File Transfer Protocol (FTP) is a simple way to exchange files between computers. The FTP program is designed specifically to simplify file access between network computers. You may move from directory to directory on a remote computer, examine the contents of its individual directories, transfer files from the remote computer to your computer, and put files from your local computer onto the remote computer. You can FTP to a computer where you have your own account and password, such as your Webtoil server. Many facilities have information they allow people without accounts on their computers to access. These common types of connections are called anonymous FTP. This means when you are logging on to a remote computer you simply enter anonymous as the user name. The system gives you instructions for entering an appropriate password. Often you are asked to enter your e-mail address for the password.

To use FTP, you will need a piece of software on your PC called an FTP client. Some common FTP clients are listed below, and can be downloaded by clicking on the links:

WS_FTP
SmartFTP
CuteFTP
Fetch (for Macs)


This tutorial is based around SmartFTP but all other clients operate pretty much the same way and the settings will all be the same.

When you load your FTP program you will be asked to enter a server address, a login name and a password.




Address: ftp.yourdomain.com
Login: username@yourdomain.com
Password: yourpassword


Once you've entered this information hit the enter key and the program will connect to the server.

The folder that you want to put all your html files into is called 'mainwebsite_html'.

Similarly CGI goes in the 'mainwebsite_cgi' folder and Perl goes in 'mainwebsite_perl'.




The program operates very much like explorer. It's just a matter of dragging and dropping the files into the correct folders from your local drive.