Hillsborough Community College Using FTP Prof. Wayne Pollock Hillsborough Community College Tampa, FL Pollock@acm.org

What is FTP ? FTP is the abbreviation for File Transfer Protocol Used to copy files between computers You must have an FTP client on your computer (such as WinSCP) The remote computer must be running an FTP Server

What is sFTP and FTPS? Although still widely used, FTP is considered insecure; usernames, passwords, and files are sent unencrypted (plaintext) and easy to “snoop” or even modify sFTP is a version of FTP built into SSH (along with “scp”), and is widely supported FTPS is regular FTP through an encrypted tunnel, and works similarly to HTTPS The HCC Student Webserver supports FTPS

What is WinSCP? FTP Software for Windows This version is free Easy to use Newer versions at https://winscp.net/ Alternative software you can use is FileZilla, at filezilla-project.org Mac users don’t need additional software; see osXdaily.com for instructions

Using WinSCP Connect to the Internet Start WinSCP (figure 1) Enter the required information to connect to the Student web server (figure 2) Save the session information (figure 3) Double-click saved session to launch

Figure 1 Name of remote server Your user ID (folder name) and password. See the feedback comments in the Web Site Concept project, for your info.

Figure 2 Select FTP Name of remote server Select Explicit Encryption Name of remote server Your user ID (folder name) and password

Figure 3 Saved Session

Server Connection Security Key Screen When you connect for the first time, a screen similar to figure 4 will appear. This is an extra security measure Click on “Yes”. You shouldn’t see this screen again After clicking “Yes”, you will see the window similar to figure 5

Figure 4 Uniquely identifies the server

Figure 5

Understanding the Session Window On the left side of figure 5 are files on your hard drive (local) On the right side of figure 5 are files on the remote computer (remote) You need to change the local folder to where your website files are. In figure 6 I navigate to “My Website” folder on the desktop. Figure 7 shows the result

Figure 6 Change Folder Button Click here to add as a bookmark

Figure 7

Upload Your Web Site Click on a file once to select it You can select several files at once with control-click Drag the files to the right to upload Figure 8 shows the transfer dialog window. Make sure the transfer type is “automatic” or “binary” Figure 9 shows the result

Figure 8

Figure 9

Updating Your Web Site Start WinSCP, enter your user ID (folder name) and password, and open your folders as before Click on images or other files on your computer (local) to select them Select updated and new files from the left, and upload by dragging Right-click on a file to rename or delete it

Updating Your Web Site (cont.) To modify a file that is already uploaded, just upload the modified copy and it will replace the original copy Download by dragging a file from the remote (right) to the local system (left). This file can then be modified and uploaded again Always check your web site after modifying it, by using your browser’s refresh (or reload) button

Summary Upload just your files, not the folder containing your files The top (main) web page must always be named “index.htm” or the web server won’t find it Use URLs of just filenames (such as “foo.gif”) and not pathnames (such as “C:\Users\student\Desktop\folder\foo.gif”) Be sure to use the file’s full name, including the extension Look in the feedback comments for the Web site Concept project for your FTP username and password Use the additional resources on our class web page

The End ©2015 by Wayne Pollock