FTP is easy!
FTP is easy!
Once you have managed to get connected to the Internet well enough to go "Web surfing" you should also be able to use a feature called FTP which stands for File Transfer Protocol.
FTP is a standard used right across the Internet on all types of computers which allows a host computer to share some of it's files with other computers also accept files sent to it across the Internet.
Many major software and hardware vendors make their latest patches, drivers and documentation available via FTP instead of via a BBS system as was more common in the past. It is cheaper and easier for their customers to use the Internet to access files from anywhere in the world - without incurring international phone bills.
We run an FTP site (ftp.typetamer.com.au) which gives people access to all the logos and utilities available on the Desktop BBS as well as providing a way for us to accept files over the Internet.
As the heading says FTP is easy, but certainly it can look a bit intimidating when you start. It is best to have a play with FTP one day when you have a bit of spare time rather than waiting till you have an urgent job to send to us, or need a vendor patch to fix a problem on a job that is running late!
Most Internet software includes a Windows FTP program along with the Web browser, email package and news reader programs. Because the FTP program included by each Internet provider is different, we can't give you specific instructions on how to use your particular program here, but will provide an overview of the principles of making an FTP connection and sending and receiving files.
If your Internet Service Provider has not supplied you with an FTP program, we recommend one called CuteFTP. This is a shareware program which costs $30US to register but you can use it for a 30 day trial period. CuteFTP have a WWW site where you can get more information and download the latest version .
The first thing you will want to do when starting an FTP session is to make the connection via the Internet to the FTP server system. Most FTP programs include a `site manager' which allows you to store the settings for various sites for later use. You will need to enter in the site's address, which is normally of the form ftp.host.domain such as in ftp.micro- soft.com. or ftp.typetamer. com.au. Your FTP program may already have some sites programmed into it when you start, so you can use these to test that all is working if you have doubts about what you have typed in.
You may need to set a login type, choose anonymous for most situations. If you need to supply a username use "anonymous" supply your e-mail address as a password.
The reason for this is at a lower level FTP works a bit like an interactive terminal session, you are asked for a username and have to supply a password for access, then specify commands to view, send and receive files. Most FTP sites use the convention of a special username with no password called "anonymous" which gives access to the public areas of the site. People with special privileges on that server can have their own username and password which give them access to other areas. Windows- based FTP programs usually hide this dialogue from you and give you a drag and drop mouse driven interface, but behind the scenes they communicate with the FTP server using a command line interface. If you are having problems you may be able to see a window with these commands which can help in solving problems.
Once you have set the site's address you can try connecting to an FTP site. If all goes well you will see a directory structure appear a few seconds after the connection is made. You may also be prompted to receive an index file, which your program will use to show you a brief description of each file in the remote directory you are in. It is usually a good idea to say `yes' to this prompt as it's hard to tell what a file is for just from it's name.
Once you have this directory structure in front of you, you can navigate around as if the FTP site were a drive on your machine, try double clicking on a directory to change directory. Most FTP sites have a directory called PUB which has publicly accessible files. There are often a few others such as BIN, ETC, USR or LIB which are FTP system areas and don't contain anything useful to you. Almost always, the files you want will be found under the PUB directory. The exception to this will be if you are sending a file to the site, a directory called INCOMING is often used for this, don't worry that you can't see any files in the directory as for security reasons it is set up to be writable but not readable, that way no one else can see the files you have sent. On our FTP site there is a special directory like this for accepting jobs for processing called "newjobs".
Once you have got to the directory on the FTP site you are after, you will need to set the directory on your machine that the transfers will be made to and from. This can usually be done by navigating up and down your directory structure, but sometimes there may be a special menu command to change directories. There is often a menu option to save this directory for next time you start FTP, and also to save the current remote directory, so next time you connect to this FTP site you will go straight to this directory.
You are now almost ready to send or receive files, the last thing to check is that the file transfer type is set to binary or auto-detect. Often you will be using FTP to transfer executable or compressed files, if these are moved as ASCII files data will be corrupted and they will not work. Sending an ASCII file via binary transfer will do no harm to the file, so it is best to leave the setting on binary so you don't have to worry about it.
Now you should be able to select a file on the remote system and download it to your local directory. If you choose a large file this may take some time as the Internet can occasionally be quite slow. This is not necessarily a problem with a slow link between you and your ISP, but any be at some other point on the Internet.
Sometimes you may experience problems transferring multi-megabyte files, the link to your ISP may freeze or be lost due to a line glitch or similar. If this happens you will often have to start all over again as many FTP clients and servers have no facility to re-start a partly completed transfer (when you register CuteFTP however this feature becomes available for FTP sites that support it, such as Typetamer's).
Spend some time becoming familiar with FTP as it will be well worth it to you in the long run it is a great way to get files from overseas vendor sites and also send your jobs to TT!
