How to use the External files support package

The basics

File items should be created with the New URL button in the file manager. The URL field is mandatory and should point to the external file. Depending on which protocol that is used for the external file, a Server may or may not be specified. Note that if a server is specified the host and port setting in the server item replaces the host and port specified by the URI, and the path may also be rewritten. For example:

sftp://my.sftp.server/path/to/file.txt may be replaced with sftp://another.sftp.server/extra/path/to/file.txt

SFTP

SFTP is SSH File Transfer Protocol (this is not the same as FTP or FTPS) and should work with most servers that can be accessed with SSH. The URL format is:

sftp://my.sftp.server/path/to/file.txt

A file server is required and it must provide username, password and SSH fingerprint information. A root path is recommended since otherwise every file on the server is open for access.

FTP

This is the plain-old FTP protocol. The URL format is:

ftp://my.ftp.server/path/to/file.txt

Anonymous FTP is supported and doesn't require a file server. A file server with username and password is needed for non-anoymous FTP. A server certificate may be specified to enable support for explicit SSL (eg. the connection starts out unencrypted, but is then switched to an encrypted after an explicit command).

FTPS

This the plain-old FTP protocol over an SSL connection (aka implicit SSL). The URL format is:

ftps://my.ftp.server/path/to/file.txt

A file server is required and must specify at least a server certificate so that the encryption can be setup. Anonymous FTP is used if no username and password has been set.