Send Database Via FTP

The Send Database Via FTP form contains many options for easily sending required information to the Collect! support team. There are several options provided. You can send your entire Collect! folder, your working database, or particular files and folders as requested by the Collect! Technical Services team.

This is much more efficient for support issues and a much easier process for you. After you have made your selection, you simply select the Send Database button. Data is encrypted and uploaded to Comtech's secure FTP site.

You can use this utility in multi-user mode while your operators continue with their work.

Encryption And Security

To safeguard the security of your data, Collect! uses strong encryption methods to automatically encrypt files before they are uploaded to Collect!'s secure FTP site. Collect! uses a 64-bit block cipher with a variable-length key. Key expansion converts a key of up to 448 bits into several sub-key arrays totaling 4168 bytes.

Accessing Send Database Via FTP

The Send Database Via FTP form may be accessed only one way. Providing you have access to the various menus and forms, you can get to the Send Database Via FTP as follows.

On your server:

1. Using the menu bar at the top of Collect! select System to display the drop-down menu.
2. Select Send Database Via FTP to display the Send Database Via FTP form.

Send Database Via FTP form

Typically, Technical Services will have requested that you send a particular selection from the available options. To select an option, use your spacebar or mouse to put a dot in the radio button beside your choice. You may only select one option.

Log Files

Select this option to transfer your Collect! log files. These are all the files in the Collect\Log Files folder. These logs contain system messages and error messages for diagnosing and tracking events. There may be only one collect_log_01.txt or many numbered collect_log files. Please refer to Collect! Log Viewer for details about log files.

Database Without Subfolders

Select this option to transfer your collectcfg.ini file and your database files without sub-folders.

Database With Subfolders

Select this option to transfer your collectcfg.ini file and your complete database with sub-folders.

Whole Collect! Folder

Select this option to transfer your entire Collect! application and data. Every database and subfolder will be transferred, excluding the global folder.

Windows FTP

The is the default option. When selected, Collect! will use the native FTP.EXE that is installed in the operating system.

Winscp

This is an option that is available if you have WinSCP installed. When selected, Collect! will use WINSCP.COM using either FTP or SFTP, depending on what is entered into the HOST KEY below.

WARNING: WinSCP must be installed to the C:\Program Files (x86)\WinSCP for this option to work.

FTP Server Name

This is the Hostname of the FTP server that you will be connected to for the file transfer procedure. The default Hostname is "ftp.collect.org." This is the Hostname for Comtech Systems Inc.

Username

This is the Username that will be used to authenticate with the FTP server. This must be a valid Username for an account created for you on the FTP server.

The default Username is an account set up by Comtech Systems for data transfers using the Send Database Via FTP utility.

Password

This is the Password that will be used to authenticate with the FTP Server. This must be a valid Password that matches the Username account created for you on the FTP server.

The default Password is an account set up by Comtech Systems for data transfers using the Send Database Via FTP utility.

Host Key

This is the host key for the server that you are uploading to. This field is only used with WinSCP.

When filled in, Collect! will use SFTP with WinSCP. When not filled in, Collect! will use FTP with WinSCP.

The default host key for Comtech Systems is filled in for you.

As the database is encrypted before transmission, SFTP is provided as a secondary safe guard.

Send Database

Select this button to upload the files you have selected to the Collect! ftp site. Please refer to Steps To Send Database below.

View Log

Select this button to view the results of the transfer process written to the Collect\bin\ftpdata.log. This log is useful for system and technical support use. It logs the transfer process and the name of the file that is uploaded.

Help

Select this button for help on the Send Database Via FTP form and other related topics.

Close

Select this button to close the Send Database Via FTP form and return to the previous form.

Steps To Send Database

Select an option to send files and folders to the Collect! FTP site, and then select the Send Database button to begin the file transfer.

1. You will be prompted to confirm the file transfer.


Confirming Sending Database

2. Select YES to proceed with the file upload and transfer.
   • Or, Select NO to cancel the file transfer process.
3. Accumulating and compressing data. First data is gathered and compressed.


Send Database Via FTP - Phase 1

You may see the black DOS window as the bsdtar utility compresses the data to be sent. This utility ships with Collect!.

4. Encrypting data. Second, data is encrypted. You may see the black DOS window as the openssl utility encrypts the data to be sent. This utility ships with Collect!.
5. Transferring data via FTP. Finally, data is uploaded to the Collect! FTP site. You may see the black DOS window as the ftp utility initiates the transfer.

ftp.exe is an operating system file. It does not ship with Collect!.

6. When the process is completed, you will be notified that the transfer succeeded.

Send Database Via FTP - Phase 3

Data transfer is logged to an ftpdata.log in the database directory. This log is useful for system and technical support use to examine the transfer process and filename created. If your transfer fails, please see Troubleshooting below.

Troubleshooting Send Database Via FTP

Working Directory in Collect! Shortcut

Please ensure that there is a valid working directory entered for the Start In: field in the Collect! Desktop Shortcut so that the FTP Utility can work properly.

FTP Upload Processes

The three phases of the Send Database via FTP functionality spawn external command line programs. Collect! can only determine success or failure based on the return result from those commands. Any failure will result in a generic failure message.

Send Database via FTP Failure

The following programs and files are used for transferring:

Phase 1: bsdtar.exe, zlib1.dll, bzip2.dll, libarchive2.dll
Phase 2: openssl.exe
Phase 3: ftp.exe or winscp.com

• Make sure you have the files bsdtar.exe, zlib1.dll, bzip2.dll, libarchive2.dll, and openssl.exe in your Collect\bin folder.
• Make sure you have the Windows ftp.exe program. This is a default installed program for Microsoft Windows operating systems.
• If using WinSCP, make sure that you have WinSCP installed and that it is located in the C:\Program Files (x86)\WinSCP directory.
• Are you blocking any outbound Internet traffic at your firewall?
• The Send Database Via FTP utility creates a temporary unencrypted file named database.tgz. You may need to delete this and/or give access to it to allow overwrite and/or create.
• The Send Database Via FTP utility creates a log file named ftpdata.log in the database directory. You may be asked to send this to Collect! Technical Services if your transfer fails.

Known issues:

The Send Database Via FTP utility may return success in certain cases where failure should be reported. An example of this would be a bad Username and/or Password.

FTP.exe does not report error codes back to Collect!, so you may a false positive. Collect! will state that the files was send successfully, where FTP.exe actually failed to upload it. If this is the case, install and use WinSCP.