LIBRARIES, INFORMATION TECHNOLOGY, ART MUSEUM

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ITS Center

ITSCenter@rochester.edu

(585) 275-2000

Using WS_FTP to Move Files

Introduction to WS_FTP

FTP, or File Transfer Protocol, is the method by which files are transferred from one machine to another over the Internet. This protocol will allow you to upload pictures, documents, and other data from your personal computer to the central server, and vice versa. WS_FTP provides a nice and simple interface that will allow you to do this.

Software Requirements

The requirements for running WS_FTP are quite minimal. First, you need to have a IBM-PC compatible computer. Second, you need to have a network connection. A network connection is either an Ethernet connection or a SLIP/PPP connection. If you don't know if you have an Ethernet connection, you can call your department liaison or call the ITS Center at 275-2000. Lastly, you need to have both the WS_FTP program itself and the Trumpet Winsock TCP/IP stack. It is recommended that you contact the ITS Center for assistance in both procuring and configuring the software for your computer.

Getting Started

Once you have double clicked on the WS_FTP icon, WS_FTP icon , you will be presented with the following screen:

On the left hand side, there are the files on your PC. You can click on the double periods ("..") to move up a directory or on a directory name to move into that directory. The files will show up on the bottom half of the left side of the screen.

Let's discuss what some of these options do:

ChgDir: This option allows you to change the directory on your personal computer or on the remote machine. When you click on it, it will pop-up a window that asks for the name of the directory into which you like to move.
MkDir: This will allow you to make a new directory on your personal computer's hard drive or in the directory on the remote machine.
RmDir: You can remove a directory permanently. The directory must be empty before you can delete it.
View: In the lower left-hand window is a listing of the files that are in the current directory of your hard drive. If you select (highlight) one of those files with your mouse, the View command will use an editor, such as Notepad, to view the text in the file. On the remote machine, the command will download the document that you highlight and display on your terminal.
Exec, Rename, Delete: These commands will allow you to perform some basic file functions. Exec will run an executable program. This option is superfluous, and it is not recommended that you use it. Rename will permit you to rename a file, and Delete will delete the file.
Refresh: As you download files to your hard drive, the lower left-hand window will keep a tally of what has been downloaded as it happens. However, there are circumstances in which you might want to "clean up" the window. Refresh will do that for you. Likewise, as you upload information to the server, the upper right window will reflect the changes as they occur.
DirInfo: This option returns some extensive information about the directory that you are in.

At the bottom left corner of the window, you should see the "Connect" button. Press this button and the "Session Window" should pop up.

If you want to use WS FTP to upload Web pages, and you have an account on www.rochester.edu, you should type www.rochester.edu in the "Host Name" field. This will get you to the central Web server. The next field you need to fill in is the "User ID" field. Type in the userID that you have been assigned for your account on the central server. The last field that you will need to fill in is the "Remote Host" field. Type in the name of the directory where you want to install the files. When all of the fields are filled in, just click on the "OK" button.

Moving files

When you are where you want to install the files, select the files that you want to copy to the main server with the mouse. If you want to send more than one file, you can hold down the "Shift" key and click on a number of files. Once you have selected your files, just click on the "-->" button and the files will be installed on the server. That is all there is to copying (uploading) files to the server.

Similarly, if you need to download information from the central server to your computer, you can highlight the files in the upper right-hand window and then click on the "<--" button. Notice that the "-->" and "<--" symbols point in the direction of where the files are moving. This is a nice way of visualizing the file transfers that you will need to do.

Other Things You Can Do

You can also manage the files on the server with WS_FTP. If you want to remove a file on the file server, you can select the file or files from the right side and click on the "Delete" button. If you are installing a file that will be the main page for your World Wide Web area, it is recommended that you change the name of the file that contains your main page to "index.html". Just select your "main page" and click on the "Rename" button. Rename the file to "index.html".

If you are managing multiple documents, it is wise to put them into separate directories. The "MkDir" button allows you to create directories on the file server. Once you have created the directory, you can move into it by either double clicking on the directory name or clicking on the "ChgDir" button.

Finishing Up

When you are done, you should close the connection to the file server gracefully by clicking on the "Exit" button in the lower right hand corner of the window.

Download

WS_FTP for Win95, Win98, NT, Win2000 (32 bit version)

Questions?

If you have any questions about this document or how to use WS_FTP, you can call the ITS Center at 275-2000.

Last modified: 4/09/97