What is FTP?
FTP stands for File Transfer Protocol. A FTP connection is a standard network protocol that transfers computer files between a client server on a computer network.
Establishing a FTP connection to the server that hosts your website, allows you to transfer files you have created on your computer to the server that hosts your website, allowing everyone to view your website.
Connecting to an FTP server is very similar to connecting to any other server on the Web. When you log in to your CC Communications account or a secure shopping cart system, you must provide a server address, a user name, and a password before you can exchange information with the server.
There are several web based programs that will allow you to make a FTP connection between your computer and the server that hosts your website.
Let’s take a look at an example login set-up for an FTP server.
Locating your FTP login credentials
You will need the following information to log into your web server:
- FTP Server/Hostname
- FTP Username
- FTP Password
- FTP Port
How To Find Your FTP Hostname, Username & Password
CC Communications will email your FTP credentials after you sign up for a web hosting package.
FTP Connection with FileZilla
Download and Install FileZilla
Download the free FTP program, FileZilla at https://filezilla-project.org
How do I connect to an SFTP server with FileZilla?
- Open FileZilla
- Enter the address of the server in the field Host, located in the Quickconnect bar.
– (sftp.example.com – make sure to enter sftp to connect securely via SFTP)
- Enter your username
– (example.com – keep it lowercase and without “www.”) - Enter your password
– (the one you chose for SSH in your Control Panel) - Enter the port number.
– (port 22 for SFTP) - Click on Quickconnect or press Enter to connect to the server.
- Click OK when you get a warning about an unknown host key.
- Note: Remember to replace example.com with your own domain.
How to transfer files with FileZilla?
Local site are the files on your computer. Be sure that your website root folder is selected. The file path confirms the location.
Connection Status Window
When connecting to the web server using FileZilla the “Connection window” will show a Successful status if the connection was successful.
Local Folder Navigation Window
The “Local Site Window” is for navigating to a specific folder location on your computer. The image below shows the “2019-05-06-www-backup-ionos-os” folder is selected.
Remote Server Folder Navigation Window
The image below shows the Remote folders. These are the” Remote Site” folders on your web server. This window allows you to navigate and select your server folders and files.
Local window for files on your Computer
The “Filename” window underneath the “Local Site” window is where you manage the files on your local computer. The “Filename” window shows the contents of the “2019-05-06-www-backup-ionos-os” folder on your local computer.
Remote Window for Files on the Web Server
The “Filename” window underneath the “Remote Site” window is where you manage the files on the web server.
Uploading from your Computer to the Server
To upload files from your local computer to your server, you simply drag the files from your “Filename” Window underneath the “Local Site” Window to the “Filename” Window underneath the “Remote Site” window.
Downloading from the Server to your Local Computer
Just like uploading to your server, you can download files to your local computer by dragging files from the “Filename” window underneath the “Remote Site” window to the “Filename” window underneath the “Local Site” Window. Snapshot to the right show the details. That’s all there is to transferring files from your server to your local computer through FileZilla.
FTP Security
FTP (port 21) is not a “secure” protocol — incoming/outgoing data is not encrypted and in plain text. Because the data is not encrypted, a web hacker could eavesdrop on the data you are sending to the server.
Because FTP is not a “secure” protocol, it is important to create an SFTP user and use port 22 when making a connection.
Difference between FTP and SFTP
SFTP is a network protocol designed to provide secure file transfer over the secure shell (SSH) protocol. SFTP is NOT just FTP run over SSH, but rather a new protocol. It is often called Secure FTP because it uses an encrypted transport layer.