Networking All-in-One For Dummies by Doug Lowe

Author:Doug Lowe [Lowe, Doug]
Language: eng
Format: epub, pdf
Publisher: For Dummies
Published: 2012-10-31T18:30:00+00:00

Figure 4-5: Configuring a Windows client to obtain its DNS address from DHCP.

Chapter 5: Using FTP

In This Chapter

Figuring out the basics of FTP

Setting up an FTP server

Retrieving files from an FTP server

Using FTP commands

File Transfer Protocol (FTP) is the basic method for exchanging files over the Internet. If you need to access files from someone’s FTP site, this chapter shows you how to do so by using a web browser or a command line FTP client. If you need to set up your own FTP server to share files with other users, this chapter shows you how to do that, too.

Discovering FTP

FTP is as old as the Internet. The first versions of FTP date to the early 1970s, and even the current FTP standard (RFC 959) dates to 1985. You can use FTP with the command line FTP client (which has a decidedly 1980s feel to it), or you can access FTP sites with most modern web browsers if you prefer a graphic interface. Old computer hounds prefer the FTP command line client, probably for nostalgic reasons.

In spite of its age, FTP is still commonly used on the Internet. For example, InterNIC (the organization that manages Internet names) maintains an FTP site at ftp://ftp.rs.internic.net. There, you can download important files, such as named.root, which provides the current location of the Internet’s root name servers. Many other companies maintain FTP sites from which you can download software, device drivers, documentation, reports, and so on. FTP is also one of the most common ways to publish HTML files to a web server. Because FTP is still so widely used, it pays to know how to use it from both the command line and from a browser.

In the Windows world, an FTP server is integrated with the Microsoft web server, Internet Information Services (IIS). As a result, you can manage FTP from the IIS management console along with other IIS features. Note that the FTP component is an optional part of IIS, so you may need to install it separately if you opted to not include it when you first installed IIS.

On Unix and Linux systems, FTP isn’t usually integrated with a web server. Instead, the FTP server is installed as a separate program. You’re usually given the option to install FTP when you install the operating system. If you choose not to, you can always install it later.

When you run an FTP server, you expose a portion of your file system to the outside world. As a result, you need to be careful about how you set up your FTP server so that you don’t accidentally allow hackers access to the bowels of your file server. Fortunately, the default configuration of FTP is pretty secure. You shouldn’t tinker much with the default configuration unless you know what you’re doing.

Configuring an FTP Server

In the following sections, I show you how to configure FTP services in Microsoft IIS. The examples show IIS version 8 running on Windows Server 2012, but the procedures are essentially the same for other IIS versions.

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