LSDF Online Storage: lftp

Using lftp from UNIX client

lftp is a command-line file transfer program (FTP client) for UNIX and Unix-like systems.

Besides FTP, it also supports HTTP, HTTPS and SFTP etc.

In addition to features common in advanced FTP clients, such as recursively mirroring entire directory trees and resuming downloads, lftp also supports more advanced functionality. Transfers can be scheduled for execution at a later time, bandwidth can be throttled, transfer queues can be created, and Unix shell-like job control is supported. The client can be used interactively or automated with scripts.

It also has an option called segmented file transfer that allows more than one connection for the same file, bypassing a maximum download speed per file when some servers establish a maximum speed per connection

Installation

Debian:

apt-get install lftp

Suse-Linux:

zypper install lftp

RedHat:

yum install lftp

Documentation

• lftp home: https://lftp.yar.ru/
• lftp man page: https://lftp.yar.ru/lftp-man.html
• lftp documentation wiki: http://linux.overshoot.tv/wiki/networking/lftp

lftp interactive shell

You can launch lftp by typing just lftp and then using an open command to take you to your target site or you can provide the target's name on the same line

lftp
lftp :~> open -u xy1234 sftp://os-login.lsdf.kit.edu
Password: 
lftp xy1234@os-login.lsdf.kit.edu:~> help

or

lftp -u xy1234  sftp://os-login.lsdf.kit.edu
Password: 
lftp 1234@os-login.lsdf.kit.edu:~>help

Using lftp to mirror/transfer files

#!/bin/bash
# <<EOF below is the functional equivalent of hitting .Enter. on your keyboard.
# It allows the rest of the commands to be executed once connected
#
# mirror [OPTS] [source [target]]
# mirror OPTS:
#      -c, --continue      continue a mirror job if possible
#      -e, --delete         delete files not present at remote site
#      -R, --reverse       reverse mirror (put files)
#      -P, --parallel[=N]  download N files in parallel
#      -v, --verbose[=level]    verbose operation
#      -I GP, --include-glob GP include matching files
#      -r, --no-recursion  donât go to subdirectories
#      ....
lftp -e 'mirror -R /home/localuser/LocalDirToMirror ~/TargetDir' -u YourUsername,YourPassword  sftp://os-login.lsdf.kit.edu <<EOF
quit 0
EOF

Example 1:

#!/bin/bash
lftp -e 'mirror -P 2 -Re ./testdir  ~/backupdir' -u 'xy1234:password' sftp://os-login.lsdf.kit.edu <<EOF
quit 0
EOF

Example 2:

#!/bin/bash
lftp -e "mirror -ceR -I '*.tar' ./testdir ~/backupdir;quit" -u 'xy1234:password' sftp://os-login.lsdf.kit.edu

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