Zipping a directory to a remote location in Java

Question

I'm trying to create a zip file from a directory in Java, then place that file on a remote server (a network share). I'm currently getting an error because the Java File object cannot reference a remote location and I'm not really sure where to go from there.

Is there a way to zip a directory in Java to a remote location without using the File class?

Answer 1

Create the ZIP file locally and use either commons-net FTP or SFTP to move the ZIP file across to the remote location, assuming that by "remote location" you mean some FTP server, or possibly a blade on your network.

If you are using the renameTo method on java.io.File, note that this doesn't work on some operating systems (e.g. Solaris) where the locations are on different shares. You would have to do a manual copy of the file data from one location to another. This is pretty simple using standard Java I/O.