Uploading files to SharePoint ECM solution via FTP

Question

I am new to the SP 2010 Enterprise Content Management arena. I am investigating the limitations and benefits of SP ECM in respect to our organization. As opposed to creating a custom solution.

We have external systems that have to interact with SP ECM. These systems need to retrieve, store, and update documents in SP. These systems include a FTP system that bulk uploads documents and images. Can this FTP system be integrated in such a way to enable bulk uploading to SP? If yes, please lead me to a direction (links).

Answer 1

I have not worked with a package that did this but it wouldn't be too difficult to simply write a SharePoint Timer Job and have it monitor the file path where files uploaded via FTP are stored. When new files are found, it could then uploading it into the desired location in SharePoint.

Naturally, FTP isn't the most secure of protocols so you would probably want to run the uploads through a good anti-virus prior to putting the files into SharePoint.

Answer 2

Not a SharePoint developer, but I would be suprised if you could do it over ftp. SharePoint does, I'll use the term, "support" the use of WebDav. WebDav is actually how the Office applications push and pull documents down. I have used it to sideload small and large numbers of documents. Not sure what third-party software you are using but would it be able to push the files to SharePoint using WebDav? The nice thing is that it is just a writable http(s) connection so if you are using SSL/TLS you will get built in encryption and verification.