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FTP

FTP stands for File Transfer Protocol. It is used to transfer files to and from remote machines (such as from your computer at home to your account at CSE or vice versa). It is far better to use ftp to transfer files than to use email. ftp is much quicker, and email runs into problems when large files clog up people's .incoming-mail files and/or push them over quota. Also, many mail programs refuse to deal with very large email messages.

In general to start an ftp session you would use:

        ftp remote-hostname

where remote-hostname is either the full name of the machine or the IP number of the machine (or simply the machine name for local machines).

At CSE, there is an ftp server, so the host to connect to is ftp.cse.unsw.edu.au.

ftp will then attempt to make a connection with the specified machine. If it is successful in making a connection, you will be prompted to log in, as shown below.

  % ftp xanthic Connected to xanthic.spectrum.cs.unsw.OZ.AU.  
  220 xanthic FTP server (Domain/OS FTPD) ready.
  Name (xanthic:cathy): cathy
  331 Password required for cathy.
  Password:
  230 User cathy logged in.
  ftp>

Anonymous Ftp is often used to download software from public ftp servers. For Anonymous Ftp, log in with the username anonymous or ftp (both usually work) and use your full email address as the password.

• FTP Commands

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