Capabilities of AS400 FTP Client

Question

I have a customer who is attempting to send data to my company via FTP, from an AS400. The customer maintains that all usernames and passwords are converted to upper-case by the AS400 FTP client. This is a deal-breaker on my end.

In addition to this, I would like the customer to use a temporary file name while data is being transmitted, then rename the file once the transfer is complete. The customer states that this is impossible on the AS400.

These limitations seem bogus to me... there must be FTP clients on the AS400 which do not suffer from the inability to connect to servers which use case sensitive user names or pass FTP transfer status back to the calling program, but I have no experience on the AS400 platform, so I don't really have a leg to stand on to justify my position.

Can anyone recommend an FTP client on AS400 with the following features:

Capable of connecting to a server which uses lower-case user names.
Can be launched and controlled from within a script or batch file
Capable of returning an error code signifying success or failure of a file transfer
Doesn't cost an arm and a leg

score 8 · Accepted Answer · answered Jun 29 '11 at 20:04

8

The AS/400 FTP client certainly supports lowercase usernames and passwords, the ability to move files after transfer as well as the ability to be scripted. It has pretty much the same features as any other command line ftp client.

Here's an IBM example for scripting the FTP client: Complex example: Batch FTP

answered Jun 29 '11 at 20:04

jamesallman

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Thanks JamesA. This is why I love Stack Overflow... I'm working in a Linux shop, and even the best programmers here wouldn't have been able to give me that answer... yet 20 minutes later, I've got exactly what I need. – Barton Chittenden Jun 29 '11 at 21:00

score 6 · Answer 2 · answered Jun 29 '11 at 20:55

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Have the IBM guy search for Scott Klement FTPAPI. It's an RPG service program that makes scripting FTP - especially error handling. I think it superior to batch scripting.

answered Jun 29 '11 at 20:55

Buck Calabro

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+1 For Scott Klement's [FTPAPI](http://www.scottklement.com/ftpapi/) although personally I prefer to use the batch ftp method or Java if I need more control/capability. – jamesallman Jun 29 '11 at 21:08

score 1 · Answer 3 · answered Jul 07 '11 at 15:03

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If you aren't adverse to some Java coding, the Apache Commons Net libraries supports IBM i connections.

answered Jul 07 '11 at 15:03

David G

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Capabilities of AS400 FTP Client

3 Answers3