FTP server for KDM transfer

[Ivan Guerrero]

Hello,

I've been thinking of starting a FTP server for KDM delivery in our small theater. We have 8 theaters but its a bit of a hassle to have to go to each individual GDC server to ingest KDMS via USB. We're running GDC SX-2000 servers. I've heard Filezilla can be used for this purpose but I'm sure its not setup properly since the servers don't recognize the ingest source. Does anyone currently have an FTP server setup that could give me some detailed instructions?

[Frank Cox]

I would think any ftp server should work as long as it's on the same network as the gdc server. Can you download from your ftp server using a computer other than the gdc server?

[Martin McCaffery]

I don't know about the SX-2000, we have a 1000. The GDC Web interface software allows you to load KDM's right off of your desktop. Doesn't work with DCP's unfortunately. So no need to setup a FTP network for KDMs.

[Carsten Kurz]

Ivan - how do you ingest your DCPs now?

[Steve Guttag]

On the Classic GDCs (prior to the SR1000), you'd need an FTP server and then set up a source on the GDC interface. Create the source, designate it as an FTP, use whatever user/passwords you may or may not set up and directory. This can be used for content or KDMs but the source has to have an FTP server running.

[Leo Enticknap]

Windows 10 and 11 have a built-in FTP server that can be used for this purpose. We have set this up on the remote access/booth control PCs that we install, and it works well. Rough instructions are as follows (it has been on my to do list to work up a proper cheat sheet with screenshots, but I haven't gotten around to it yet):

1. In control panel > programs and features, select the "turn Windows features on or off" option in the left sidebar
2. Expand the Internet Information Services option, and check FTP Server (this feature is unchecked by default when Windows is installed)
3. In settings, go to Windows Security > Firewall and Network Protection > Advanced Settings. This opens the "Windows Firewall With Advanced Security" window
4. Click on Inbound Rules, then scroll down the list. There should be three FTP Server entries. Right click and enable all of them. This opens the firewall to allow incoming FTP server connections.
5. Create a folder for your FTP server. I prefer to add a second hard drive, or a separate partition if you only have one, for this purpose. Let's say that your folder is D:/FTP_Server.
6. WINDOWS 10: Start > Windows Admin Tools > IIS Manager (not IIS v6 Manager)
7. WINDOWS 11: Start > Windows Tools (opens separate app) > IIS Manager (not IIS v6 Manager)
8. Right click on the root entry for your PC, then create new FTP server. The wizard that then opens should be self-explanatory.

Place any unzipped KDM in your D:/FTP_Server folder, and with your DCP server set to look for the Windows PC as an FTP ingest source, it should see it. Obviously the PC will need to have at least one of its NICs with a static IPv4 address (or a MAC-reserved one on the router's DHCP server) on the management LAN, for ease of connection from the DCP server.

I find that this works very well for all servers except Barco ICMPs, which simply will not see a Windows FTP server set up using this method. Dolby DSSs, all DolRemi server and IMS variants, GDCs and Qubes, all see it and ingest from it without any issue. But not Alchemies, and I've never been able to figure out why. If anyone has any suggestions, they'd be gratefully appreciated. I look after some single screen arthouses without a TMS, in which this facility is quite heavily used.

[Magnus Eriksson]

There is a fairly well hidden sub menu in the IlS manager. Select UNIX (default is MS-DOS) for an Alchemy. (Sorry for the Swedish)


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[Leo Enticknap]

That worked! Thank you so much. The item in English is "FTP Directory Browsing."

[Justin d'Entremont]

We use FileZilla on a dedicated virtual machine.

FYI, if you talk to deluxe, they can deliver unzipped keys directly to an FTP server you setup, provided you give them credentials. We have an FTP server setup (it's a virtual machine setup on a DMZ. FTP is visible from the web via a DNS name, and visible from the projection network via a static IP, but the server is unable to see outbound access to the internet, or see the server network) that Deluxe drops unzipped keys onto at the same time they come by email. From there, I can just go straight onto a server and ingest the keys in a single step. On our part, there's no downloading, unzipping, putting on a USB stick, or walking to the server.

When we got setup, I had to talk to 3 levels of support, because the first people on the phone (overseas I think) didn't have any clue what I was talking about. Once I got someone who knew what FTP meant, they just asked for the FTP server DNS address, and a username and log random password, and then we were literally setup in under 2 minutes and they pushed copies of all our valid keys. I can also put keys from other companies in the same folder via a network share, in the same way you would copy them to a USB stick.