PROTOCOL - UFTP configuration option

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Last updated: Oct 29, 2021
2 min read

Description

The PROTOCOL option specifies a protocol to be used for the transfer.

The protocol also can be specified directly in the HOST option URL definition.

If a protocol is specified in both the PROTOCOL option and the HOST option, the HOST option protocol is used.

If a protocol is not specified in either the PROTOCOL option or HOST option, UFTP will make a guess based on the host.

Usage

Specification Method

Parameter / Value

IBM i

HP NonStop

UNIX

Windows

z/OS

Command Line, Short Form

n/a




Command Line, Long Form

-proto protocol 

(tick)

(tick)

(tick)

Environment Variable

UFTPPROTOCOL=protocol

(tick)

(tick)

(tick)

Configuration File Keyword

n/a





Value

protocol is the protocol to be used for the transfer if none is specified by the HOST option.

Valid values:

  • FTP
  • FTPS
    UFTP offers support for Implicit SSL/TLS only. This means that UFTP expects the FTP Server to be configured in a way that not only enables SSL/TLS, but also requires that an SSL/TLS handshake be completed before a connection attempt succeeds. FTP servers with implicit SSL/TLS support enabled typically listen for connections over port 990. After the client connects and the SSL/TLS handshake completes, the entire FTP session is encrypted and secured with SSL/TLS. FTP sessions secured with SSL/TLS can be configured using the SSL_CIPHER_LIST, MIN_SSL_PROTOCOL, CERTIFICATE, PRIVATE_KEY, PRIVATE_KEY_PWD, and/or CA_CERTIFICATES options.  Refer to the documentation for each option to understand how UFTP uses SSL/TLS to secure a transfer session. 
  • SFTP
    FTP sessions over SSH will require an SSH private key file when key-based authentication is used (as opposed to password-based authentication).  See the SSH_KEY and KEY_PASSPHRASE options for more information. 
  • TFTP

Notes for Explicit FTPS (FTPES) Support

Explicit FTPS support was added to UFTP for Universal Agent 7.1.0.0. When an FTP server enables explicit TLS/SSL support, it allows clients to request encrypted sessions over the standard FTP port 21. This is different from implicit TLS/SSL support described above.

Because an FTP client may not always know whether the FTP server's port 21 is accepting SSL-enabled connections (i.e., it may only accept unencrypted, plain-text FTP sessions), explicit FTPS is not really a distinct protocol per se. Therefore, UFTP offers explicit FTPS support by applying new options and supported values to the existing FTP PROTOCOL value.

UFTP can also request TLS/SSL support over FTP by prefixing the value specified for the HOST option with ftpes://.