Tunnelier
Total Commander doesn't have an SFTP client (secure FTP connection). Even though there is an SFTP plugin by Martin Kanich and Hans-Jürgen Petrich (SFTP for TotalCMD), the implementation isn't mature and the development has been discontinued.
Tunnelier includes a so called FTP-to-SFTP Bridge (beside other features that are based on SSH) that can be accessed by Total Commander.
Use as SFTP Client for Total Commander
Tunnelier establishes a secured connection to the desired SFTP server. Total Commander then can use its normal FTP client to access this connection (via localhost = 127.0.0.1). Tunnelier translates between the FTP and the SFTP protocol.
The program is free for individual use, as well as for limited use inside organizations.
Note: Since version 7 Total Commander supports FTPS (SSL/TLS) based on OpenSSL. However, this isn't compatible to SFTP which is based on SSH. SFTP constitutes the background to this article.
Tips for Configuring
You can set-up Tunnelier and Total Commander to comfortably establish an (S)FTP connection to the desired server with the Start menu. Total Commander calls the Tunnelier application with a profile defined before. Tunnelier then starts the FTP client in the currently running Total Commander session with a connection to the localhost (127.0.0.1, the FTP-to-SFTP bridge) after connecting to the desired server. The two applications do a ping-pong play.
Profile for Tunnelier
- Tab Login:
Enter the desired SFTP server (Host) and the Username for the login here. - Tab Options, area On Login:
In the field Execute Total Commander is executed with FTP access to localhost (command line parameter: /o /s /l=ftp://localhost). You may want to deactivate the options Open Terminal, Open SFTP, and Open Remote Desktop. - Tab Options, option Logout when session activity is over:
Check, so Tunnelier closes the SSH connection to the server after you quit the FTP connection in Total Commander. - Tab Services, area FTP-to-SFTP Bridge:
Check Enabled in order to activate the FTP-to-SFTP bridge. All other settings may be left as they are.
Save the profile with a name of your choice to an arbitrary directory (e.g. MyProfile.tlp).
Start Menu Entry for Total Commander
- Command: Calling Tunnelier.exe
- Parameters: -profile=MyProfile.tlp -loginOnStartup -exitOnDisconnect
Tunnelier is called with the profile saved before (the path to the profile is not indicated here, see below). When started, Tunnelier shows a login dialog. The application is quit after closing the FTP and the SSH connection. - Start path: Contains the path to the directory where the Tunnelier profile (MyProfile.tlp) resides.
External links
- Web site of the Bitvise corporation, the developer of Tunnelier
- Website of SFTP4TC, a file system plugin which allows SFTP sessions.
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