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BigBiz FAQ: FTP Setup
 
   

What is my FTP password?

When you opened your account, you were asked to specify a FTP/Telnet password. You will need this password to access your account with FTP.

Where can I obtain a FTP client?

There exist many email clients that you can use to connect to BigBiz's POP server. Your choice will be determined by what kind of PC you have and your specific needs. Please see download.com for a list of FTP clients.

If you are using FTP inside of your site design program, see Site Design for details.

How do I use FTP to upload my site to my account?

To access your account, you will require a FTP client (unless you are using an integrated FTP client in your web design program -- see Site Design), your FTP password, and the name of the directory where web files are stored (this is by default html). The following examples assume your domain is test1.com. Replace this with your proper domain. Your FTP username is the domain name without the extension (.com, .org, .net, etc.) - in this case, it is test1.

Important Note: Please do not use the FTP built into Netscape Communicator or Internet Explorer. These programs will not work properly and may cause you to lose connection with our servers.

Windows 95/NT FTP
Microsoft Windows comes with a command-line FTP program. You start it from the command prompt by typing ftp. You will be greeted with the FTP prompt ftp>. This program is not recommended unless you are familiar with the Unix FTP program.

CuteFTP
To set up a new FTP site, click on FTP > Site Manager from the main window. You will be greeted with the FTP Site Manager dialog. To create a site entry for your FTP site, press Add Site.

- In the Site Label text box, enter a name you want to assign to this site.

- In the Host Address text box, enter test1.com.

- In the User ID and Password boxes, enter test1 and your FTP password.

- Select Login type Normal, Transfer type Auto-Detect, and Host Type Auto-Detect.

- Enter html in the Initial Remote Directory text box.


- Click on the Advanced tab to move to the advanced features screen.

- Make sure Port is set to 21 and click OK to save.

To upload, you must first connect to the FTP fite. Click on File > Site Manager again.

- Select the FTP site from the folder on the left and the box on the right.

- Click the Connect button.

Now you can begin uploading files.

- Select the files and/or directories that you want to upload from the list on the left.

- Navigate to the proper destination directory on the right.

- Click on the upload button.

 

WS FTP
To configure and start a new connection, press the Connect button on the lower left of the WS FTP dialog. You will see the session properties screen:

- Make sure you are in the General properties screen.

- Enter a name for this connection in the Profile Name box.

- Enter test1.com as the Host Name/Address.

- Enter test1 as the User ID and your FTP password.

- Make sure the Anonymous check box is clear.


- Click on the Startup tab to change screens.

- Enter html as the Initial Remote Site Folder.


- Click on the Advanced tab to change screens.

- Make sure Remote Port is set to 21.

- Click OK. WS FTP will now try to establish your connection.

To upload files, select the directory and files in the dialog box on the left and the target directory in the dialog box on the right. Press the -> button to start the upload.



FTP Explorer
To configure a new FTP account, go to Tools > Connect. You will see this screen.

- Press on the Add button.

- Enter a name for this site in the Profile Name box.

- Enter test1.com as the Host Address.

- Ensure the Port number is 21.

- Enter your login (test1) and your password into the appropriate boxes.

- Enter html or another path into the Initial Path box.

-Press Save.

To connect using FTP Explorer, go again to Tools > Connect.

- Select the appropriate account (test1 FTP account) from the list box on the left.

- Press Connect.

 

Fetch (Macintosh)
To connect using Fetch, click on File > New Connection. You will see the following screen:

- For the Host field enter yoursite.yourdomain.com.

- Enter the site password in the Password.

- Enter html in the Directory field. This is the default directory under which all web-accessible files are placed. If your site is stored in another directory (e.g. html/newsite), unless your site is stored in a different directory in which case enter the path of that directory.

To upload, click on the Put Files button and select the files or directories you wish to upload.

- Make sure the settings for uploading are the same as the image. Text files must be uploaded as text and all others must be raw data.

 

What is anonymous FTP and how do I use it?

Anonymous FTP is an old technology that allows any user to upload or download files and is not recommended. There are many security risks in using anonymous FTP uploads and there are much simpler ways to perform a download.

If you would like your users to be able to download files, use HTTP instead of FTP. For each file that is available for download specify a link similar to:

<a href="http://www.test1.com/books.lst">Click Here To Download My List of Books!</a>

You should provide a note to the user that if the file displays in the browser instead of downloading, they can use Shift-Click or (on Windows systems) right-click.

If you absolutely need a way for your users to upload files to your web site instead of, say, emailing them to you, please contact support@bigbiz.com and we will create the appropriate directories in your account. Please see this page for more information.