Re: automagic ftp sessions?

[Ben Cranston <zben@ni.umd.edu>]

On Wed, Jul 07, 1999 at 11:34:45PM -0600, David Karlin wrote:
> Hello,
> I'm running slink and would like to automate an ftp session
> to upload a file to a remote server.
> Anyone care to shed some light?

OK, ask yourself these questions:

1. How bad would it be if, on one particular occasion,
   the transfer didn't happen?

2. How bad would it be if, on one particular occasion,
   the file was only PARTIALLY transferred (like only
   the first 1069 bytes get moved, resulting in a
   truncated version of the file at the destination)?

If the answer to both questions is "not too bad", then any
old cron-driven ftp script will do.  But, if there is any
real-world importance to the file, you might want to do
things like: mv the old version of the file to a temporary
place so there is always a quick backup in case of failure,
do some kind of reality check on the file at the destination
(like putting in an "end sentinel" and checking to make sure
it exists before moving the newly-transferred file to the
hot place), etc.

Just 2c from an old mainframe guy...

-- 
Charles B. (Ben) Cranston
mailto:zben@ni.umd.edu
http://www.wam.umd.edu/~zben