FTP stands for File Transfer Protocol and actually refers to the method of transport rather than its application. For web hosting, we generally use FTP for uploading files to our web space and for changing permissions on those files if required.

Although you can use your Internet Explorer browser for FTP we don't recommend it and advise that you use a proper FTP client. There are many different ones out there such as Cute FTP, WS FTP, Bulletproof FTP etc.

All these clients work in generally the same way although each will have its own unique menu system. Our recommended settings are as follows...

Transfer Mode: You usually have the option of using Binary, ASCII or AUTO. We suggest using the auto option.

Data Connection Type: PASV or PORT. We recommend using PASV (passive) mode.

Server Type: Unix, Windows, Unix compatible. Choose Unix

Filtering: If your client supports filtering we recommend you add the filter -al (minus A L - lowercase)

Connecting...

As mentioned above, each client may be slightly different in design but generally you are asked to provide the following login information.

Server name / Hostname: Enter your domain name i.e. mydomain.com - you don't need to put ftp. or www. in front of it.

Username: Enter your main cpanel username. If you are using an FTP account you created and not the master FTP login, you must enter the username in the format username@mydomain.com (where mydomain.com is the name of your own domain)

Password: Enter your main cpanel password if using the master FTP login or the password for the secondary FTP account you created.

Starting Directory: Some clients ask you to choose a starting directory, usually you can leave this blank but if that doesnt work you should enter public_html

Working with files...

If you used your main username and password to login to FTP, the first thing you will see is a list of folders. The only folder you are interested in is public_html. Leave all the other folders intact, they are used by the control panel to store your stats / mail and other important info.

Most FTP clients allow you to simply drag and drop files directly into your target ftp window. The public_html folder is what we call the "document root". Anything you put in this folder or sub folders within it could be described as "on the internet".

If you have a web site on your pc that you want to upload, make sure the main files go directly into the public_html folder on the server. If you copy a folder containing your web site, all you will see is the folder - not your web site

With all web hosting. Your home page must be named index.html, index.htm, index.shtml or index.php - depending on the document type. Linux servers are case sensitive so if you upload a file named Index.html (capital I) it wont work.

An example site structure would be something like this...

public_html (document root folder) - Relates to http://www.yourdomain.com/

index.html (main page)

aboutus.html (about us page)

products.html (products page)

style.css (style sheet used by your pages)

Images (sub folder inside public_html) - Relates to http://www.yourdomain.com/images/

logo.jpg (a logo image displayed on your pages)

button1.jpg (a button image used to link between your pages)

button2.jpg

prodpic1.gif (picture of a product displayed on your products page)

prodpic2.gif

You can add as many folders as you like inside your public_html. Each folder can display its own index page.

Setting Permissions...

For normal viewing of html pages etc, you should never need to change permissions. The FTP server sets them for you. If you are using PHP and CGI scripts then you might be required to make some changes to the file permissions. The command used on a Linux server to change permissions is called CHMOD. Your ftp client can issue this command for you. It will usually ask you for a three digit number such as 755. If your are using PHP and your script instructions tell you to set the permissions of a folder or file to 777 - please set it to 755 instead as our system has been specially setup this way and PHP pages will not parse if they are set to 777 or contained within a folder set to 777.

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