FAQ's about your FTP sites
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- A. FTP stands for "File Transfer Protocol." A protocol is a language computers use to talk to one another. (See the "protocol" help file.) FTP is a protocol computers use to move a file from one computer to another over the Internet.
- The computer on the other end of the connection may be anything from a Cray to a PC, located anywhere from Portland to Finland, Thailand, or New Zealand. As far as you are concerned, it makes _no_ difference where the other computer is located or what type of machine it is.
- "ftp" is also the name of a UNIX program for transferring files from one computer to another. Another UNIX program for doing this is "ncftp". For UNIX users, we recommend ncftp over ftp. (Note: when you see FTP in capital letters, I am referring to the process; when you see ftp in lower case letters I am referring to the UNIX program.)
- Ws_ftp is a Windows FTP program, and Fetch is a Macintosh FTP program.
- People also use the term "FTP" in a general sense as well. When someone says "I am going to FTP the file from another site" what they mean is that they are going to use a program that uses the File Transfer Protocol to get a file from another computer to their own.
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- A. When you connect to a site, you can connect as an anonymous user, or using a login. "Anonymous FTP" means a site will accept a login of "anonymous" and let anyone have access to certain files.
- When you connect to a site where you have a login, like Access, use your login. Our subscribers have access to more files on our system than do anonymous users.
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- A. This section is for people using FTP with an IP account - Ws_ftp on Windows, or Fetch on a Macintosh. People using ftp or ncftp in UNIX will not have these problems.
- Sometimes when you try to FTP a large file, the transfer gets part way through then locks up. Generally this happens because the transfer is taking so long that your connection with the remote site "times out." In other words, you are taking too long to get the file, so the remote site kicks you off.
- When this happens you should transfer the file from the remote site to a directory on Access, then transfer it from Access to your computer. You can use your home directory on Access, or you can use the /tmp directory.
- This works because the transfer between Access and the remote site is fast enough to not time out the connection. The transfer between Access and your computer, on the other hand, is not fast enough to not time out the connection with a remote site. And unlike the very busy remote sites, Access will not time you out if it takes a while to transfer the file from a Access directory to your computer.
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- A. Here is the URL's for your FTP site.
- To access your FTP site from a web browser to go to URL "ftp://ftp.hypersurf.com/pub/users/u/username/
- (where 'u' = the first letter of your username and 'username' = your username on AIC)
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- A. Here are just a few.
- Macintosh - Fetch
- Windows - WS FTP
- UNIX - FTP