Support @ NOCservices: The Network Operations Center for Small Business

Using FTP

Background information

For many years, the File Transfer Protocol, or FTP, was one of the biggest uses of the Internet. It was the chief way of moving data from one machine to another. Even today, with the prevalence of web browsers and web servers, FTP remains the best way to move information from one location another when the primary goal is to simply move it. The HyperText Transfer Protocol, or HTTP, which is used for web traffic is better suited for situations where the server and/or browser need to interpret the data rather than just move it from place to place.

FTP is also preferrable to e-mail for the transfer of files due to its efficiency. Because Internet e-mail systems are designed primary to transfer text messages, they must encode other types of data so that they can travel across the Internet without getting corrupted. This means that the e-mail message can often be 150% or more of the size of the original file, when used to move files around the Net.

How might I use it?

As a NOCservices's client, you will probably most often use an FTP program to put files onto our web servers so that they can be delivered to your site's visitors. When you start your FTP client, you will typically be asked for a few pieces of information which the client will use to connect to the server. They are:

The name of the server to which you want to connect.

Use the name of your site; for example, www.example.com

Your username on that server

Use the username provided to you when your account was setup.

Your password on that server

Use the password assigned when your account was setup, or whatever you may have changed your account password to since then.

The directory you want to access on the server

All of the directories you will want are within your home directory. However, some FTP clients want a complete path to the directory while most are satisfied with just a relative path from your home directory. If using htdocs, cgi-bin or ftp gives you an error message, try adding /username/ in front of it, where username is the username you used above (e.g., if you login with the username example, try using /example/htdocs as the directory name).

If you are uploading HTML, images, etc. that visitors need to be able view directly, you want to put them in the example.com-htdocs directory, where example.com is your account's main domain name.
If you are uploading CGI scripts, put them in the example.com-cgi-bin directory.
If you are uploading files for your own anonymous FTP site (see below), put them in the example.com-ftp directory.

Why do we want an anonymous FTP server?

As noted above, FTP is a very efficient way to move data around the Internet -- much more so than e-mail, for example. Also, many e-mail systems on the Internet will not accept large e-mail messages as they clog up the mail servers. Enter anonymous FTP where you can make files available for download without requiring each visitor have a username and password to access the FTP server. (You can also make it possible for others to FTP files to your anonymous FTP server.)

Anonymous FTP services are available at no additional cost for all "Small Business Online" and "E-commerce" virtual hosting accounts. They can also be configured, at no additional cost, on dedicated and co-located servers provided the software selection you choose includes FTP server capabilities.

What else do I need to know about FTP?

For some reason few really understand, different operating systems have different ideas about what a text file is supposed to look like. A text file saved on a Macintosh looks different (to the computer) than a text file saved on a Windows computer, even if to a human the contents are identical. And, both Mac and Windows text files are formatted differently than text files on a Unix machine.

While this doesn't make a practical difference in most situations since humans can't tell the difference and web servers and web browsers are smart enough to compensate for this, it is very important for a web server to be able to run a CGI script properly.

Nearly every FTP client will allow you specify the format of the file transfer. For images, sounds and other data files, you want to use "image" or "binary" or "raw data" mode -- they all mean the same thing: transfer the file exactly as-is. However, for text files, especially CGI scripts, you want to do the transfer in "ASCII" or "text" mode. When you select this option, the FTP client program and the FTP server talk to each other and figure out what a text file is supposed to look like on their side of the conversation. Then, they automatically convert from the one format to the other for you so you don't have to worry about the differences between a Mac, Windows and Unix text file.

So, now that I know about FTP, where do I get an FTP client?

There a number of good FTP clients. Each has a slightly different user interface so you might prefer one over another because it seems easier for you to use. We have included links to a few below so you can try them, but you should feel free to try others as well. Also, if you only want to use FTP to update your website, you should check the documentation of whatever program you use to design your site as many include a limited FTP client just for the purposes of uploading a site to a web server.

Macintosh: Anarchie Pro; Fetch; NetFinder

Windows: CuteFTP; WebDrive; WS_FTP LE

* - NOC Services Corp. is not endorsing or recommending any of these products. We use some more regularly than others but are simply listing them all as options for our clients to consider.

18 Morris Avenue, Suite 3A
Springfield, NJ 07081-1405
Voice: +1-973-379-9773
Fax: +1-973-467-4707

Design by Minimalistic Design