iokevins's questions

We wish to solve the business problem of how to schedule automated password updates, on a remote FTP server (note: z/OS) over which we have no administrative control, before the password expires. For example, once each month, update user JDoe's password, both locally and on remote FTP server ftp.abc.com.

Our business process necessitates transferring files, using protocol FTPS, to/from a remote FTP server (note: z/OS). A separate organization administers this remote FTP server, providing our team with a user account but no server-level administrative control. FTP server policy automatically expires user account passwords, after a period of time. When this happens, FTP server staff require the person tied to the named account to call their FTP server help desk, to verify their identity. Upon successful verification, FTP server help desk staff reset the password, requiring the user to choose a new password upon the next login. The FTP server allows users to reset their password via the command-line, by setting password to string "oldpw/newpw/newpw"; subsequently, users login with only "newpw".

FTP server administrators will not set an FTP user password to never expire.

Years ago, a now-retired team member created an in-house app to perform this task, using FTPS functionality provided by Rebex. Per resource constraints, we'd prefer a solution we don't have to maintain in-house. Note: if possible; if in-house represents the way to go, so be it.

How can we do this better?

What FTP Service versions of Microsoft Internet Information Services, if any, support the proposed (and now expired?) FTP server command extension MFMT?

NOTES

The proposed MFMT ("Modify Fact: Modification Time") FTP command extension modifies a file or folder's last modified date and time information. This complements existing FTP command MDTM ("Modification Time"), which "which was only intended to read the modification time and not to set it as some implementations do."

We need a FTP client that satisfies the following constraints:

1. Windows
2. Command-line scriptable, so we can automate it...sorry, FileZilla (?)
3. FTPS, as it seems to perform better than SFTP
4. The ability to send KeepAlive commands to the FTPS control port during a transfer
5. No passwords sent on the command line...sorry, curl

Number 4, above, is critical: we have set KeepAlive in some other clients (e.g., CoreFTP LE) but we seem to have some routing equipment in the server environment which drops our connection when transferring a 7GB+ file. We have also set passive mode and "resume transfer" functionality seems currently broken with this secure file transport server...so we need to download the file in one go.

What FTPS clients might meet our needs?

In Microsoft Windows Server 2003 Standard Edition, Service Pack 2:

1. Start > Run... > perfmon
2. Select menu View > Customize...
3. Uncheck option "Standard menus (Action and View)"
4. Select button "OK"

How might I now restore menus Action and View to their default value?

Attempting to run Altera Quartus II (2) 9.0 on a remote RHEL5 Linux (2.6.18-308.1.1.el5 kernel 64-bit) box over a SSH connection via PuTTY 0.62 and a local Xming 6.9.0.31 X server running on Windows XP/Win7.

I have set PuTTY up to forward X11 and successfully remotely run other X programs on this server.

If I use Cygwin/X X server, Quartus II 9.0 displays correctly.

Xming X server does not report any visible errors on the command line; it just seems to hang after displaying an initial blank, white box.

Is this a known issue with Altera Quartus II 9.0 and Xming? Is it possible to know the root cause of the incompatibility?

Our IT environment provides 10 shared, Microsoft Windows 7 laptops for an office staff of several hundred people.

After checking-out and logging into a laptop with an Active Directory domain account, office staff frequently run Microsoft Outlook 2010.

However, the first time office staff do this, Microsoft Outlook 2010 prompts the user to create and configure their local account. This takes just several clicks, as Microsoft Outlook 2010 auto-detects the office staff member's Microsoft Exchange Server 2007 (SP3) account.

The problem is: all office staff have to do this on each new laptop they use. Until they do so, some functionality does not work (for example, Microsoft Word 2010 Save & Send fails with error "There was a problem creating the message").

How might our IT department "pre-configure" the shared laptops so office staff can simply log-in and use Microsoft Outlook 2010 functionality without the need to configure a local account?

Connectivity via RDP to our Microsoft Windows Server 2003 web and database servers unpredictably drops at varying points after we change the server dates. It usually occurs when we leave the server dates changed and remain logged in via RDP overnight. We can only restore RDP connectivity with a server reboot or a reset of the server dates to the current date.

We use these servers for web application user acceptance purposes; moving the server dates into the future simulates the passage of time in the web application. Staff then perform user acceptance tests of web application functionality.

Thanks for any insight into why this may be occurring. How would I even begin to debug such a problem? I am working with our hosting provider and hope to have additional details soon.