FTP Tutorial

File Transfer Protocol, better known as FTP, is a procedure used to upload and download files to and from your web server. FTP is a special way to login to another Internet site for the purposes of retrieving and/or sending files.

How to use FTP

In order to use FTP, you'll need to download and install a software program on your computer. The most widely used FTP program is WS FTP Pro. You can find it here: http://www.wsftp.com/
When you start WS-FTP, you will be presented with a login screen, asking for your:

Profiles Name: This is a name you can use to identify and save the connection
Host Name Address: Your domain name address. Example - indiaservices.in
Host Type: Choose Automatic Detect from the avaliable choices
User ID: Your hosting User ID. Example - indiaservices.
Password: Your hosting password.
Account: Leave Blank.

Depending on which FTP client you use, the names may be slightly different. Once the FTP program has connected with your server,you will see the files on your computer in the left window and the files on your server will be displayed in the right window.

FTP Advanced Commands
File Permissions
When using scripts on your website, you will be required to set file permissions in order for your scripts to run properly on a Unix server. The most common setting for CGI/Perl scripts is 755. When working with scripts, you may receive an Internal Server Error when you try to run it. Many times, this error is caused by improperly set file permissions.

Permissions:
Read - 4 - r
Write - 2 - w
Execute - 1 - x
None - 0 - -
- Read permissions are enabled with the number 4 or the letter r.
- Write permissions are enabled with the number 2 or the letter w.
- Execute permissions are enabled with the number 1 or the letter x.
- No permissions are enabled with the number 0 or a dash.

Each of these permissions will be set for each of the following:

Owner
Group
Other

To give you a better idea of how permissions are set, below is an example of a script that requires the permissions to be set to 755 -- it breaks down like this:

7 - Represents the permissions for the Owner (you). The owner has been given Read, Write and Execute permissions. 4+2+1=7. This can also be written like this: rwx

5 - Represents the permissions for the Group (individuals with access to your server). The Group has been given Read and Execute permissions. 4+1=5. This can also be written like this: rx

5 - Represents the permissions for the Others (website visitors). The Others have been given Read and Execute permissions. 4+1=5. This can also be written like this: rx 755 is equal to rwxrxrx

Changing File Permissions with Your FTP program:
If you would like to set your file permissions through your FTP program, you can do so like this:
Log into your server and locate the directory that contains your file.
Highlight the file that you would like to change permissions.
Place your mouse pointer over the file and right click to launch a menu.
Click on "chmod (UNIX) to launch the "permissions" window.
Set your permissions and click on OK.

In addition to setting permissions with your FTP program, most web hosts will enable you to set permissions through your web page management system.