FTP Instructions

For repeated use, it is easiest to use an FTP client program or an HTML editor. For one time use, it may be easier to FTP with a browser or Windows Explorer. Command line FTP is the most awkward of the four methods and should only be used if the other methods do not work, e.g. due to the presence of a firewall In addition to these methods, a few web sites (e.g. Geocities) have a web-based file manager/upload program; use of an FTP client or an HTML editor is much more convenient than this latter method.

Key Parameters for Various Servers

Regardless of the FTP method you use, you will need to know several key parameters for the server with which you want to FTP. I have listed these below for several ISPs and colleges.

Category	Where Site is being Hosted	What to Enter in Box
Host Name/Address	AOL	members.aol.com
	Angelfire	ftp.angelfire.com
	Comcast	upload.comcast.net
	Cox	members.cox.net
	Earthlink	fftp-dom.earthlink.net
	GMU	mason.gmu.edu
	NVCC Faculty/Staff	www.nvcc.edu
	NVCC Student	www.student.nvcc.edu
	Verizon	as of 2011, no longer allows users to FTP
User Name	AOL	anonymous
	Earthlink, Comcast, Cox,GMU Mason	your username, e.g. wpegram
	NVCC Faculty/Staff	nvcc/your lanid
	NVCC Student	nvstu/your lanid
Password	AOL	your username@aol.com
	Comcast, Cox, Earthlink, NVCC	your password
	Angelfire	/Angelfire Directory/Angelfire Member Name
Initial Remote Host Directory (Startup)	AOL, Angelfire, Comcast, NVCC Student, GMU Mason	leave blank
	NVCC Faculty/Staff	/home/username, e.g. wpegram
Initial Local Directory	All services	directory where you have your files, e.g. c:\nvcc

Depending on the ISP, there may be additional issues. For example GMU Mason - You must create a directory in your account called public_html and put an index.html file in this directory. You will also need to set some permissions.

Viewing Your Files on the Internet

Once you have FTP'd your files, you can view them on the internet through your browser. For this, you will need to know your website address. In the table below, I have shown the web address for some accounts:

Angelfire	www.angelfire.com/directory/username where directory is chosen from a list of states or topics than Angelfire provides
Comcast	http://home.comcast.net/~username or http://username.home.comcast.net
Cox	http://members.cox.net/username
GMU Mason	http://mason.gmu.edu/~username
NVCC Student	www.student.nvcc.edu/home/your lanid
NVCC Faculty	www.nvcc.edu/home/username

FTP Client Programs

CoreFTP is now being used at NVCC and SSH Secure Shell is being used at GMU. For further information on the latter, see SSH Secure Shell Instructions.

Common Problems

Most of your problems with FTP are likely to result from not understanding or paying close enough attention to directories/folders.

a) Suppose you are keeping all your web page files on your hard drive in a folder called nvcc. You should NOT transfer the folder nvcc via FTP to the server. You do not want the folder nvcc on the server. Instead, transfer the FILES in the NVCC folder to the server. (One of these should be the index.html file, so your home page will display without having to type in a filename). In addition to transferring the files in the folder, you can transfer the folders within the folder NVCC -- the program will ask you whether you want to transfer the associated directory structure, and you should say yes.

Make sure you understand the previous paragraph. Draw a diagram showing folders on your computer and the server if you don't.

b) When you are using FTP, work carefully. Pay attention to where you are, particularly on the server side. After transferring files, it never hurts to check on the destination side (typically the server) that your files have gone to the folder you intended.

As indicated in previous messages, you can transfer one or more folders and their contents using an FTP program. You simply click on the folder (do not open it up) and transfer the folder (the files within the folder are automatically transferred). Normally, I do this once, and once the folder is created, I only transfer files. So if I have files in the HW1 folder on my computer, I open up the folder with the FTP program on my computer, do the same on the server, and transfer whatever files I want transferred. This is what I have meant by being on the same level on both your computer and the server.

Alternatively, you can transfer a folder and its contents even though the folder already exists on the server; it simply overwrites what is there. Thus if I wanted to transfer the folder HW1 and its contents from my computer to the server, I click on HW1 on the left hand side, with the folder HW1 visible on the right hand side, and do the transfer. If you open up the HW1 folder on the right hand hand side and then try to do the transfer of the folder, it will create a HW1 directory within the existing HW1 directory on the server, which is not what you want. (Note: If you are in this situation, you can abort the transfer by saying "no" when the program will ask you whether you want to transfer the folder and its contents).

Directions for Using Windows Explorer FTP

For Windows Explorer In the location bar at the top, enter ftp://hostname. You will then be prompted for your username and password. Once you are in, you can copy and paste files from My Computer or Windows Explorer to upload files, or copy and paste file to My Computer or Windows Explorer to download files. For the mason server, use ftp://username@hostname as in the Firefox example below.

For Firefox, there is a plugin called FireFTP; for Chrome, there is an extension called FTP Free..

Directions for using command line FTP:

4) For NVCC, type open hostname where hostname is as given in the table above. For example, for NOVA student, type

and hit enter. For each, enter username and password when prompted. For the NOVA student server, you would enter nvstu/username for the username where username is replaced by your username; for the faculty/staff server, you would enter nvcc/username.

5) Once you are in, you can see a list of available commands by typing "help". Type help followed by the name of a command, and you get a very brief description of what it does. Some commands you will find useful:

lcd - Changes local directory
cd - Changes remote directory
dir - Directory list of remote (I couldn't see a command for a local directory listing; one can open up Windows Explorer or a second DOS prompt for this)
put filename - transfers a single file from the local to the remote directory ("upload")
mput *.* - transfers multiple files from local to the remote (it asks you about each one and you can answer yes or no)
get filename - transfers the file from the remote directory to the local directory ("download")
mget *.* - transfers multiple files from the remote to the local (it asks you about each one and you can answer yes or no)
close or disconnect - to end the session

If you need to type in a filename that is longer than 7 or 8 characters, put the filename in quotes. (This is the appropriate procedure at the Command Prompt; but is inappropriate within a Windows application such as WS_FTP.)