October 2, 2012

Feature of the Month

Access Tokens for CLI

A new feature in our upcoming release of FileCatalyst v3.1 is specific to the command-line interface (CLI): AccessTokens.

AccessTokens can be used if you need your clients to have access (via CLI) to the server, but you want to restrict the access they have (download, upload). Alternatively, it can be used to hide user credentials (like authorization_keys in SSH provide).

An Access Token is an encrypted file, and contains any run-time argument which a user would normally pass into the CLI. Thus, parameters such as hostname:port, username/password, and even direction (-upload or -download) can be encoded inside the AccessToken, and safely given to end customers.

Example: Creating an AccessToken file which allows only uploads of a specific text file (enter as one unbroken line):

java -jar FileCatalystCL.jar -createAccessToken C:/tmp/access.token -host 192.168.1.100:21 -user test/password -upload -file C:/temp/log.txt -bandwidth 20000

Example: Uploading a file using the created access token. This is what an end-user would use (enter as one unbroken line):

java -jar FileCatalystCL.jar -accessToken C:/tmp/access.token"

Tips and Tricks

Windows 7 and Vista: File Listings and IPv6

There is an existing conflict between Java 7 and Windows Firewall in Windows 7 and Vista. The conflict appears in FTP clients being unable to list files and directories in a remote server after connection is established. To avoid this problem the IPv6 should be disabled on the server, which will then use only the IPv4 stack. This will force all Windows clients to connect with the IPv4 stack and the problem will not occur.

To disable IPv6 in Windows please follow these steps:

Click Start then in search box type "regedit". Press ENTER and the Registry Editor will open.
Locate and then click the following registry subkey:
HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SYSTEM\CurrentControlSet\Services\Tcpip6\Parameters\DisabledComponents
If DisabledComponents does not exist in registry then you must create the entry:
- In the Edit menu, point to New, and then click DWORD (32-bit) Value.
- Type DisabledComponents, and then press ENTER.
- Double-click DisabledComponents to change its value.
- Type "0x11" to disable all IPv6 interfaces except for the IPv6 loopback interface.

More details about disabling IPv6 is published in Microsoft article: http://support.microsoft.com/kb/929852

From the Blog

New and useful posts

Software vs. WAN accelerators: Or, "Why hardware solutions can never truly replace software for file transfer acceleration."

REST – HTTP POST vs. HTTP PUT: For the developers out there. When building a RESTful application, you can use either POST or PUT for creation and updating. Why choose one over the other? Here's one perspective.

Customer Spotlight

Quicklink

Quicklink offers network efficient and cost effective ways to capture, transmit, repurpose and deliver high quality media for both live and store forward broadcasts.

FileCatalyst appears in their Store and Forward LNG solution, enabling fast transfer of encoded files from remote locations that may experience poor network conditions. Store and Forward is available within Quicklink's unique Merlin backpack, used for remote content capture and broadcast scenarios.

"Our goal was to redesign our Store and Forward LNG solution so that it provides even better file transfer functionality under the hood, while at the same time simplifying the end-user experience. Using FileCatalyst technology meant that we could integrate features like accelerated file transfer and HTTP fallback while keeping our priority squarely on the people using the system."
–Richard Rees, CEO of Quicklink