BISNet Guide to FTP Programs and Commands

Note: The first FTP option in the table of contents is the one preferred for most BISnet users. Read the instructions and then use it to upload your files (htm's, gifs, and jpgs). Should you have difficulty, contact the Bill Waymer at South Carolina State University or Alonzo Johnson at Southern University. This information is intended to supplement the full documentation that (usually) comes with the distribution of the particular packages.

All of the programs described herein are the intellectual property of their respective authors, whether corporate or individual, and are protected by copyright law. Some of these programs are free, some are shareware, and some are commercial. It is the users responsibility to determine whether they may be required to pay for a particular software product.

Important. After "ftping" files to BISNet, e-mail Bill Waymer, za_wwaymer@scsu.scsu.edu, as soon as possible letting him know what you have done and where your files are located.

Introduction
FTP with Windows95 (Recommended Method)
FTP With WS_FTP (WinSock FTP)
Some Basic FTP Commands used in Windows95 FTP
FTP Software Sources

FTP:

FTP (File Transfer Protocol) is the way that files are transmitted across the internet. This transmission is very similar to the uploading and downloading of files on a bulletin board. The only difference is the command use. Here we will give you some basic knowledge on how to FTP files from your computer to the BISNet computer. We will show you how to do it from the Windows95 (DOS command line).

The Windows95 FTP Process

Important. After "ftping" files to BISNet, e-mail Bill Waymer, za_wwaymer@scsu.scsu.edu or Steve Bowden, stebowden@scsu.edu, as soon as possible letting him know what you have done and where your files are located.

Prerequisites:

1.    Organize the files you are going to upload
2.    Know the name(s) of the files and where they are located.
3.    Make sure you're in the right directory

        a.    You can upload from a diskette loaded in drive A:
        b.    You may upload from your C:\ (root directory)
        c.    You may upload from any drive on your computer.

                If you are not using the C:\ (root directory) to house your file(s) to be
                uploaded, you must identify the exact location of the files when ready to
                upload.

If using C:\ (root directory) to house your files, you only have to type the
name(s) of the file(s).

Instructions:

1. Go to your DOS prompt (usually in the root or C: drive)

2. Type the following:

a. ftp www.bisnet.scsu.edu/; press Enter

               In an instant, after you've successfully reached BISNet through FTP, you will
               see the following:
                Connected to OrangeNet
      220 (OrangeNet.SCSU.EDU:none)

At the prompt, User (OrangeNet:(none)):_
b. Type <your_user_name>; press Enter

If successful, the response will be,
331 Password required for <your_user_name>

At the prompt, Password_
c. Type <your_password>; press Enter

If successful, the response will be,
250 User <your_user_name> logged in.

To find out where you are,

d. Type dir; press Enter

If successful, the response will be,
250 CWD command successfully.

You will see a listing of the various sub-directories ranging from Alcorn to
Southern

***Important. Select your sub-directory by doing the following:

e. Type cd <name_of_ your_sub-directory>; press Enter

If successful, the response will be,
250 CWD command successfully.

f. Type put <name_of_file_your_are_uploading>; press Enter

If you have more than one file ready to upload, use mput <list_of_files>;
press Enter

If successful, the response will be,
250 CWD command successfully.

To close the connection, after you have uploaded your file(s),

g. Type quit; press Enter - to exit the FTP program.

Some Basic Commands for the FTP Prompt

ls    -  lists directories
dir   -  give a more descriptive listing of the directories
cd    -  change directories
cd .. -  go up one directory
bin   -  change transfer method to binary method (any file)
asc   -  change transfer method to ASCII method (ONLY text files)
lcd   -  change to receiving directory on YOUR computer.
hash  -  status indicator (shows how much of file is left)
get   -  transfer the file from the remote to the local machine
put   -  transfer the file from the local to the remote machine
mget  -  "get" multiple files
mput  -  "put" multiple files
help  -  use this if you get confused!

To see what files are in the directory you are in now type "ls". If you want to see what is in a specific directory then you can type "cd <directory name>". This will then take you into the directory you wish. If you wish to leave that directory then all you need to type is "cd ..".

FTP from WS_FTP: (MS Windows)

This program is a graphical and simple program to use for downloading files. It lets you see your computer's hard drive and the remote computer's hard drive. Each time you run the program the first thing you see is the connection screen. This screen asks for a Profile Name, Host Name, Host Type, User ID, Password, Account, Remote Host, Local PC.

Profile Name:: This is a saved profile of a specific FTP site. With this you can have many different sites already to go by selecting the profile name. Many are already included.
Host Name:: This is the address of the computer that you want to get files from. For example, ftp.iac.net.
Host Type:: This is the type (operating system or internet software) of connection that you will make with the remote host. More often than not you will want to keep it on auto detect.
User ID:: This will be the login name that will log you into the server. Most of the time this will be "anonymous" giving you access to public files. If you are going to access your own directory on the computer you are logging into, then type in your normal login name. The box on the right that says "Anonymous Login" must be clicked on to be able to login anonymously! If not the program assumes that you are logging into your own directory.
Password:: If you doing an anonymous login you would type in your email address. If you are logging into your own directory then you would type in your password.
Account:: This is only used on VMS/CMS systems. This type of system requires a password every time you change directories. If this is not your system then you can leave it blank.
Remote Host:: This is used if you know exactly what directory on the host you want to goto. If you just want to browse around then you can leave this blank. This is the case most of the time.
Local PC:: This is used just like the remote host but you type in what directory on your computer You want to downloaded files into. You can either do it this way or you can do it later by using the directory window (upper left) to change directories. You have full control over directories and files. You can create directories and delete them as well. You can also change directories by typing in the directory (hit the ChDir button) or by double clicking on The two periods in the upper left hand corner window. These two periods mean that you can change directories one at a time (you go up one directory at a time).

After you input the remote computers information you then hit the OK button and begin the connection, automatically. There is a status window at under the directory windows (it is only two lines high), this will let you know how the connection is going and will let you see the messages that the server is relaying to you. There is an up and down arrow to the right of this window, this will let you scroll back in case you missed something.

Once the connection is established you will see, in the right window, directories in the top window and files in the bottom window. If you want to go into other directories. You only need to double click on the one you want. You will then see either more directories and files or just files depending on how extensive the directory structure is. The only thing left is to find the file(s) that you are looking for and FTP (download) them.

If you are not sure what you are looking for but want to know what all the files names mean; there is usually a file called INDEX (could be in any combination of upper and lowercase letters) that should have a list and description of all the files in that directory.

To actually FTP the file all you need to do is highlight (single click) on the file and push the button with the arrow, in the center of the screen, that points to the left (your computer). This will start the transfer process. A status bar will pop up showing you how much of the file is being transferred, then dissappear and refresh the directory listing when the transfer is complete.

Fetch (Macintosh):

Fetch is a simple program to use when FTPing (download) files to your MAC. When you first start up the program you will see a dialog box asking you for several different things:

Host:: This is the address of the computer that you want to log into, such as ftp.iac.net.
User ID:: This is where you will input the word "anonymous" if you will do an anonymous FTP or you type in your login name if you want to login to your account directly.
Password:: If you are doing an anonymous FTP then you would type in your password, i.e. loginname@iac.net. If you are going to login to your directory then you would type in your password that you would normally use to login into your shell account.
Directory:: If you know what directory you want to goto then you would type that in here. For example, on a UNIX account to the "pub" directory, type /pub. Most of the time this field will be left blank.

When you are done filling in this information hit the OK button and the program will make a connection to the computer to said. Once the connection is established you will see a window that has a list of directories (on the left side) of the remote computer. To see what is in a specific directory all you need to do is double click on it. When you want to go back a directory go to the window above that shows what directory you are in and select it. This will show the directories that you were just in. To goto one of them highlight the one you want and Fetch will take you there.

When you want to FTP a file highlight it and push the "Get File" button (on the right side). A dialog box will appear asking you where you want to save the file. Once you tell it where push OK and the transfer process will begin