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© Ashley Preston 2001

FTP

What Is FTP?

FTP stands for 'File Transfer Protocol'. It allows retrieval of files (documents, pieces of computer files, anything that can be stored in binary or ASCII form) from other computers on the net. FTP is one of the three basic Internet tools which were available prior to the World Wide Web, the other two being email and Telnet. If someone wants to make a file available to other people then instead of emailing the file on request, the file can be made available in a publicly accessible area of the owner's host computer. People using other systems connecting to that machine via TCP/IP can then be provided with the facility to run a program that takes advantage of the File Transfer Protocol, often called some variant of 'FTP' itself and allows them to access the public area on the machine to 'get' the file. This facility is known as 'anonymous FTP' because it is possible to use a guest account (usually with 'anonymous' as the ID) and password (usually your email address) to access the public areas. Of course, between two or more institutions FTP could be set up so that it could only be used by certain account holders, but it is the general, open facility that makes FTP such a useful tool.

File Transfer Protocol also allows you to 'put' files into directories of machines where you have some kind of account. This is particularly useful when you have created Web Pages and need to upload them onto the machine containing the Web Server.

FTP Server Overview

From downloading the newest software to transferring corporate documents, a significant percentage of Internet traffic consists of file transfers. Files can be transferred via HTTP, but the page orientation of the Web protocol has disadvantages, especially for performance and control. That's where one of the oldest of the Internet services steps in: File Transfer Protocol (FTP). Essentially, FTP makes it possible move one or more files between computers with security and data integrity controls appropriate for the Internet.

FTP is a typical client and server arrangement. The FTP server does the heavy lifting of file security, file organization, and transfer control. The client, sometimes built into a browser and sometimes a specialized program, receives the files and places them onto the local hard disk. Clients range from invisible (typically in a browser), to command-line (the user types the commands), to elaborate GUI versions.

What Kinds Of Files Are There On The Internet?

Basically the same files or software that are available on computers: program files (including operating systems), text files (including hypertext files and program code), word-processed files, graphic files, database files, spreadsheet files, audio files, video files, midi files and many more. Since the Internet protocols allow the transfer of data between different types of computer, you can pick up files from machines running a variety of different operating systems, whether they are UNIX, MSDOS, windows or MAC OS. Many files are available to be incorporated into your personal work. These files may have copyright restrictions on their use. Program files may be freeware, shareware or only available if paid for.

There are many different sources of software from government departments around the world, international agencies, individual companies, universities, research groups, colleges, groups of individuals with particular interests in common, electronic magazines or private individuals.

How Can I Download Files?

Many of the files on the Internet are plain text files known as ASCII, but some are stored in particular formats. These can be for particular word-processors or particular graphics packages. If the formats are for particular operating systems and you do not have that operating system, then ignore the file. If you desperately want it, look for it stored in a different format. Most wordprocessors and graphics packages are capable of translating files stored in other common formats. For instance, Word for Windows is provided with a number of file translation facilities, and optional further facilities. These allow you to translate text files, files in the format of its main two competitors (WordPerfect & WordPro/AmiPro), and files in a variety of special formats, such as Rich Text Format. Similarly, Paintshop Pro can deal with a variety of graphics files, and is able to convert files into .gif format, one of the dominant standards for graphics files used on the World Wide Web.

Archived/Packed and Compressed/Zipped Files

Some files are compressed in order to make them smaller and thus take up less room on the host system and faster to transfer. These can be unzipped or uncompressed with utilities such as winzip. "Stuff it" is the Mac alternative. Some files are archived or packed so that related files can all be kept inside one other file. Sometimes such files are created as a self-extracting executable file, which will unpack itself. This is typically the case with the downloadable versions of Netscape. Sometimes you will need to use specific utilities to unpack the files such as pkunpak.

Try FTP

Use your browser to connect to Eskimo North's FTP server: ftp://ftp.eskimo.com/

Note: To download the low resolution images (72 DPI) from the FTP server, click once and hold your mouse button down to save the image/link to your hard drive. As it is accessing a remote FTP server it may take a few seconds longer than normal. It has been tested with Netscape and Internet Explorer and does work with both browsers. Netscape users can click on the link once to open the file in a new window. To find out if there are high resolution versions (300 DPI) of these images, substitute the word HiRez for LoRez when trying to open the link.

ftp://MonSFFA:MonSFFA01@205.151.198.162 /MonSFFA/Photos/ModelShowPhotos/GoldorakLoRez.jpg
protocol user logon @ ip address directories / folders filename