INTRODUCTION

Today, file transfer is becoming more and more important because of the increasing demand of sending data from one computer to another. File transfer is a very efficient and portable way to send data across a WAN (Wide Area Network). Efficient because only the data that needs to be transported is sent across the network and no extra information (as database programs do). And portable because today most computers are able to receive files from another computer without the need of special hardware and software. One of the most popular software package is FTP (File Transfer Protocol) which is supported across all platforms.

AIM

The aim of an automatic file distributor is as follows in no particular order of importance:

It must be able to handle any form of files. The sole duty of the AFD is to send a file from one computer to another (or locally from one directory to another). The contents of the file and the file name must be left unchanged.
The management of the AFD can be done by a single person.
Existing applications do not have to be changed. By this it is meant that it is not necessary for them to have a special interface to the AFD.
It must be able to send files parallel. If currently a very large file is being transferred, other files do not have to wait and can be transferred too.
Net capacity is always limited. To overcome this limit files must be send with a priority.
The AFD must be able to send files to other end points where no AFD is installed.
No time should be wasted when collecting files to be distributed. The AFD should start transmission as early as possible and use the whole bandwidth of the network by making full use of local CPU power (SMP).
When you have many active file transfers it must be easy to monitor and to control every single transfer.

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