File Transfer Service¶
The file transfer service is used to transfer files between the mission operations center and the OBC. It may also be used to transfer files between a developer’s system and the OBC when in a development environment.
The service provides file transfer functionality by implementing the file protocol. The file protocol is UDP-based which means a connection is required between the OBC and ground segment capable of transferring UDP packets. This should be established using a standard network connection.
Overview¶
The file transfer service listens for requests on its configured UDP socket.
When a message is received, it is then processed using the file protocol message engine. This logic keeps track of the current state of each client connection and takes the appropriate action depending on the current state and the particular message received.
Actions may also be taken if the service experiences a timeout while waiting for a follow-up message from a client. For example, if a client initiates an export operation and then stops communicating while in the middle of sending file chunks, the service will timeout, check the current status of the file, and then send a NAK to the client with the current missing chunks. Receiving this NAK should cause the client to resume transmitting file chunk data.
Note
This timeout is currently hardcoded to two seconds. It will be a configurable option in a future release.
In order to support simultaneous client connections, whenever a message is received on the main UDP socket, a new socket is spawned in order to handle the rest of the transaction. As a result, after sending the initial import or export request, the transfer client should listen for a reply and then use the new socket as the destination for future transmissions.
Configuration¶
The file transfer service has several configuration options which may be
defined in the system’s config.toml
file:
[file-transfer-service]
storage_dir
- Default: “file-transfer”. The directory which should be used for temporary storage of file chunks. Note: The directory will be created if it does not already exist.timeout
- Default: 2. The length of time, in seconds, for which the service should wait for new messages from the client once a file protocol transaction has been startedchunk_size
- Default: 4096. Each file is broken up into equally sized chunks prior to transfer. This option specifies the size of those chunks in bytes.hold_count
- Default: 5. The number of times the protocol waits for a new message before ending the transaction.
[file-transfer-service.addr]
ip
- Specifies the service’s IP addressport
- Specifies the port on which the service will be listening for UDP packets
For example:
[file-transfer-service]
storage_dir = "my/storage/directory"
timeout = 3600
[file-transfer-service.addr]
ip = "0.0.0.0"
port = 7000
Future configuration options:
- Maximum number of timeout-retry attempts
- Non-default destination IP/port
Running the Service from KubOS¶
The Kubos Linux distribution (as of v1.3.0) ships with the file transfer
service installed and configured to run on boot. This can be verified by
booting the KubOS system, running the ps
command and looking for the
file-service
process. If the service is not running then it can
be started like so:
$ /etc/init.d/S90file-service start
Running the Service from Source¶
The file transfer service can also be run from source if required.
The source is located in the folder kubos/services/file-service
in the KubOS source repo. The service can be started like so:
$ cd kubos/services/file-service
$ cargo run -- -c config.toml
The service will look for the given config.toml
file in order to get the
needed configuration options.