InstantSync FTP

What's new in InstantSync FTP V3.0?

• New main user interface with sync task and task run history panes
• Task Wizard making it easier to create new sync tasks
• Propagated deletions for true two-way syncs
• Date variables in folder names for backup sync tasks
• Transfer speed limiter for controlling bandwidth usage on busy production servers
• UTF-8 Support for many European language foreign characters (like ßåäöØæ) in file and folder names
• Transfer history for all sync tasks
• New options for automatic data compression
• Over 200 improvements in the transfer engine
• Full support for Windows 7 and Server 2008, both 32-bit and 64-bit editions

Folder sync between local/network and FTP server folders - The folders being synchronized can reside at local folders or at a network share (UNC filenames and paths are supported). The other side of the sync set can reside on the FTP server, running any common FTP server software. InstantSync uses standardized FTP protocol commands, so it does not rely on any server side extensions or non-standard features.

Nearly instantaneous syncs with SyncDB™ smart change tracking - When synchronizing files over the FTP protocol, file comparison is much more difficult than when doing local file syncs. This is due to the fact that all the file dates change when they are transferred, due to FTP protocol limitations. Similarly, text/html/ascii file sizes change when these files are transferred, due to file system differences. This raises a problem, as there is no way to directly compare local files to FTP server files since the file dates and sizes are different.

The solution to this problem is SyncDB. The SyncDB feature tracks these changes automatically, and allows InstantSync to accurately transfer only those files that have really changed.

Consider the effect of SyncDB when updating a medium size web site, consisting of some 1,000 html files: Without SyncDB, all 1,000 html files would be transferred each time the sync was run, since the file dates and sizes are different on the local and remote systems. Now thanks to SyncDB smart file tracking, only files that have really changed are transferred, resulting in only a few files being transferred on each sync. This speeds up the syncs tremendously, resulting in nearly instantaneous synchronizations.

Easy Task Editor software for task management - The Task Editor is an easy to use tool for creating, editing, and running the sync tasks. All task options are clearly arranged in tabs and you can access context sensitive help everywhere, making setting up task parameters easy. Running a sync task couldn't be simpler:

• Select sync task
• Click Sync-button

The sync results are shown in a clear tree view arrangement, just like in Windows Explorer.

Sync Preview - see sync results without actual transfers - Task Editor also has a sync preview feature, which displays sync results without actually transferring any files. This preview feature is a tool for testing and fine-tuning the sync task filters and options. While in preview, you can add files and folders to include and exclude filters via right-click menus, minimizing the possibility of typos and errors when creating filters.

One-way file synchronization  - New and changed files are transferred from source to target.

One-way file replication (mirroring) - New and changed files are transferred from source to target. Any extra files and folders that no longer exist on the source are also deleted on the target. This helps you to manage clutter on the target, making the target an exact replica of the source.

Two-way file synchronization (bi-directional) - New files are transferred in both directions. The file date stamps are used for comparison. InstantSync will adjust server file dates using server time-zone setting for proper time comparison.

Multithreaded transfers - InstantSync supports up to 10 simultaneous browsing and file transfer threads. This will greatly increase the performance of the file synchronization.

Compression Support - InstantSync accelerates the file transfers with on-the-fly file compression using the MODE Z command.

Include/Exclude filtering - You can specify multiple include and exclude filters for each task. Filters can use file/folder names, file size, date, and attributes, and can utilize regular expressions for powerful control over filters. File name filters can be used for a specific sub folder, set of sub folders, or for all folders.

Handling of Conflicts - InstantSync can detect conflicts (=file has changed on both source and target) and you can specify the action to take in conflicts, like skipping the file, skip and report, always upload, etc.

Recursive folders and symbolic links - You have an option to ignore subfolders (no recursion to subfolders) and also ignore symbolic links. Specific folders and symbolic links can also be excluded with filters.

Automatic reconnects, retries and resume - The number of reconnects, retries, and timeouts can be specified individually for each task. You can also use unlimited retries. Software will automatically continue (=resume) the transfer at the exact point of the failure, rather than starting from the beginning of the file each time. When reaching the maximum limit for retries, you can be notified via log files and email notifications.

Extensive logging with auto-rotate schemes - You can generate up to four different log files for each run of the sync task. The log files are: Transfer history log (a shared summary log file for all sync tasks), FTP command log, a log listing the files transferred, and an error log.

There are various auto-rotation schemes available for log files. For example, you can set it up so that a log file is rotated when its size reaches 10MB. Or you can arrange to have a new log file created every day or every week, etc.