Information Architecture

How to Use an FTP Client

Every ftp client looks and behaves a little differently but the basics are universal. There are essentially two main ftp commands: put and get. Put is what you are doing when you move files from the computer you are working on to the server. Get is what you are doing when you move files from the server to your computer.

A key thing to remember when you are putting and getting: you overwrite an old file with a newer version if you use the same file name in the same location. Of course it is also possible to overwrite a newer version of a file with an older one if you aren't careful. So you need to make sure you know which way things are moving. If you have revised a file on your computer, you need to make sure you are moving that version to the server (and not moving what is now an outdated version of your file from the server to your computer).

Versioning problems are most likely to happen when you're really tired, so be careful.

I've put together a few screen capture clips to show you how to launch the software, establish a connection, upload files and directories, and download files and directories. I can't do a video for every client out there but I have done one for FileZilla on a Windows system and one for Fetch on a Macintosh system. If you are using a different ftp client, you might want to watch both clips since whatever you're using is likely to look like one or the other.

FileZilla shows the two computers the ftp client is addressing: the one you are working on and the server. The two main window panes represent the directory structures of the two computers.

Fetch shows the directory structure of the server computer. You use the operating system's representation of the directory structure on your computer to find the files and directories you want to upload. Then you drag the items into the window to give the "put" commmand. To download, you drag the file(s) or directory you want to acquire from the Fetch window into the OS window showing your computer's directory structure.

The basic steps for any ftp client are these:

  1. Launch the application.
  2. Issue the connect command.
  3. Type the host name in the appropriate place. The host name in this case is student-iat.ubalt.edu. Note that the host name is NOT preceeded by a protocol.
  4. Type your user-ID. In this case, it should by yourlastname.
  5. Type your password. In this case, it is your UB ID number (7 digits).
  6. You should now be seeing the contents of your directory on student-iat. There may be no files there the first time you connect. So if you're staring at a blank window, you are probably in the right place.

Watch a FileZilla video.

Watch a Fetch video.