For file transfer, a distinction is made between various functions. For access protection, the file transfer function being executed by the system is decisive. At first glance, there are only two such functions:
sending a file and
receiving a file.
Sending a file involves transmitting data from the system to be protected, while receiving a file involves the transfer of data into that system. For reasons of data security, it is, however, also important to know who requested a function on the system being protected. In FT terminology, this person is referred to as the “initiator” or “submitter” of the FT request.
A distinction is made in FTAC between two groups of initiators:
initiators on the system being protected (outbound requests)
initiators on partner systems (inbound requests)
Since the functionality used by FTP is restricted to inbound requests, the following transfer functions can be differentiated:
Inbound send
Inbound receive
FTP partner systems (FTP clients) also have the option of using file management functions to view directory or file attributes in their local system (BS2000 FTP server), to modify file attributes and to delete files and directories. This results in a further function:
Inbound file management
File management, in contrast to the other functions, includes several different request options which, in turn, are partially linked to the functions Inbound send and Inbound receive:
An FTP client can delete local files, provided the basic function Inbound receive is permitted.
An FTP client can display the attributes of local files, provided the basic function Inbound send is permitted.
An FTP client can display and delete directories, provided the basic function Inbound file management is permitted.
An FTP client can modify the attributes of local files and create and rename directories, provided both the basic functions Inbound receive and Inbound file management are permitted.
The protection mechanisms offered by the FTAC function are primarily achieved by using admission sets and admission profiles.