Summary

This watch type allows monitoring of a FTP server to ensure that connections can be successfully established, to monitor Response Time, and to verify transactions between WebWatchBot and the FTP server.  The results are analyzed by WebWatchBot.  This watch type does not delete files on the local machine or on the remote server.

Functionality

• Reports response time for entire FTP transaction.
• Log-in to FTP server.

• Logs complete communication and FTP commands executed.

• Reports FTP status codes and most importantly failures.

• Supports the ability to save entire transaction to disk or log file.
• Supports the ability to upload a file.
• Supports the ability to download a file.

Why Use this Watch Type?

The FTP Watch Type is often used to determine if a FTP server is available for connections and available to complete a transaction.  The two measurements are Response Time - the amount of time that it takes to connect and the amount of time to complete a transaction, file upload completion and file download completion.  An increase in Response Time may indicate network congestion or an overall increase in customer use of the FTP server.  Failure in the content verification may indicate an error in configuration or a network problem.

WebWatchBot can upload a file to the FTP server, and optionally download the same file or a different file to serve as a complete end to end test.

What to monitor

Use the POP3 Watch Type to test POP3 mail servers.  It can be used to ensure that a mail server is reachable, and that the Response Time is within allowable limits for both connection and total transaction time.  It can be used to ensure that a transaction is returning the intended response by verifying the response against a specified search text.

Fields and Buttons

Account Information

Username - Sets the FTP username for login. Though the UI shows this field as required, it may be optional for some FTP servers.

Password - Sets the FTP password for login. This is a required field if the username field is not blank.

File to Upload - Optional

Local Filename - a fully qualified pathname of a file to upload, e.g. c:\my documents\testfile.txt.

Remote Filename - a fully qualified pathname for the uploaded file.  When the file is uploaded it will be placed in the directory specified, and named the specified filename, e.g. /uploadarea/myfiles/testfile.txt.  This filename can be different than the local filename, e.g. /uploadarea/myfiles/file1.txt.

File to Download - Optional

If a file to upload is specified and a file to download is specified, the upload will occur first, then the download will occur.  This allows a complete end-to-end test to be performed.

Local Filename - a fully qualified pathname for the downloaded file.  When the file is downloaded it will be placed in the directory specified, and named the specified filename, e.g. c:\my documents\downloadedfile.txt.  This filename can be different than the remote filename, e.g. c:\my documents\file2.txt

Remote Filename - a fully qualified pathname of a file to download, e.g. \downloads\testfile.zip

Test

The current settings will be used to run a test on the watch item but will not affect the overall success.  By clicking this button, the "Test Watch Item" dialog box will appear.