Downloading Files

Downloading Files
After you log in to the FTP server, you’ll navigate to the directory that contains the files you want. Thankfully, the FTP command-line interface is similar to the DOS command-line interface.
This is no surprise since DOS is based on UNIX and FTP is a UNIX utility. Table 4.3 lists and describes the common navigation commands for FTP. Remember that these are also case sensitive.

     After you navigate to the directory and find the file you want to download, you must set the parameters for the type of file. Files come in two types:

• ASCII, which contains text
• Binary, which is all other files

If you set ftp to the wrong type, the file you download will contain gibberish. When in doubt, set ftp to download files as binary files.

TABLE 4 . 3 Common FTP Navigation Commands

ftp>ascii

Type set to A

To set the file type to binary, type binary at the ftp command prompt. Ftp will respond by telling you that the file type has been set to I (binary):

ftp>binary

Type set to I

To download the file, you use the get command, like so:

ftp>get scrsav.exe

200 PORT command successful.

150 Opening BINARY mode data connection for 'scrsav.exe'

(567018 bytes).

The file will start downloading to your hard drive. Unfortunately, with its default settings, the ftp utility doesn’t give you any indication of the progress of the transfer. When the file has

downloaded, the ftp utility will display the following message and return you to the ftp command prompt:

226 Transfer complete.

567018 bytes received in 116.27 seconds (4.88 Kbytes/sec)

TIP:

You can download multiple files by using the mget command. Simply type mget, a space, and then a wildcard that specifies the files you want to get. For example, to download all the text files in a directory, type mget *.txt.

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Starting FTP and Logging In to an FTP Server

Starting FTP and Logging In to an FTP Server
Of the two FTP file operations (download and upload), the ability to download files is the more important skill for a network technician or administrator to master because network and client
operating system drivers and patches are located on FTP servers throughout the Internet. The first steps in starting an FTP download session are to determine the address of the FTP site and start the ftp utility. The FTP site typically has the same name as the website except that the first three characters are ftp instead of www. For example, Microsoft’s website is www.microsoft.com. Its FTP site, on the other hand, is ftp.microsoft.com. We’ll use this FTP site as an example for the rest of this section.
First, start the ftp utility as discussed earlier, and then follow these steps:
1- At the ftp command prompt, type open, a space, and the name of the FTP server as in the following example:

ftp>open ftp.microsoft.com

If the FTP server is available and running, you will receive a response welcoming you to the server and asking you for a username:

ftp>open ftp.microsoft.com
Connected to ftp.microsoft.com.
220 Microsoft FTP Service

User (ftp.microsoft.com:(none)):

TIP:

You can also start an FTP session by typing ftp, a space, and the address of the FTP server (for example, ftp ftp.microsoft.com). This allows you to start the ftp utility and open a connection in one step.

2. Enter a valid username and press Enter.
3. Enter your password and press Enter. 

NOTE:

Most Internet web servers that allow just about anyone to download files also allow the username anonymous. Remember to type the username exactly and to double-check as you enter it because usernames are case sensitive. In addition to anonymous, you can use the username ftp to gain access to a public FTP server. They are both anonymous usernames. Remember that FTP (and UNIX)usernames are case sensitive.

If you are accessing a private FTP server, you should use the username and password given to you by the administrator. If you are accessing a public FTP server with a username such as

anonymous, you can use your e-mail address as the password.

TIP:

You don’t have to enter your entire e-mail address to log in with the anonymous username. Most FTP server software doesn’t verify the actual e-mail address, just that it is, in fact, an e-mail address. To do this, it checks for an @ sign and two words separated by a period. You just need to enter a very short e-mail address to bypass the password (like u@me.com). This is especially helpful if you have a long e-mail address. It’s also more secure if you don’t want lotsof junk e-mail.

If you enter the wrong username and/or password, the server will tell you so by displaying the following and leaving you at the ftp command prompt:

530 Login Incorrect

Login failed.

You must now start over with the login process. If you are successful, the FTP server will welcome you and drop you back at the ftp command prompt. You’re now ready to start uploading

or downloading files.

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Using The File Transfer Protocol (FTP)

Using The File Transfer Protocol (FTP)
From Chapter 3, “TCP/IP Fundamentals,” you know that File Transfer Protocol (FTP) is a subset of TCP/IP and that FTP is used during the transfer of files between UNIX boxes. In recent
years, FTP has become a truly cross-platform protocol for file transfer. Because the Internet, and thus TCP/IP, use has skyrocketed, almost every client (and server) platform has implemented FTP. Windows is no exception. Its TCP/IP stack comes with a command-line ftp utility. To start the ftp utility, enter ftp at a command prompt. The result is an ftp command prompt:

ftp>

From this command prompt, you can open a connection to an FTP server and upload and download files as well as change the way FTP operates. To display a list of all the commands you can use at the ftp command prompt, type help or ? and press Enter. To get help on a specific command, type help, a space, and then the name of the command. 
     In the following sections, you will get an introduction to uploading and downloading files because every network technician and administrator needs to know how to do this. As they come up, the specific commands necessary to perform those two operations will be discussed, as well as commands that relate to those processes. But first, let’s look at how to start the process.

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