That's about it!
Learning to use FTP has a shallow learning curve but it's still another
thing to learn so, if you're happy accessing on-line files through Web
Folders and a mapped drive, you already know more than you need to about FTP.
You may be interested in using your on-line storage space for off-site
backups and FTP can be a useful way of achieving this. There's more
about off-site backups here.
Is It Insecure?
Same answer as for "geeky": it used to be.
Simple or Standard FTP sends
usernames, passwords as well as the files being transferred in "plain
text" so that someone monitoring your data connection could capture
and read this information.
Secure Sockets Layer (SSL), the same technology that is used for making
banking and
e-commerce websites secure, has now been applied to FTP connections so that all information sent
via FTP, including passwords, is strongly encrypted.
Our FTP servers supports "Explicit" or "AUTH SSL" connections and
don't support "Implicit" SSL connections.
We also support standard FTP connections but we recommend that you
use SSL connections when you can.
What's the Difference between an Active and a Passive FTP Connection?
Originally FTP used Active Mode connections.
Here, a connection is
first made from the Client to the Server for the "Data Channel".
Next a
connection is made back from the Server to the Client for the "Control Channel" after which file transfers can begin.
Then Firewalls came along, that don't mind outgoing connections so
much but usually block all incoming connection attempts and so, for
Active FTP, the Control
Channel connection would fail and prevent any file transfers.
Passive Mode was invented to get around the problem of firewalls and
here both the Data and Control channels are initiated by the client to the server.
The speed at which files are transferred is not affected by whether
your FTP connection is Active or Passive.
Our FTP server supports both Active and Passive mode connections.
Secure FTP connections only use Passive Mode.
Our advice is to use
whatever works.
Some firewalls, you may find yourself behind might only
support Active Mode and others only Passive Mode.
If You Prefer FTP, Go Ahead and Use It
If you prefer using FTP then there's no problem using it for everyday
file access.
We recommend the Web Folder and mapped drive way of
accessing on-line storage because they use TCP Port
443, which will get through more firewalls than the FTP protocol, and
can put edit locks on open files.
The Netdrive program can make FTP servers
appear as a mapped drive which is an impressive feat and can be useful
for hiding the complexity of FTP from normal users.
Web Browser Access to your FTP Storage
You may be able to master using FTP easily enough, but
if you want other people to access files you've uploaded, it's too much to
expect the average user to operate FTP, plus you probably don't want to
tell them your password.
We have a web-server running which allows your FTP storage space to
also be accessed from a web browser.
If you've uploaded a file called brochure.pdf, this can be
download using this URL:-
However, before you can download this file, you'll be asked to
supply your username and password. This may be OK for other people in
your organisation.
We've setup a special folder in everyone's FTP storage space called
Public which allows anyone to download the files it contains,
without having to supply a username and password.
Accessing this Public folder using a web browser does not
permit files to be changed or deleted, new files uploaded or the names
of other files in this folder to be displayed.
If you uploaded brochure.pdf to your Public folder, you
could email someone the following URL and the average user would
be able to download the file:-
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