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Getting started with FTP
The process by which files are transferred to the web server is called
"FTP" (File Transport Protocol). You have unlimited access via FTP
24-hours a day. As such, you can create and maintain your web pages on your own
computer and upload files to your web site at your leisure.
Internet providers such as AOL, Compuserve, and
Prodigy may have a built-in FTP interface. If you have a PPP internet account
and need an FTP program, you can download software for for either the PC or Mac
below. PC users should download WinZip
if you do not already have a program to extract .zip files.
For the PC, WS_FTP is available for download on
a 30-day trial/demo period. Users will be asked to purchase the product after
that time.
• WS_FTP
For the Mac, "Fetch" is available:
• Fetch
• Fetch
documentation
Microsoft FrontPage Users
Customers with Microsoft FrontPage extensions installed on their sites should
use only the FrontPage publishing feature to transfer files. Using regular FTP
can corrupt the extensions, disabling the functionality of the FrontPage web and
requiring that the site be deleted to reinstall the extensions.
Configuring Your FTP Software
The following information is contained within your account activation notice and
is needed to connect to your web site via FTP:
• USERID
• TEMP PASSWORD
• FTP HOSTNAME
The hostname tells your FTP software to connect to the web server upon which
your web site resides. In general, the process of configuring the various FTP
software programs is the same. We recommend WS_FTP for PC computer users and
will be using it in the upcoming examples.
Each time you run WS_FTP the Session Profile
window will be displayed. A profile contains the information needed to connect
to your web site. Creating a profile now will eliminate the need for you to
configure the software each time you wish to connect to the web server via FTP.
To create a new profile, click the "New" button and enter a generic
profile name at the top of the Session Profile window. Next, enter the userid,
password and hostname for your web site as illustrated below.
Fig.1
Be sure to select "Auto detect" for
the Host Type. (see Fig.1) It is best to select "Save Password" and
"Auto Save Config" to maintain these settings for future use. All
other fields can be left blank. You are now ready to connect to the web server.
Click "Ok" to continue.
How to Transfer Files
When you connect to the web server, you will connect directly to the root
("home") directory of your account. WS_FTP will display a split screen
where files on the left-hand side are within your own computer. (see Fig.2) You
will see several folders on the right-hand side such as bin, cgi-cgin, dev, etc,
lib, and stats which are landmarks suggesting a successful connection to your
web site, this always depends on what server/control panel you are running on.
Fig.2
You can transfer files directly to the root
level and/or create subdirectories. The only system directory that you may need
to use is cgi-bin or mainwebsite_cgi which is where you should upload your own
custom CGI scripts.
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Home Page
UNIX: Our servers will look for a "home page" in the following order:
index.html, index.htm, index.html
Be sure to upload HTML documents and scripts in
ASCII mode and images in BINARY mode. To transfer a file to a subdirectory,
double-click the appropriate subdirectory to open it before transferring the
desired file(s).
As soon as a file is uploaded to the web
server, it is available for all to see. If, after uploading a file, you are
still unable to see the updated file via Netscape, you need to clear both disk
and browser cache. This function can be found by selecting Options > Network
Preferences in Netscape. Remember that you must first be connected to the
internet through your local internet service provider in order to connect to the
web server.
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Acceptable File Names
Our UNIX/LINUX operating system (Apache) is case sensitive. In other words, the
file name "faq.html" is NOT the same as "FAQ.html". If your
HTML code references a faq.html, but the actual file name is in uppercase, this
will result in a File Not Found error. This applies to directory names as well.
To prevent errors, we suggest naming all files
in lowercase. Spaces and and special control characters are generally not a good
idea. The underscore character ("_") is acceptable. You should avoid
special characters ( ! @ # $ % ^ & * : ' ) in file names. We suggest that
you keep the length of file names to a minimum. The tilde (~) cannot be used in
directory or file names.
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Notes to Mac Users
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When using Fetch, select
"text" to transfer HTML pages and Perl scripts, and select
"raw data" to transfer images, sounds, movies, pdf files, and
most other formats. |
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PageMill may add either a
.bin or .txt extension to your files which must be removed in order for
such files to load properly. |
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Viewing Web Pages in Netscape
Webmasters often modify an HTML document and re-upload it to the server. After
returning to their web browser they click RELOAD only to find the original
document unchanged. This is a common occurrence for Netscape users and is easily
remedied by clearing the browser's disk cache. This can be done in Netscape
under Options > Network Preferences.
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