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What is FTP?

Discussion in 'Networking (Hardware & Software)' started by Heartbeat, 2009/04/17.

  1. 2009/04/17
    Heartbeat

    Heartbeat Inactive Thread Starter

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    May someone please explain to me what FTP is? And Someone told me to put this address in my address bar ftp://67.58.183.159 What kind of code is that, and what is that supose to do?
     
    Heartbeat,
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  2. 2009/04/17
    wildfire

    wildfire Getting Old

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    File Transfer Protocol, used to transfer files from one computer to another.

    Most browsers such as Internet Explorer, Firefox etc aren't just HTTP clients they can act as FTP clients. The above address would connect you to an FTP server @ 67.58.183.159 You may require a username and password to access the site though.
     
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  4. 2009/04/17
    Heartbeat

    Heartbeat Inactive Thread Starter

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    Ok, so it works like team viewer?
     
    Heartbeat,
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  5. 2009/04/17
    wildfire

    wildfire Getting Old

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    No, FTP is used to copy files from one location to another over a network. You do not have remote access to the other computer.
     
    wildfire,
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  6. 2009/04/17
    TonyT

    TonyT SuperGeek Staff

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    As was stated above, FTP stands for File Transfer Protocol.

    Transfer means: to send from one location to another location.

    Protocol means: the rules and procedures of doing something.

    Thus, File Transfer Protocol is a method of transferring files from one computer that is connected to the Internet to another computer that is connected to the Internet.

    And while I'm at it:

    Internet means the wires, cables, computers, hardware, devices & infrastructure.

    WWW means World Wide Web. The WWW is NOT the Internet. The WWW is the entirety of documents (files) on computers that are connected to the Internet.

    Web pages are viewed in a Web browser such as Internet Explorer, Firefox, etc. The protocol used to view Web content in the browser is HTTP.

    HTTP means Hyper Text Transfer Protocol.

    Hyper means over or above.

    Text means the characters on the screen; letters, numbers, symbols.

    Hypertext: A term coined by Information Technology pioneer Ted Nelson around 1965 for a collection of documents containing cross-references or “links” which, with the aid of an interactive browser program, allow the reader to move easily from one document to another. The first browsers used only text. Hypertext can be applied to text, images and multimedia in modern Web browsers.

    Some other Internet protocols:

    Gopher: an enhanced method of searching the WWW not so much used today. Not all Web browser support it anymore.
    gopher://gopher.floodgap.com/7/v2/vs
     
    Last edited: 2009/04/17
    TonyT,
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  7. 2009/04/17
    ReggieB

    ReggieB Inactive Alumni

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    Gopher! Those were the days. And then came the new-fangled "web pages" with pictures and the fun of getting hold of a copy of Mozaic to install on my Windows 3.11 system to view them. The good old days when all you had to do to work out how a page was constructed was look at the page source in the browser. Happy days, when the only people who e-mailed me were people I knew or at least were real people.
     
    ReggieB,
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  8. 2009/04/17
    Heartbeat

    Heartbeat Inactive Thread Starter

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    ReggieB that is great! I didn't know it has been around for a while. I have a lot to learn I guess, And this is something that I know very little about this. I am trying to learn it. Thank you everyone else for the replies.
    Well what I ment about the team viewer was the file transfer.
    So how do they set up the account to do this?
    What is this good for? I was told to make web pages. But I am not understanding how this could be good to make a web page.
    So is this like http://192.168.2.1/?
    If not can you tell me what the difference?
    Is this like a gateway?
     
    Heartbeat,
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  9. 2009/04/17
    wildfire

    wildfire Getting Old

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    It depends on the software but the key point is they set up the account ;)

    File transfer protocol, you make the webpage and save it as a file then you transfer it over to you website host.

    Not quite 192.168... adresses are private. You can have 192.168.0.1 and I can (actually do have) 192.168.0.1 but unless I've been stupid you should not be able to access my intranet. This gives you a good summary of private and public addresses.
     
    wildfire,
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  10. 2009/04/17
    Heartbeat

    Heartbeat Inactive Thread Starter

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    Oh, ok. Thanks for the help. I got scared about it. I don't really know much about it and I want to learn about it. I am trying to learn lots of things. And sorry for the stupid questions.
    I have had people try to do somethings to me. So I am kind of scared about some things.
     
    Heartbeat,
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  11. 2009/04/17
    wildfire

    wildfire Getting Old

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    The only stupid questions are the ones you already know the answer to. And don't be scared, there's a lot of people here to help you if you feal out of your depth.

    Happy computing. :D
     
    wildfire,
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  12. 2009/04/17
    TonyT

    TonyT SuperGeek Staff

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    Just ask away, as was said, there are no stupid questions.

    FYI

    When you use a Web browser you are connecting to Web servers. A Web server is a server program, running on a computer that is connected to the Internet. It "serves" files to you that you have requested by clicking on hypertext, which then get displayed in your Web browser (the client).

    In networking, you have servers and clients.

    An FTP server is similar to a Web server except it serves files to a FTP program you have installed on your computer. Your FTP program is used to transfer files (upload & download) to the FTP server.

    Most Web browsers have FTP functionality built into them, thus you can use your Web browser as an FTP program to upload and download (transfer) files to & from the FTP server.

    You can also install a separate dedicated FTP client. There are many good free ones today. They are used solely for file transfer and most have options that make managing the files much easier than the Web browser. For example, an FTP client may have 2 frames in its window, one on the left displays your files and one on the right displays the files on the FTP server. Drag a file either way to upload or download it. These clients also remember your FTP usernames and passwords and make connecting very simple.

    To get started using FTP is easy. Your Internet provider probably has a free service for its subscribers called Free Web Space or something similar. You must activate your free Web space at their site, usually by logging in to your account with them. Once activated, you can use FTP to store your files there. This can be a fun way to share your pictures and other files with family and friends.
     
    TonyT,
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  13. 2009/04/17
    Heartbeat

    Heartbeat Inactive Thread Starter

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    That makes since. Tony T.
    Thank you so much for the help. And thank you for not thinking it is stupid Tony T and wildfire. I have a lot still to learn. But it is great learning something new all the time.
     
    Heartbeat,
    #12

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