Using WS_FTP. This tutorial explains how to use WS_FTP, a File Transfer Program for Microsoft Windows. INFORMATION SYSTEMS SERVICES.

Transcription

1 INFORMATION SYSTEMS SERVICES Using WS_FTP This tutorial explains how to use WS_FTP, a File Transfer Program for Microsoft Windows. AUTHOR: Information Systems Services DATE: July 2003 EDITION: 1.1 TUT 88 25p UNIVERSITY OF LEEDS

2 Contents Introduction 1 About FTP 1 Prerequisites 1 Using FTP from ISS Clusters 1 Task 1 Getting Started 2 Task 2 Editing the Session Properties 3 Task 3 Transferring Files 6 Task 4 Quitting WS_FTP 8 Format Conventions In this document the following format conventions are used: Commands that you must type in are shown in bold Courier font. Menu items are given in a Bold, Arial font. Keys that you press are enclosed in angle brackets. Feedback WIN31 Windows Applications <Enter> If you notice any mistakes in this document please contact the Information Officer. should be sent to the address info-officer@leeds.ac.uk Copyright This document is copyright University of Leeds. Permission to use material in this document should be obtained from the Information Officer ( should be sent to the address info-officer@leeds.ac.uk) Print Record This document was printed on 16-Sep-05. 1

3 Introduction About FTP FTP stands for File Transfer Protocol, and is a method of transferring files across computers on the Internet. WS_FTP is a tool for Microsoft Windows which uses FTP to transfer files. You can both download files from the remote site and upload files from your computer to the remote site using FTP. Many sites run anonymous FTP servers. This means you do not need a username and password to login to them. Examples of anonymous FTP sites include sites which distribute shareware and freeware software. Most anonymous FTP sites only allow downloading of files, and if uploading is allowed it is usually restricted to specific directories. Other sites may be protected, and require a username and password. For example, a username and password are required to connect to the Media Services FTP site. Once connected you can upload your files to the site ready for them to be printed by Media Services. As with anonymous FTP sites, uploading and downloading of files can be restricted by the owner of the remote site. Note: You can also download files from an FTP site using web browsers such as Netscape or Internet Explorer Prerequisites This document assumes you can log on to the network, are familiar with Windows and are running WS-FTP from the ISS desktop. Using FTP from ISS Clusters FTP access from ISS Clusters is only permitted to other machines within the University of Leeds. 1

4 Task 1 Getting Started Objective To open WS_FTP. Instructions You will run WS_FTP from the Start menu. Comments Activity 1.1 Click on the Start icon to open the Start menu. Move your mouse pointer over Programs, Internet Tools and click on WsFTP. 2

5 Task 2 Editing the Session Properties Objective To edit the Session Properties information and connect to a remote site. Instructions You will enter various information about the remote computer into the Session Properties window. Comments For security reasons you should not save passwords on shared machines such as those in the ISS clusters. Activity 2.1 The Session Profile window appears as shown below. Activity 2.2 Enter the following information: Activity 2.3 Profile Name Mirror The Profile Name is just for information and can contain any value. Host Name/Address ftp.mirror.ac.uk This is the address of the site you are going to connect to. In this case it is the UK Mirror Service, a collection of over 150 mirrors of FTP sites. (Also available through a web browser at Click the Anonymous check box. The User ID field will be filled in as Anonymous, and a password will be created. The window should now look like the one shown overleaf. 3

6 Activity 2.4 Click on the Startup tab at the top of the Session Properties window. The window appears as shown below. Enter the following information: Initial Remote Site Folder Initial Local Folder sites/ftp.winsite.com/pub/pc/winnt WS-FTP will automatically change to this directory on the remote site when you connect. If you leave this blank you will connect to the root directory of the remote site. The directory above is an archive of freeware and shareware software for Windows NT. m:\ This is the directory on your local computer that files will be downloaded to. Entering m:\ means WS-FTP will automatically change to your directory on the network. 4

7 Activity 2.5 Click on <OK> to connect to the remote site. Note: If there is a problem with the network the connection may fail. In this case an error message similar to the one below will appear in the status box. To retry press the Connect button again and follow all the steps from Activity

8 Task 3 Transferring Files Objective To transfer a file from the remote site to your directory. Instructions You will download the file. Comments For security reasons you should not save passwords on shared machines such as those in the ISS clusters. Activity 3.1 The main window appears as shown below. The main window has three main areas. On the left is a directory listing and buttons relating to your local system. In this case it shows details of your network directory. On the right is similar information for the remote system. At the bottom is an area that displays status messages. Using the scrollbar on the right hand side scroll down until you see the file SOFTWARE.TXT Click once on SOFTWARE.TXT to select it. Activity 3.2 You must now select transfer mode, with ASCII, Binary or Auto. The transfer mode depends on the type of file you are downloading: ASCII Binary Auto This is used for plain text files (ending in.txt), HTML files (.htm or.html), and any other file you know only contains plain text. It is not suitable for word-processed files (eg Word files.doc) This is used for all non-text files. For example: Archives e.g. Zip, Tar etc. (.zip,.gz,.z,.sit,.tar) Graphics files (.jpg,.gif,.bmp,.tif,.iff, etc.) Movies (.avi,.mov,.mpg, etc.) Multimedia files, e.g. Adobe Acrobat, Shockwave Executables (.exe,.com,.bin) In this mode all files are transferred as Binary unless WS-FTP has been configured to send them as ASCII. In practice this means files ending in.txt are transferred as ASCII, all others as Binary. 6

9 If you transfer a text file in Binary format it may have additional characters inserted at the end of lines. If you use ASCII format to transfer a binary file, the file will often not work, eg image files may not display correctly, program files will not run. As we are transferring a text file, click on ASCII Activity 3.3 Click on the left-pointing arrow the file to your directory. in the middle of the screen to download As the file is being downloaded a Transfer Status box showing the progress of the download will be displayed as shown below. The box will close automatically when the file has been downloaded. For a small file this box may appear and disappear very quickly. Activity 3.4 To verify that the file has been downloaded, scroll through your list of files (using the vertical scroll bar on the Local System (left hand) side of the screen) until you find the file SOFTWARE.TXT Click once on the file to select it, then click on the view button on the Local System side of the window. A Notepad window will open up displaying the file, which contains a list of the contents of the remote site. Click on the close button in the Notepad window to close it. Close box Activity 3.5 To change to a different directory on the remote site you can either: Or Double-click on the directory name in the list on the right-hand side of the window. Directories have a yellow box next to them Double click on the green up-arrow to move up one directory. Click on the ChgDir box (Change Directory) type in the name of the directory in the Input dialog box and click <OK> You can change the directory on your local machine in a similar way using the buttons and list on the left of the screen. 7

10 Task 4 Quitting WS_FTP Objective To disconnect from the remote site and close WS-FTP. Instructions You will use the Close and Exit buttons. Comments The connection to the remote site may be closed automatically if there is no activity for a while. Activity 4.1 To close the connection to the remote site click on the Close button at the bottom left of the screen. The status area at the bottom of the screen will display a message similar to that shown below. The Close button has now been renamed Connect, and clicking on it will bring up the Session Properties box and allow you to connect to another site. Activity 4.2 Click on the Exit button at the bottom right of the screen to quit WS_FTP. 8