Help on uploading testcase files

Procedure Summary

To upload a testcase file related a"Bull Ticket", you have two options:

• Uploading the file through HTTP (i.e. with a web browser), using the Bull Support Upload Center.
• Uploading the file onto the Bull Support FTP server.

Both options are compared in the table below:

Uploads through HTTP

If you choose the HTTP upload method, Go to the Bull Support Upload Center

Uploads through FTP: Procedure Summary

If you choose the FTP upload method, refer to the procedure below:

If you have connection problems when using FTP, read below the note Troubleshooting FTP problems.

Once the file upload is completed, it is automatically unpacked, and the resulting file(s) is stored in the Bull testcase repository. So, do not worry if you see that the file you have put in the 'testcase' directory has disappeared.

FTP Procedure Details

Naming convention for testcase files

The name of the file must conform to special conventions so that we can identify to which problem it relates.

• It must begin with the ticket number (such as 130603-BS007 depending on the ticket type).
• After this prefix, the rest of the name must be a dot ("." character) followed by any string, but it is preferable to choose meaningful file name extensions.

Here are 6 examples of acceptable file names:

      130603-BS007.infofile.Z
      130603-BS007.gz
      130603-BS007.txt

Accepted formats for testcase files

A testcase file to be uploaded may be in these formats:

• a tar, pax or cpio archive file, optionally (but preferably) compressed with compress (.Z), gzip (.gz) or zip (.zip)
• a simple individual file (for example a text file), optionally compressed

Important notes:

• Files larger than 2GBytes can be transfered using this procedure.
  Although no size limit is enforced, it should be avoided when possible to transfer huge files (larger than, say, 5GBytes): setting up a connection for remote troubleshooting may be a better option.
• When you have several files to send, please package them as a unique archive file (e.g. a zip or compressed tar file).
  In other words, please do not transfer multiple individual files for the same problem (doing this would require additional administrative tasks and would delay the processing and resolution of the problem).
• When you make a tar, pax or cpio archive, please do use relative file names for member files of the archive, so that we can correctly unpack the archive.
  In other words, member file names must not begin with a slash ("/"). For example, foobar, ./foobar and ./path/to/foobar are relative names and thus correct names for archive member files, whereas /absolute/path/to/foobar is absolute and incorrect for the purpose of a testcase file. Testcase files that do not comply with this requirement are discarded and may be lost.

Troubleshooting FTP problems

Connection problems when using FTP may have various causes. Here are a few hints to troubleshoot FTP problems:

• Firewall-related problems: try the 'passive' FTP mode

  Some of you are working from behind a firewall configured in such a manner that the normal operation mode of FTP does not work.
  Symptoms: In such a firewall environment, a typical symptom is that you have the FTP prompt, you can connect to the server, you can type a command such as 'bin', but when you try to use a 'dir' or 'put' command, you have no feedback, and after a while, you obtain an error message indicating a timeout and/or an impossibility to establish a connection (messages examples are: '500 Illegal PORT command', and '425 Can't build data connection: Connection timed out.')
  Solution: If you are experiencing such symptoms, connect again to the server through FTP, and before attempting a put or dir operation, type the "pass" command at the FTP prompt (or enable the "passive" FTP mode option of your FTP client). Then, you may try "dir": if it work, that's OK, your firewall accepts FTP connexion when made using the passive mode.

• Other things to try before requesting help: is FTP to elsewhere working?

  You tried the 'passive' FTP mode as explained above, and you still have FTP problems when connecting to bullupload.com?
  Before requesting help (to webmaster), check that you are able to connect to any other FTP server (non-Bull) on the internet.
  For example, try to connect to any of these anonymous FTP servers: service.software.ibm.com or ftp.gnu.org or rtfm.mit.edu.
  If with these servers you have the same problems/symptoms than with bullupload.com, you have a general networking problem (firewall? proxy? misconfigured client?...), and this problem is independent of our FTP server: contact your network administrator or provider to solve your problem.

(end of procedure)