whats the difference between file transfer FTP or Normal Browers transfer IE 5

[MARKBLACK]

Hi hope somebody can help me I was doing an internet course and I
had to download some shareware stuff I was told to do this via FTP but
we had lots of problems something to do with anonymous FTP I think.
So I decided to download these files via internet explorer, as we only really had to do a file download the tutor marked this as OK but just after this I moved class due to illness of the tutor,the new tutor said my download was wrong now I'm confused. MB

[Statica]

Did you use the appropriate login for anonymous? This is a rough conversation for an anonymous FTP.
Characters in bold being what you type
characters being what the server responds with:

---

C:\>ftp ftp.servername.com
Connected to ftp.servername.com.
220 ftp26c.servername.com FTP server (SunOS 5.7) ready.
User (ftp.servername.com:(none)): anonymous
331 Guest login ok, send your complete e-mail address as password.
Password:me@here.com
230 Guest login ok, access restrictions apply.
ftp>

---

The two cardinal rules for anonymous FTP are, the username is 'anonymous' and the password which is generally your email address. However as can be seen you can give it junk, but most servers will check for: name@domain.com/net/org... format.

Your tutor probably disqualified your use of IE because it automates the procedure and doesnt really show whether you learnt the concept.

HTH

[MARKBLACK]

Hi Statica I am not sure whether we logged in, I know there was a mention of downloading cute FTP, the only downloading I do is via the browser whats the advantage of FTP and is FTP still used seems a big complex for the normal lay person.
MB

[Statica]

Pretty much the fastest download sites are FTP. FTP is essential for a variety of reasons that HTTP transfer is no-good for. I will just outline some of them briefly:
1) FTP is faster
2) HTTP connections are on a request basis, meaning say your browser needed an information, the server would send it to you and then close the connection. While this allows a lot of people to surf that site simultaneously it is no good when you need a constant connection.
3) HTTP is not very good for use when you need to have a restricted file access area. FTP gives one the luxury of restricting access based on encryption as provided by the OS. HTTP security is possible but there are a variety of problems that crop up.
4) FTP transfers are irrespective of the variety of http proxy servers etc, so you get the most current files
5) FTP allows you to modulate between an ASCII and BINARY transfer at will, HTTP is a bit trickier, it largely also has a lot to do with the ISP and what extensions it will allow.
6) FTP can resume partial up/downloads (well most servers do) HTTP does not.
7) FTP is great for mirroring or backups as well. HTTP is not that eficient.

The list is pretty much endless. There are newer protocols like rsync that are primarily based on FTP but way better.

CuteFTP is pretty much an FTP program, it just automates the raw commends that you need to give in. Learning the raw commands is better because it will allow you to work from ANY client without having to rely on external programs. Browsers make lousy FTP clients because they sometimes leave connections open even after u close the FTP window, the result is that you might not be able to log in for a while.

[MARKBLACK]

Hi Statica thanks for your replies I have found them very interesting I am still a-bit confused on the ftp ftp.servername.com address you posted earlier is this a site that allows access to lots of servers and how is it used I am sorry for having to ask all these questions and I do really feel a bit thick but I haven't done any of this FTP stuff before.
MB

[Statica]

No worries about the questions, thats what this board is here for and thats why we have so many ppl around here.

ftp.servername.com is just an arbitrary server. For example you could try logging in anonymously on Netscape.

1. Open up an MS DOS Prompt
   
2. Type: ftp
   You will see that your dos prompt changes from something like C:\Windows> to ftp>
   
3. Type: open ftp.netscape.com
   
4. After the initial message you will be asked to supply your username and password. Proceed as I had outlined before for an anonymous login.
   
5. If you are successful you should get a 230 Guest login ok, ....
   
   Once there you can use various commands to navigate through the directories and download files.
   If you want to go ahead with this exercise you could...
   
6. Type: cd /pub/mozilla/english/pdk/windows/win32/
   this changes the directory to /pub/mozilla/english/pdk/windows/win32/
   You should get a server response of 250 CWD command successful
   
7. Type: ls -l
   This will list the contents of the directory. You could also use dir instead of ls -l
   The server will tell you what the contents of the directory are. In this case you should find one zip file called mpdk.zip
   
8. type: bin
   This will establish binary transfer with the server responding that Type has been set to I
   
9. type: hash
   this is a nonessential, but good command to issue before your first transfer. This will set your FTP program to display a # sign for ever 2K of data. Its just useful to let you know that your download/upload is proceeding.
   
10. type: get mpdk.zip
    this will download the particular zip file to your hard drive.
    
11. type: quit
    and you will quit the netscape server.
    

You can run this sequence for any server.
Note the file mpdk.zip is just a test file that I found on the server /pub/mozilla/english/pdk/windows/win32/ ordinarily you would go to the directory that you know or would have to go through one step at a time doing cd /pub .. then listing the contents then doing cd mozilla .. etc etc.

[mairving]

A couple of other things to add. A file will be downloaded to the directory that you are in when you ftp. The change the local directory, use lcd. You can also use mgetand mput to download/upload several files at once. Before you do though, type in prompt to keep it from prompting you on every file. Also typing in help provides you with a listing of the commands. I used to use WS_ftp, which is a very small efficient program but it is so much easier just to use ftp.