FTP

The following topics are discussed in this section:

GENERAL INFORMATION

FTP is an acronym for File Transfer Protocol and is part of a package of software that allows transfer of files between two computers. Some sites allow guests to transfer files without having to have an account on the remote site. This is referred to as "Anonymous FTP".

GETTING STARTED

To use FTP, the user must do the following:

Logon to olympus.

USING FTP

To start an FTP session, type :

FTP site.name

where site.name is the internet address name of the site to be accessed (see the section Common FTP sites for more information).

Olympus will then attempt to connect to the remote site. When a connection is completed, the remote site will then ask for a username. Generally, you answer with the username anonymous but you may use an account name if you have one with the remote site.

The remote site will then respond with a password request. If you are using Anonymous FTP, enter your mail address (generally userid@OLYMPUS.CC.UCF.EDU). This is done as a courtesy to the remote site's system administrator.

Once this is done, you should get a Command: prompt. You are now ready to transfer files.

An example of a typical session and some useful FTP sites is given at the end of this document.

Common FTP commands

GET foreign.file [local.file]
will get a file from the remote site. Foreign.file is the name of the file on the remote site, and local.file is the optional file name of the file on the local site. If the local filename is omitted, the remote filename is used as default. For example, GET 00index.txt index.file.b will retrieve the file called 00index.txt on the remote site and name it INDEX FILE B1 on the mainframe. Some sites allow, which allows for the transfer of multiple files with one command. Use a Unix wildcard format (which is similar to MS-DOS) to specify multiple files.

PUT local.file [foreign.file]
will put a file from the local site on the remote site's computer. You must have permission from the remote site's system administrator to do this, although there may be selected directories dedicated to the PUTting of files; they are generally called "uploads". Filename conventions are the same as in GET. The mput command can be used to send multiple files.

CD directory
will change the current directory of the remote site. Since the number of files that can be on a site is very large, the files are usually broken down into categories and put into sub-directories so that finding a file is not as difficult. The CD command (like Unix or MS-DOS) allows you to change the current working directory so that it is not needed as part of the filename when GETting many files in the same directory. There is also a special directory name called ".." which allows you to step back one level in the directory structure.

DIR
will list the files of the current directory.

ASCII
will change the transfer protocol to an ASCII text format. Use this mode to transfer text files.

BINARY
will change the transfer protocol to BINARY format. Use this mode to transfer program files, or archived files (some of which are denoted by having ZIP, ARC, ARK, PAK, Z, TAR, ZOO, LBR, ?Q?, ?Z?, etc., in their filenames).

! command
allows you to issue a command (like ls) from the Command: prompt. Use this sparingly, since some commands will abnormally terminate your FTP session.

QUIT
will end the FTP session.

SAMPLE FTP SESSION

ftp wuarchive.wustl.edu 
VM TCP/IP FTP V2R1
Connecting to WUARCHIVE.WUSTL.EDU 128.252.135.4, port 21
220 wuarchive.wustl.edu FTP server (Version 6.10 Wed Jul 10 09:00:25 CDT 1991) ready.
USER (identify yourself to the host):
anonymous
> > > USER anonymous
331 Guest login ok, send e-mail address as password.
Password: userid@ucf1vm.cc.ucf.edu (Note: this will not be echoed to the screen)
> > > PASS ********
230-Welcome, archive user!  This is an experimental FTP server.  If have any
230-unusual problems, please report them via e-mail to root@wuarchive.wustl.edu
230-If you do have problems, please try using a dash (-) as the first character
230-of your password -- this will turn off the continuation messages that may
230-be confusing your ftp client.
230-
230-Please read the file README
230-  it was last modified on Thu Feb 21 10:35:09 1991 - 145 days ago
230-Please read the file README.07-Sep-90
230-  it was last modified on Sun Mar 24 14:15:43 1991 - 114 days ago
230 Guest login ok, access restrictions apply.
Command:
cd mirrors/msdos/gif
> > > CWD mirrors/msdos/gif
250 CWD command successful.
Command:
dir
> > > PORT 132,170,240,20,19,15
200 PORT command successful.
> > > LIST
150 Opening ASCII mode data connection for /bin/ls.
total 3583
-rw-r--r--  1 root     archive      4799 Jul 14 19:00 00-index.txt
-rw-r--r--  1 root     archive      2688 Dec 15  1990 89aillus.gif
-rw-r--r--  1 root     archive     27776 May 10  1988 blastoff.gif
-rw-r--r--  1 root     archive     96415 Jun 20  1988 bld2gif.arc
-rw-rw-r--  1 root     archive     26624 Nov  9  1990 cg89a.gif
            .
            .
            .
-rw-r--r--  1 root     archive      5120 Feb  1  1990 pepsi.gif
            .
            .
            .
-rw-r--r--  1 root     archive     30380 May 23  1988 vgif150.arc
-rw-r--r--  1 root     archive    102991 May  6 19:00 vpic43.zip
-rw-r--r--  1 root     archive    105936 Jul  9 19:00 vuimg311.zip
226 Transfer complete.
Command:
binary
> > > TYPE i
200 Type set to I.
Command:
get pepsi.gif pepsi.gif.a
> > > PORT 132,170,240,20,19,16
200 PORT command successful.
> > > RETR pepsi.gif
150 Opening BINARY mode data connection for pepsi.gif (5120 bytes).
226 Transfer complete.
5120 bytes transferred. Transfer rate 1.18 Kbytes/sec.
Command:
quit
> > > QUIT
221 Goodbye.

Common FTP Sites

Listed below is a list of common Anonymous FTP sites and a short description of what can be found there. This list was current as of this writing (August 1991) and is subject to change. Instructions on getting a current list of FTP sites follows this list.

Miscellaneous: 

wuarchive.wustl.edu     -BEST source for PC files, huge selection.  Try here first.
garbo.uwasa.fi          -Good PC archive site.
msdos.archive.umich.edu     -Another good source for PC files
cica.cica.indiana.edu       -Windows files
bikini.cis.ufl.edu          -Pink Floyd site
vacs.uwp.edu            -song lyric site
ftp.cs.montana.edu      -Star Trek video guide
milton.u.washington.edu     -Commodore 8 bit site
GIF Files: 
a.cs.uiuc.edu          (128.174.252.1)
dsl.cis.upenn.edu           (130.91.6.12)
faui43.informatik.uni-erlangen.de   (131.188.1.43)  (Germany 1800-0600 GMT ONLY!)
ftp.brl.mil         (128.63.16.158) (a few Desert Storm shots)
grind.isca.uiowa.edu        (128.255.19.233)    (Try logging on as "iscabbs"  via telnet )
isca01.isca.uiowa.edu       (128.255.16.175)
mibsrv.mib.eng.ua.edu       (130.160.20.80)
schizo.samsung.com          (134.228.1.2)   (good site, evenings only! Calif.)
shasta.scl.cwru.edu         (129.22.32.7)
ticsys.tamu.edu             (128.194.43.66) (Restricted to evening use. 6 pm-8 am)
uxc.cso.uiuc.edu            (128.174.5.50)
vmtecmex.cem.itesm.mx       (132.254.1.4)   (Mexico! GIF site master list.)
wuarchive.wustl.edu         (128.252.135.4) (Big site, easy access, gif viewers and gl viewers here.)
network.ucsd.edu            (128.54.16.3)   (Anime Gifs)
sol.sura.net                (128.167.1.10)  (Anime Gifs)
c.scs.uiuc.edu              (128.174.90.3)  (Astronomy gifs)
terrapin-station.syr.edu    (128.230.4.117) (Grateful Dead gifs)
quiche.cs.mcgill.ca         (132.206.2.3)   (Hubble GIF Images)
csula-ps.calstatela.edu     (130.182.171.1) (Hubble and Nature GIFs)
Iris1.ucis.dal.ca           (129.173.18.107)    (Space GIFs)
ames.arc.nasa.gov           (128.102.18.3)  (Space GIFs)
iear.arts.rpi.edu           (128.113.6.10)  (Star GIFs)
isy.liu.se                  (130.236.1.3)   (Star Trek GIFs)
vmd.cso.uiuc.edu            (128.174.5.98)  (Daily weather satellite photos in directory PHIL.515)
sumex-aim.stanford.edu      (36.44.0.6)
pittslug.sug.org            (192.58.107.15) (some gl files plus xviewgl.tar.Z and xgrasp (plus misc. files)).
NOVELL: 
hamster.business.uwo.ca     (including a turbopascal 6 netware api interface package and the view mailer.)
minnehaha.rhrk.uni-kl.de    (131.246.9.116)
iss.byu.edu                 (128.187.7.3)   (also known as dcsprod.byu.edu)
lan_stuff.ucs.indiana.edu   (129.79.16.96)
netlab.usu.edu              (129.123.1.11)
omnigate.clarkson.edu       (128.153.4.2)
rodan.acs.syr.edu           (128.230.1.55)
splicer.cba.hawaii.edu      (128.171.17.7)
SoundBlaster and AdLib software: 
snake.mcs.kent.edu

funic.funet.fi      (Moderated by msdos1@nic.funet.fi (Petri Hartoma) and ao@elixir.lne.kth.se (Anders Ohlsson))
garbo.uwasa.fi      (Garbo is moderated by Harri X and Timo Salmi (ts@uwasa.fi).  It is mirrored on sol.deakin.oz.au in /pub/PC/garbo/)
sol.deakin.oz.au    (moderated by ccw@deakin.OZ.AU)

Getting a current FTP list:

A current list is available via Anonymous FTP at the site pilot.njin.net; change to the /pub/ftp- list subdirectory and GET the file (in ASCII mode) ftp.list. According to the author of this list, it will be discontinued in the Fall of 1991. An alternative is to Anonymous FTP to quiche.cs.mcgill.ca and change to the ftp/archie/listings subdirectory and retrieve the site listings there. These files are compressed and should be transferred via the BINARY mode.

Currently there is an on-line database which is probably preferable to the methods above. The service is called "Archie" and allows a search of the database for sites that match your criteria. Telnet to quiche.cs.mcgill.ca and log in as user archie. For more information, see the Telnet entry.

HELPFUL HINTS

Be sure to be in the correct transfer mode before transferring files (ASCII or BINARY).

Avoid peak hours (Monday through Friday, 8 a.m. to 5 p.m.) for the foreign site. Transfers will go much faster after hours. In fact, some sites don't allow Anonymous FTP transfers during peak hours.

The mainframe (local filename) must have an extension. If the foreign filename does not have an extension, you must supply one.

(c) Copyright UCF Computer Services I& R Support 2/02/94