Advanced Options

Use this dialog to customize advanced options for connecting to an FTP server. It can be opened by using the Advanced button in the Connect to FTP Server dialog box or the Organize Bookmarks dialog box.

Options

Proxy server: If you are using a proxy server for access to the FTP server (usually on the Internet), specify settings for this proxy server here. A proxy server is an intermediary between local network (intranet) and the Internet. Choose Default to use settings for the proxy server specified in Configuration/Defaults. If you do not need to use a proxy server, select Not Used. To add settings for a proxy server click the Add button, it opens the Add/Edit Proxy Server dialog box. You can add more settings for proxy servers and later just choose which one to use.
Target panel path: If you specify some path here, it will be displayed in inactive (target) panel when you connect to the FTP server. If you do not want to change the current directory in inactive panel, leave this edit box empty.
Connect to port: Specify a port where the FTP server waits for connections. It is usually 21 (default FTP server port).
Server type: Choose the server type used for parsing of plain text listings received from the FTP server. Choose Autodetect if the plugin should autodetect the appropriate server type. See Getting Lists of Files and Directories from FTP Servers for more information.
File transfer mode: Choose the mode for transferring of files. Select Default to use the transfer mode specified in Default file transfer mode section in Configuration/Defaults. See this option also for more information on transfer modes.
Command for listing: Specify which command should be used to receive the plain-text listing of the current directory from the FTP server. The FTP protocol provides two commands for listing: LIST (default) and NLST (name list). Some Unix FTP servers require the "-a" option after the LIST command to list hidden files and directories as well.
Initial FTP commands: You may need to send auxiliary FTP commands to the FTP server whenever you connect. Enter the list of such commands here; the list is separated by the ';' character (for example, "CWD []; HELP"). The commands are sent to the FTP server immediately after a successful login. If you do not want to send any commands, leave this edit box empty.
Keep connections alive (prevents server from disconnecting you due to no activity): When checked, the FTP client tries to keep its connections alive. This means that if the FTP client is not sending commands or transferring data to or from the FTP server for longer than the specified time, it starts sending auxiliary commands or making auxiliary data transfers periodically. This should prevent the FTP server from closing the connection because of inactivity or no data transfer (usually after 5 or 10 minutes). Leave this check box in the third state if you want to use the default settings (see Keep connections alive in Configuration/Defaults). Clear this check box to disable the keep-alive feature.
When checked, choose a command to send to keep the connection alive (when the connection is not being used to communicate with the server or transfer any data). NOOP and PWD commands do not transfer any data. If your FTP server closes connections because no data is transferred, use the NLST or LIST commands. We recommend NLST because it transfers less data (the current path listing containing only file names). Also specify how often to send keep-alive commands and when to stop sending them.
Use passive transfer mode (may help if you are behind firewall or proxy server): When checked, data connections are opened in passive mode. This means that the FTP client opens the data connection by connecting to the supplied port on the FTP server. When cleared, data connections are opened in active mode. In that case, the FTP server opens the data connection by connecting to the supplied port on the FTP client. Active mode can be problematic if the FTP client is behind a firewall or proxy server because they can block access to the FTP client if they do not support the FTP protocol. Passive mode is not supported by a few FTP servers, so you must use active mode to access those servers. Leave this check box in the third state if you want to use the default settings (see Use passive transfer mode in Configuration/Defaults).
Use cache for viewed files and lists of files and directories on server (faster browsing): When checked, all viewed files and all path listings (lists of files and directories) from the FTP server are cached. This allows the plugin to reuse these cached files and listings when they are requested again. The advantage is faster browsing of already visited directories and faster viewing of already viewed files. The disadvantage is that listings and files may have changed, so when they are taken from the cache, they can be out of date. Use the Refresh command to reset cache for the current directory and all its subdirectories (it removes all listings and all viewed files from cache). Cached files are stored in the temporary directory. Cached listings are stored in the memory cache, you can limit the size of this cache, see Size limit for memory cache in Configuration/Advanced. Leave this check box in the third state if you want to use default settings (see Use cache for viewed files and lists of files and directories on server in Configuration/Defaults). Clear this check box if you do not want to use any cache.
Encrypt control connection with TLS/SSL Encrypt data connection (file transfers and directory listings) with TLS/SSL: Communication over the FTP protocol uses one control connection to transfer commands and login information. Then there are several data connections, each is used exactly for one transfer (in any direction) of one file or directory listing.
The FTP plugin supports secure TLSv1/SSLv3 encryption using the AUTH TLS command specified in the RFC 4217 document. This way of encryption is sometimes called FTPES, i.e. FTP with Explicit SSL, but generally it is called FTPS, i.e. FTP-SSL. If the server supports it (public servers usually don't), the plugin can encrypt the communication. You can choose whether you wish to encrypt the control connection only (to hide your password) or also the data connections (to hide everything). These two check boxes are enabled only on Windows 2000 and later systems because FTPS is not supported on older systems.
Compress data transfers if server supports compression (MODE Z): When checked, the plugin attempts to compress all data transfers (downloads and uploads, plus directory listings obtained from the server). No error is reported if the server does not support compression. However, you can check whether compression is being used: check the result of the MODE Z command at the end of the Welcome Message, or look for MODE Z just before the SYST or first PWD command in the FTP log. Leave this check box in the third state if you want to use the default settings (see Compress data transfers if server supports compression (MODE Z) in Configuration/Defaults).

Advanced Options

Options

See Also