File Transfer Protocol

Introduction
FTP on a PC: WS-FTP
FTP on a Macintosh: Fetch

USING FILE TRANSFER PROTOCOL (FTP) PROGRAMS

FTP programs allow a user to transfer files from one computer to another. This is the fundamental activity of the Internet; when you are looking at a page in the Internet, you have actually transferred a page from another computer, or server, and brought it into your own computer. In order for this to happen, though, your computer must be networked to that other computer. Without getting into too much technical detail, this simply means that your computer must be connected to a network cable or telephone line so that you can dial-up to the Internet. For most people this means using a modem. To retrieve html documents from a particular server, browsers such as Netscape or Internet Explorer (IE) use HyperText Transfer Protocol (hence the "http://" at the beginning of a web address).

As you begin to create web pages, you will become very familiar with the whole procedure of transferring and retrieving files. In order for your pages to be viewable via the Internet, you will need to upload them to a server (a computer such as pilot.msu.edu that literally "serves" pages to users of the Internet). No matter what platform you are on or FTP application you are using, the information needed to connect to another computer is basically the same:

1. What is the name of the computer you want to connect to (Host Name)?

2. Who are you (your username)?

3. Do you have permission to log onto this computer (your password)?

At Michigan State University, FTP programs allow students and faculty to send and retrieve files from their AFS space (the university server called "pilot"). Please choose the FTP program/platform you are using:

FTP on a PC - WS_FTP

The standard FTP programs for PC users is WS_FTP. It can also be downloaded for free from shareware sites such as TUCOWS. WS_FTP is located in Windows 95 or later by clicking start, programs, and finding the WS-FTP icon in the WS-FTP folder (At MSU, WS_FTP is located in the "Net Apps" section of the Programs menu).

Windows 95

• When you double click on the WS_FTP icon, a window will appear requesting the same information needed by most FTP programs - where do you want to go and information about you as a user.
• For Host Name, type in the IP address or Domain Name for the computer you want to access.
• Enter in your username and any password required for accessing the computer.
• Leave Host-Type on Auto detect, and the other spaces blank.

At MSU, the following information is required:

• Host Name: pilot.msu.edu
• User ID: your pilot address without the @pilot.msu.edu
• Password: the password for your pilot account

The login screen to access my pilot account would look like this:

Once you enter in your information, press OK. A window will appear that shows the computer you are working on in the left window and the remote computer you are accessing on the right. The left window always shows the computer you are currently working on: so if you are at home, the left side shows the hard drive of your home computer, etc.

If I were to log into my AFS space, the WS_FTP screen would look like this. The computer I'm working on is on the left, and my AFS is shown in the right window.

To Transfer Files to a Remote Computer (for example, to your AFS space or to the Matrix server computer)

• Open the location on the remote computer where you want to save the file by double clicking the folder. For MSU students, all web pages and accompanying images must go inside the web folder.

• Find the file you want to send on the computer you are currently working on. The drives of the computer are listed on the bottom of the left hand window, and double clicking on the green arrow at the top of the left hand window allows you move out of folders on a drive.

• Simply double-click the file you want to send or single clicking it and clicking the arrow pointing to it's destination will send it to the remote computer.

To Retrieve a File From a Remote Computer

• To transfer a file from a remote computer to the one you are working on (i.e. - from your AFS space to your home computer), simply do the opposite of what was done above.
• Open up the location on your computer where you want to save the file.
• Find the file on the remote computer.
• Double click the file you want to retrieve

FTP ON A MACINTOSH: FETCH

On Macs located in the MSU computer labs, Fetch is located in the communications folder. To use Fetch to transfer your files to your AFS space:

• Open up the Fetch folder and Double click on the Fetch icon
• If an "Open Connection" box does not appear after double clicking the icon, click on file and scroll down to "New Connection" and this will open a new open connection box.

Fetch (like all FTP programs) wants to know two things - What computer do you want to access and who are you? To access a remote computer, you need to know its IP address or domain name which you would enter next to Host. For example, If an MSU student wanted to send a web page to their AFS space, they would have to enter the address of the computer their AFS space was located on (pilot.msu.edu), their pilot address (without the @pilot.msu.edu), and password. Listed below is the login screen to access my AFS space on the pilot server.

• Once you have entered in your information, press OK and Fetch will access the computer you have specified. Below is a Picture of my AFS space on the pilot server.

To Transfer Files to a Remote Computer:

• Select the location you wish to send files to on the server. For MSU students, web pages need to be put into the web folder of your AFS space.
• To transfer files from your computer to another computer, click the "Put" button.

  

• Clicking Put will bring up a window that will allow you to select the file you want to send to the remote computer. Find your file on your computer by clicking on the arrow next to "Fetch 3.02 Folder" and scrolling down to the location of your file. The file I'm going to send is on the desktop, so I'll drag down to that.

  

• Double click on the file you want to send to the remote computer. When you do, a window will appear that allows for specific formatting of the file you want to send. Click on the arrow next to format and select RAW DATA.

  

• Once you've selected Raw Data, click OK and Fetch will transfer the file.

To Retrieve Files from a Remote Computer

• To transfer files from a remote computer to your computer (i.e. - from your AFS space to your computer at home), double click on the file you wish to download to your computer. For instance to transfer the file "1.gif" from my AFS space to the computer I'm working on, I would simply double click it.

• Once you double click the file, a window will appear that allows a location to be selected for the file. Select the location and click Save. Fetch will then transfer the file to that location on your computer.