FTP Profiles

What is FTP?

FTP (File Transfer Protocol) is an Internet protocol to transfer files from a local computer (called client) to a remote computer (called server). FTP is often used to upload parts of your homepage to the computer of your Internet Service Provider. Therefore FTP is a good way to upload images from your MOBOTIX Camera to keep your homepage up to date or to store images outside the camera.

FTP on MOBOTIX Camera M1

The FTP protocol on the MOBOTIX Camera M1 can be used to send images to a remote computer. The camera is acting as a FTP client while the remote computer must provide a FTP server program.

You can define two FTP Profiles. Every profile contains all information necessary for a successful upload. The uploads are triggered by Time Tasks or by events defined in Event Control.

Defining Profiles

In order to establish a ftp connection you have to provide some settings in a FTP Profiles by:

Profile Each profile needs an unique symbolic name. It is used in Time Tasks to refer to the profile (required).

Host The remote computers hostname (the name of the computer that should store the images). You can use an IP address (e.g. 10.24.123.129) or a symbolic hostname (e.g. ftp.myhome.com) if the DNS system is properly configured in your camera.
You need to set up your Network Interface, DNS, and Gateway. If your network is protected by a firewall, you may not be able to use the ftp transfer without assistance from your network administrator.

Port The port number for the FTP connection. Default 21. Don´t change this value if you are not sure what you are doing.

User Name The User Name is the login name that is expected by the remote FTP server.

Password The user´s password for the remote FTP server. It has to be typed twice. (Note the password is not stored encrypted in the configuration.)

Directory
The directory on the remote computer where the image will be stored. You can use any name which is valid on your FTP host. Missing directories or subdirectories at the remote computer will be created during the file transfer.
An empty field means that the image will be stored in the user´s home directory. For example on UNIX computers Images/camera will store the image in the directory Images/camera relative to the home directory. A directory name starting with a slash "/" uses a directory structure relative to the FTP servers root directory. Ensure that the user on the FTP host is allowed to write files and create directories.

File Name
The filename of the image on the remote computer. You can choose any name that is volid on the remote computer. Don't forget the extension (e.g. jpg for images).

active FTP
FTP connections are usually established in "passive FTP mode". If the remote computer doesn't support this mode, change this setting to active FTP.

temp. name
Enabling this switch will give the image file a temporary name on the remote computer during transfer. This option is useful if you want to update an image on the remote FTP computer as a "live" image.

event subdirs
If this checkbox is activated, a new subdirectory will be created for each event and a corresponding set of images (before and after the event occured) will be stored into this sudirectory.

remove
If the profile was accepted before, the remove switch will mark this profile for deletion.

Profile	Each profile needs an unique symbolic name. It is used in Time Tasks to refer to the profile (required).
Host	The remote computers hostname (the name of the computer that should store the images). You can use an IP address (e.g. 10.24.123.129) or a symbolic hostname (e.g. ftp.myhome.com) if the DNS system is properly configured in your camera. You need to set up your Network Interface, DNS, and Gateway. If your network is protected by a firewall, you may not be able to use the ftp transfer without assistance from your network administrator.
Port	The port number for the FTP connection. Default 21. Don´t change this value if you are not sure what you are doing.
User Name	The User Name is the login name that is expected by the remote FTP server.
Password	The user´s password for the remote FTP server. It has to be typed twice. (Note the password is not stored encrypted in the configuration.)
Directory	The directory on the remote computer where the image will be stored. You can use any name which is valid on your FTP host. Missing directories or subdirectories at the remote computer will be created during the file transfer. An empty field means that the image will be stored in the user´s home directory. For example on UNIX computers `Images/camera` will store the image in the directory Images/camera relative to the home directory. A directory name starting with a slash "/" uses a directory structure relative to the FTP servers root directory. Ensure that the user on the FTP host is allowed to write files and create directories.
File Name	The filename of the image on the remote computer. You can choose any name that is volid on the remote computer. Don't forget the extension (e.g. jpg for images).
active FTP	FTP connections are usually established in "passive FTP mode". If the remote computer doesn't support this mode, change this setting to active FTP.
temp. name	Enabling this switch will give the image file a temporary name on the remote computer during transfer. This option is useful if you want to update an image on the remote FTP computer as a "live" image.
event subdirs	If this checkbox is activated, a new subdirectory will be created for each event and a corresponding set of images (before and after the event occured) will be stored into this sudirectory.
remove	If the profile was accepted before, the remove switch will mark this profile for deletion.

At the bottom of the profile field is a line displaying the destination URL of an image transfer by expanding the ~D and ~F using the current time.

Saving Profiles

By pressing Check and Save the profiles are checked and saved. If an error occurs an altert message will be shown and the profiles will not be saved until all faulty settings are corrected.

After saving the profiles you can use them to define Time Tasks and actions in Event Control. Note that the FTP profile is not activated until the camera is rebooted.

Storing Profiles

To make the profiles persistent even after a power failure you need to use "Store Configuration" (see also Configuration).

Activating Profiles

To activate the profiles, time tasks etc., you have to reboot the camera.

Wildcards for Directory and File Names

Inside the file name or directory name you can use different wildcards to get an unique name for each picture.

Wildcards representing the time and date function will be replaced by the time and the date when the image was transferred.

~D	MOBOTIX default Directory Name. The wildcard is expanded to `Cam-name/yyyy/mm/dd/hh` by the values of the image where Cam-name camera name defined by user or DHCP yyyy four digit number of the current year mm two digit number of the current month dd two digit number of the current day hh two digit number of the current hour (with leading zero)
~F	MOBOTIX default Filename. This wildcard is expanded to an unique filename `myymmddhhmmss.jpg` for each image, where m The letter "m" yy two digit number of the current year mm two digit number of the current moth dd two digit number of the current day hh two digit number of the current hour (with leading zero) mm two digit number of the current minute (with leading zero) ss two digit number of the current second (with leading zero) mmm three digit number of the current milli second (with leading zero)
~H	Camera name like set in camera name by user or DHCP
~c	Frame counter, 6 digits with leading zeros
~C	Frame counter, 10 digits with leading zeros
~M	Milliseconds of time, 3 digits with leading zeros
~E	Current IP Address of camera
~N	Default Factory IP Address of camera
~S	Serial Number of camera
%H	hour 00 to 23
%I	hour 00 to 12
%M	minute 00 to 59
%p	AM or PM
%S	second 00 to 59
%Z	time zone or empty
%a	day of week, abbreviated
%A	day of week, long format
%b or %h	name of month, abbreviated
%B	name of month, long format
%d	day of month - 00 to 31
%j	day in year as numeric value - 000 to 366
%m	month as numeric value - 00 to 12
%U	week in year as numberic value, start counting with a Sunday
%w	day in week as numerich value
%W	week in year as numeric value, start counting with a Monday
%y	year, two digit format
%Y	year, four digit format