To copy files from a remote host to your local host, use the GET
command. To copy files from your local host to a remote host,
use the PUT command. To use these commands, you must have an
active FTP session with a remote host. You can enter any number
of commands during the session. You can also use the COPY/FTP
command to copy files across the network using TCP/IP. For
more information on this command, type HELP COPY/FTP at the DCL
prompt.
FTP resolves the differences between UNIX file systems and
OpenVMS file systems automatically. By default, the PUT command
copies files to UNIX systems using lowercase file names without
version numbers. If you use a wildcard to copy all versions of a
file and do not specify an output file, the following occurs:
o The version numbers become the last element of the copied
files.
o Semicolons are converted to periods.
1 – Store Unique Feature
The Store Unique (STOU) feature allows you to control how file
version numbers are treated when you copy (PUT) files from
local to remote hosts. After connecting to the remote host, you
toggle the Store Unique feature on and off by issuing the sunique
command at the FTP prompt, as follows:
FTP> sunique
Store unique on.
FTP> sunique
Store unique off.
FTP> sunique
Store unique on.
The Store Unique feature behaves differently when copying files
between OpenVMS and UNIX. It also behaves differently if you use
wildcards or specify version numbers.
The following table shows the results when you copy the file
text.txt from OpenVMS to UNIX.
File
test.txt
Exists Store
on UNIX Unique
FTP Command System On Store Unique Off
FTP> PUT No text.txt text.txt
text.txt
FTP> PUT Yes text.txt.1 text.txt
text.txt
The next table shows the results when you copy the file
text.txt;* from OpenVMS to UNIX.
Files
test.txt.1
test.txt.2
Exist on Store
UNIX Unique
FTP Command System On Store Unique Off
FTP> PUT No text.txt.2 text.txt.2
text.txt;* text.txt.1
text.txt.1
FTP> PUT Yes text.txt.2text.txt.2
text.txt;* text.txt.1
text.txt.1.1
2 – VMS Plus Mode
FTP performs fast file transfers between two OpenVMS systems by
using VMS Plus Mode.
When FTP identifies file transfers between two OpenVMS hosts
running TCP/IP Services, it transfers files in large blocks
rather than in small records. VMS Plus Mode greatly increases
the transfer speed and preserves all Record Management Services
(RMS) file attributes.
FTP automatically disables VMS Plus Mode when your session is
with a UNIX host or with an OpenVMS host not running TCP/IP
Services.
3 – Preserving File Attributes
When you transfer OpenVMS files to a UNIX system and back again,
some record attributes might be lost. To preserve all RMS file
attributes, use the /FDL qualifier (File Definition Language)
with the GET and PUT commands.
You might also need to use the SET TYPE command to determine the
type of file transfer:
o Specifying SET TYPE ASCII results in a sequential file with
variable records. Select this type when transferring ASCII
text files.
o Specifying SET TYPE IMAGE results in a sequential file with
fixed records of 512 bytes. Select this type when transferring
non-ASCII files, such as binary files or executable image
files.
For example, to transfer an executable image to a remote UNIX
host, follow these steps:
1. Specify the IMAGE data type:
FTP> SET TYPE IMAGE
2. Transfer the file to the remote host. At the same time, create
and transfer a secondary file with the file's OpenVMS record
attributes:
FTP> PUT/FDL file
To retrieve the file from a remote UNIX host, follow these steps:
1. Specify the IMAGE data type:
FTP> SET TYPE IMAGE
2. Retrieve the file from the remote host after retrieving and
using the secondary file containing the file's OpenVMS record
attributes:
FTP> GET/FDL file.dat
4 – Examples
1. In the following example, the PUT/FDL command does the
following:
o Creates the FDL file cygnet.bckfdl on the remote host with
the RMS attributes of file STAT.BCK.
o Transfers the data in STAT.BCK and puts it in to
cygnet.bckfdl on the remote host.
FTP> PUT/FDL STAT.BCK CYGNET.BCK
200 TYPE set to ASCII
200 PORT command successful
150 Opening data connection for cygnet.bckfdl (130.180.4.8,1028)
226 Transfer complete
local: cygnet.bckfdl remote: cygnet.bckfdl
846 bytes sent in 00:00:00.03 seconds
200 TYPE set to IMAGE
200 PORT command successful
150 Opening data connection for cygnet.bck (130.180.4.8,1029)
226 Transfer complete
local: STAT.BCK remote: cygnet.bck
8152 bytes sent in 00:00:00.12 seconds
In the following example, the GET/FDL command performs the following
actions:
o Transfers the FDL file cygnet.bckfdl from the remote host
to the local host.
o Uses this file to re-create the file STAT.BCK, with all of
its original RMS attributes, on the local host.
o Transfers the data in cygnet.bck to the new local file
STAT.BCK.
FTP> GET/FDL CYGNET.BCK STAT.BCK
200 TYPE set to ASCII
200 PORT command successful
150 Opening data connection for cygnet.bckfdl (130.180.4.8,1028)
226 Transfer complete
local: cygnet.bckfdl remote: cygnet.bckfdl
846 bytes sent in 00:00:00.03 seconds
200 TYPE set to IMAGE
200 PORT command successful
150 Opening data connection for cygnet.bck (130.180.4.8,1029)
226 Transfer complete
local: STAT.BCK remote: cygnet.bck
8152 bytes sent in 00:00:00.12 seconds
5 – Transfer Mode
TCP/IP Services supports only STREAM mode for data transfer.
STREAM mode transmits the data as a stream of bytes.
6 – File Structure
TCP/IP Services supports transfers of ASCII (stream, records with
variable length) and IMAGE (binary, records fixed at 512 bytes)
files.