w	number of day in week
%W	number of week in year, beginning with Monday
%y	year, two digits
%Y	year, four digits