FTP with IRC5

Robot Controller
1

Hello guys,

I have no problems Connecting To an IRC5 with Windows FTP or any FTP client I can find.

However, I have a problem when trying to Connect the IRC5 To a FTP SERVER.

I want to have access to a remote computer hard disk, on the same network, using the Flex Pendant Explorer. That’s supposed to be doable with FTP Interface Option.

I have played with all the settings in the system parameters, “Topic communication, Application Protocol” but still not luck. Now I know FTP pretty well, I might also have missed something but I think it might also be a bug so I’m posting the results of my findings so far. Maybe someone can help.

I have a FTP SERVER runing on a PC. I tried many servers and the problem is always the same so I ruled out the SERVER beeing the problem. (Cerberus, CORE FTP server, etc).

I can connect no problem to the SERVER using another computer on the same network. I can connect either Anonymously or with a user and password.

So far: Communication between PC FTP Client and PC FTP Server = no problem.

When I try to connect to the server with the IRC5, the USER name reach the SERVER, because I see the authentication passing through on the Server Logs, but the Password never gets there.

I have not used Shark or another program to isolate the TCPIP string/Capsules, I let that to the experts. :wink:

So I can Connect to the SERVER with the IRC5 but I can never be LOGGED. The logging always fails. The IRC5 seems to try to log every 5 seconds as I always see the same thing on the server log, over and over:

Connection established from 192.168.50.11 (the robot)
User: ROB
PWD
Connection closed by client.

Connection established from 192.168.50.11 (the robot)
User: ROB
PWD
Connection closed by client.

Again, I can use the same User and the Same password with another PC and it’s Windows FTP client and it logs fine.

I tried to replicate the problem using a PC but I can’t. Meaning that even if I simply press enter when it’s time to enter the password, something reaches the SERVER and I see it in the log. But with the IRC5, no matter what I use in the Password Field of the application protocol, nothing reaches the SERVER (meaning no password, the USER do gets there).

Any help would be appreciated.

Thanks,

Jet

2

Hi

Do you have the FTP client option 614-1 on the robot ?

3

Hello,

Yes I do. I have tried with other robots and they also do the same.

I must be missing something in the configuration but there is not much to set, only few parameters.

I would like to know is someone else has ever done that before and if it’s feasable.

Thanks,

Jet

4

This is the official awnser from ABB regarding FTP.

ABB Sweden has looked at your files and it looks like the robot setup is OK. They suspect that the FTP server you are using may not be supported.

Supported and tested:



vsftd 1.2.2 (ReadHat Linux 9.0)
MS IIS, (Windows XP SP2)
Serv-U 6.4 (Windows XP SP2)
ftp (HP-UX v10.20)
Distinct ftp server v3.0 (Windows XP SP2)
******************************

The list is very short and 2-3 are for Linux or Unix or Mac. :frowning:

Has anyone ever used a freeware FTP SERVER that works? I tried Cerberus and Core FTP. those are widely used on the NET.

Plus, is this an issue that should be solved by ABB?

Isn’t FTP something widely used and universal? Then there should not be a list of supported server because if the server follows the FTP rules then ABB should be able to communicate with it.

thanks,

Jet

5

Hi guys,

I was finally able to make a FTP conection between IRC5 and a Freeware FTP Server running on a PC.

Thanks to me!:clap:

I didn’t get much help from ABB this time, which is I admit, usually not the case.

This should be logged into BUGS TO FIX for ABB. IRC5 should be able to connect to ALL FTP Servers.

The IRC 5 connect only to 2 windows “Supported Server”. Of course they’re not freeware. This is Serv-U and Distinct.

I have tried all the freeware FTP servers I could find and I was able to make it work with BlackMoon FTP Server free edition. This cute little thing is not as user friendly as Cerberus but it’s free for personnal use. Sorry can’t use it on the plant floor.

Hope it helps ABB and futur FTP users.

Jet

6

Sorry to “glom-on” to this post so late… none-the-less, it seems the info posted by Jetman is still timely… and very accurate, not to mention useful. I had the exact same problems, and I even tried the MS IIS XP server(sp3) … nothing worked… BUT the free ftp server that Jetman recommended worked like a charm… I thought it was easy to use… from download to functioning perfectly with the robot was about 10 minutes… worked the first try…
Apparently FTP is not necesarily FTP in sweden…

PS… contrary to you Jetman, I’ve found ABB help to be quite consistent.

PS #2 It should be noted that the reason we are trying FTP , is because that with the NFS client connected, our robots had a tendancy to system failure… we thought that a more mainstream, longstanding and current protocol such as FTP would be hard to get wrong…

I would hope that ABB could put some effort into this for the next release of robotware… OR at least provide a comprehensive document set on “how to” make it work… or “why not” waste your time trying.

..anyway, thank you jetman… your efforts are very much appreciated.

7

Hello Mike,

I’m glad the info helped.

I would also like ABB to do something about it.

I found a solution (BlackMoon FTP) but ABB should look at WHY IRC5 doesn’t work with most of the FTP servers avalaible.

Seems it’s a priority issue, except us, who ever wrote about FTP problems? :wink:

Jet