FTP Properties

FTP stands for File Transfer Protocol, one of the most popular methods for transferring files over the Internet. In addition to serving images from its internal web server, the ExpressXL can also upload images to an external web server. This is useful if you plan on having a large number of visitors viewing the live images or if you'd like to archive images. To enable image uploads, enable FTP Upload on and fill out the options below.

The hostname is the name of the server you'd like to upload images to. It can be a machine name or IP address. Do not include thehttp:// or ftp:// header or a path.

Example: myserver.com or ftp.myserver.com

This is the username or login name assigned to you by your hosting company.

This is the password assigned to you by your hosting company.

This field combines two elements, the image filename, preceded by an optional path or directory. Consult with your hosting company to determine if you need to specify a path. If you don't, you simply put the desired name of the image file here.

Example Without Path: image.jpg
Example With Path: /html/images/image.jpg

Using a file renaming scheme, an archive of the last ten images is maintained on your FTP server. A hyphen followed by the archive number (0-9) is appended to the filename.

Default: Disabled

If the ExpressXL is behind a proxy server, enable passive mode. If you are unsure if you need passive mode, it is usually safe to enable it anyway.

Default: Enabled

The ExpressXL will abort an unsuccessful FTP upload attempt after the specified amount of seconds.

Default: 120

The ExpressXL employs a file renaming scheme, which greatly reduces the possibility of file collisions between the ExpressXL uploading an image and viewing browsers downloading the image. The image is uploaded with a .tmp extension. Once uploaded the.tmp file is renamed without the tmp extension. Certain FTP/Web servers do not allow a file to be renamed to a filename that already exists. To get around this problem, enable Delete Before Rename.

Default: Off

Certain Microsoft-based FTP/Web servers have problems when uploading images with the same filename. If you have problems seeing your image update on a Microsoft-based server, enable the IIS option. This option is only valid if Delete Before Rename (above) is also enabled.

Default: Off

An image can be uploaded with a separate path and/or filename from the Path/File above. This provides a very convenient way to archive images on your server while still maintaining a statically named live image. One way to do this is to include date/time markup characters as part of the filename. The current upload time of the image will become the filename.

For example, the filename %Y-%m%d-%H%M%S.jpg automatically translates to 2007-10-15-153015.jpg if the date and time of the upload is October 15, 2007 at 3:30:15 PM. For a complete list of Date/Time markup characters, see the Overlay Help Page.

Only the characters beginning with the percentage symbol (%) are valid. It not advisable to use date/time characters that insert / \ :or space characters, as this can confuse the FTP/Web server.

Example Without Path:
image-%Y-%m%d-%H%M%S.jpg

Example With Path:
/var/html/image-%Y-%m%d-%H%M%S.jpg

When using an external modem to dial out to an ISP, the ExpressXL is assigned a different IP address every time it connects. This makes it next to impossible to access the ExpressXL directly from a browser since its IP address is not known. To eliminate this problem, small web page is uploaded along with the image. The web page contains the current IP address of the ExpressXL so you can configure the ExpressXL remotely. Clear this field if you don't want this file to be uploaded.

Default: ip.html

Scheduling tells when and how often to FTP images to your server.

The number of seconds to delay between FTP image uploads. The speed at which at uploads occur varies on the image resolution, amount of JPEG compression, Internet connection and network congestion.

Keep in mind that the overhead of FTP doesn't allow for the same update rates that you see when accessing the ExpressXL with a browser. It is safe to say that FTP restricts 320x240 uploads to once every 1-5 seconds, even on a DSL or cable connection.

Default: 30 Seconds

Images can be uploaded 24 hours a day, seven days a week, or you can set whatever time window and days of the week you prefer. Use military time for the beginning and ending window times.

Example: Upload Between 07:30 and 18:30 only on Mon, Tue,Wed, Thu and Fri