6. FTP, SFTP, FTPS or FTPES Connection
FTP connection is not required, you may skip it. FTP is used for images - downloading and uploading images for products, categories and Manufacturers.
If there is no valid FTP connection specified, you will not be able to view images and upload them to your server.
See an example of properly configured FTP below:
FTP settings:
Server address - IP address or domain name of FTP server. Do not use any prefixes or suffixes there, just simply the name or IP.
- FTP user name/ FTP password - specify login information.
- Images directory - indicate default directory, where all the product images are stored. This is the most interesting setting, see below for further explanations.
- Downloads directory - default directory to store downloadable products.
- Use passive mode (recommended).
Additional settings:
Max FTP threads - the number of threads allowed.
- Automatically download images - this option has to be enabled to download images automatically and preview them in Store Manager application.
- Cache images - has to be enabled to cache images downloaded to Store Manager.
Default FTP Directories:
- Product images - default subdirectory, where product images are stored.
- Category images - default subdirectory, where category images are stored.
- Manufacturer images - default subdirectory, where manufacturer images are stored.
Images directory
Every FTP user has home directory - some directory on the server where the user is connected to by default. Depending on specific configuration or FTP account settings it may be different from one server to another. After server address, user name and password specified you may just browse your FTP and select which directory is used to store images. If you want to type path manually start from user home directory as it shown above.
Now let's see some product image:
With the settings specified on these screenshots, FTP image path will be combined as:
ftp://<ftp server address>/<ftp images directory>/<ftp product images subdirectory>/<product image name>
i.e.
ftp://zencart-manager.com/www/teststore/images/product_dir/dvd/the_matrix.gif
Note, that this is FTP link, but not HTTP. FTP link may not be opened in a browser, but it is may be used in Store Manager to download the image and show it in the preview.
There are two buttons to edit image.
This one is used to browse contents of your local folders and select an image. When you press 'OK' button on product edit form it will be uploaded to "Images directory" on FTP. When local image is selected this field will display local image path like shown in the example - C:\My Images\some_image.jpg. But right after upload local image path will be replaced with image name some_image.jpg.
This button is used to browse contents of FTP folder specified as "Images directory" and select some images stored remotely.
Downloads directory
This is just another FTP directory, which is used to store downloadable products. Let's say, your store sells electronic brochures, programs or some other things which may be downloaded right after purchase. All mentioned above for images can be applied to downloadable products.
Note: FTP account (settings - login/password) used for images and downloadable Product management must have rights to read/write the appropriate directories, otherwise FTP feature may not work properly.
Click "Test Connection" button to verify whether all the settings you have specified are correct. You should see "Connection Successful" message.
Press 'OK' to save settings and start working.