DS8000 Service Documentation Version 6.3.3

FTP offload option

As an alternative to a VPN connection through the Internet, the HMC can be set up to use the file transfer protocol (FTP) for sending error data to IBM. It is the customer's responsibility to provide a secure path from the HMC to the destination server (testcase.software.ibm.com) on the Internet. Usually this involves some kind of FTP proxy or relay firewall. The HMC supports different types of FTP firewalls:
  • type 1: Connect to firewall host, but send USER user real host name.
  • type 2: Connect to firewall, log in with USER fwuser and PASS fwpassword, and then USER user real host name.
  • type 3: Connect to and log in to firewall, and then use SITE real.host.name, followed by the regular USER and PASS.
  • type 4: Connect to and log in to firewall, and then use OPEN real.host.name, followed by the regular USER and PASS.
  • type 5: Connect to firewall host, but send USER user [email protected] and PASS pass fwpass to log in.
  • type 6: Connect to firewall host, but send USER fwuser real host name and PASS fwpass followed by a regular USER user and 3PASS pass to log in.
  • type 7: Connect to firewall host, but send USER user real host name fwuser and PASS pass followed by ACCT fwpass to log in.
  • type 8 : Connect to firewall host, but send USER user real host name:port.
  • type 9: Connect to firewall host, but send USER user real host name port.

Connectivity using FTP is also required for downloading DS8000 codes packages from an internal IBM remote code repository on the Internet. Although the FTP protocol by itself does not encrypt data, a digital signature guarantees authenticity and integrity of DS8000 code packages.

Data transfer using the ftp command involves only the FTP client on the HMC, connecting to a remote FTP server. There is no support for inbound FTP sessions. On the HMC, all FTP servers are removed.

Regardless of the type of connectivity (VPN or FTP), no customer data is ever transmitted to IBM.