Introduction to FTP

FTP (File Transfer Protocol) is a method for sending files across the Internet. In order to get your web site from your local computer to the web server, you need to use a FTP program. Most FTP programs are fairly simple and only take a few minutes to master. At their basic level, FTP programs will upload (send files from your computer to the server) and download (retrieve files from the server to your computer). Additionally, most FTP programs will also delete files, create and rename files and directories, and allow advanced features like changing file permissions (CHMOD).

We recommend the following FTP programs: CuteFTP, WSFTP, and Bullet Proof FTP. For Macintosh, we recommend Fetch.

Setting Up FTP

Each FTP program has its own set-up features, but we will do our best to provide you with the basics of setting up:

1. Open you FTP Program on your computer.
2. Usually there will be an icon or menu option called "Connect". Click it.
3. For remote host or remote site, enter in www.yourdomain.com† (be sure to substitute in your actual domain in place of the mock domain above).
4. Enter in your username in the username field.
5. Enter in your password in the password field.
6. There should be a field called remote folder, enter www into that field. This represents the folder where all your web site content must go in order to be viewable online.
7. Click "OK" or "Connect". There may also be a "Save" option that enables you to save the connection variables so you won't have to enter them again.
8. If your connection is set up properly, you should be connected to the server. If it says the connection has failed, go back and double check your settings and try again.
9. Once you're connected, you can transfer your files to the server. Many FTP programs vary here, but usually you have two panes with the left side being your local files and the right side being the server's files. You should probably familiarize yourself with your FTP software at this point of you're confused.
10. Your main page (i.e., index page) needs to be named index and have either a .htm, .html, .php, .phtm, .phtml, or .shtml extension. Also keep in mind when uploading files that linux web servers are case sensitive, so Index.html is not the same as index.html. And finally, it's a good idea not to have spaces in your filenames; instead use an underscore like_this.

† If you just registered your domain or transferred your domain to Jagfly Hosting, it will probably take about 48 hours for the changes to take effect. You can still gain access to your site via FTP. Please see the welcoming e-mail for details.