FTP – File Transfer Protocol

Delivery by upload to the FTP server of the recipient

Operation of the FTP server

The IFA does not operate an FTP server for download. It delivers the IFA Information Services to the FTP server of the recipient.

Access data

In order to transmit the data, the operator must transmit the access data to its FTP server to the IFA:

• Server name or IP address
• Protocol (recommendation: sftp) and possibly port
• User name
• Password or login key
• Directory name in which the deliveries are to be stored.

IFA-IT sets up access internally at IFA and carries out tests.

Delivery Files

An Information Service consists of several individual files named liefd001.ild to liefd009.ild. A delivery information file liefer.ili is provided for this purpose. If desired, however, it can also be transmitted compressed as archiv001.zip.

Further information on the delivery files can be found in the procedure description for the IFA Information Services.

Directory structure

To avoid conflicts with multiple file names for different deliveries, a subdirectory named with the delivery ID 100nnnnnnn-nnnnnn-nn-jjjjmmtt is created in the course of the provision. IFA submits all files directly into this directory.

If this is not desired, all files are stored directly in the directory specified with the access data. In this case, however, name conflicts may occur in the case of simultaneous delivery. The recipient should therefore remove the files from this target directory until the next delivery.

Provision

IFA submits all files of a delivery one after another to the target directory on the FTP server of the recipient at the agreed provision date. The file liefer.ili can be regarded as an indicator for a complete transfer - this is always transferred last.

Since the IFA delivery mechanism checks the file sizes after the transfer, any further processing functions of the recipient must not remove the files faster than it takes to check them. The delivery should therefore remain in this directory for a few seconds.

If the mechanism detects missing files or incorrect file sizes, the submission will be repeated in full after a waiting period.

Security

In case the recipient wishes to verify IFA’s IP address, the usual connection will be made from the IP address: 88.215.192.90.

If there is a line fault, IFA GmbH may switch to the alternative route via IP address 94.79.180.50.

Test

IFA-IT tests the connection in coordination with the operator or receiver.

Productive operation

If the connection is verifiably working, the next delivery can be switched to this delivery method on request. For this purpose, the IFA customer service contacts the data recipient.