If you do not have other users accessing your server and want to add a little security by making your FTP port something no one would guess, you can easily change the port in ProFTPD or Vsftpd.

To change the port in ProFTPD, edit the configuration file, /etc/proftpd.conf and change the following line:

Port 21

Replace “21” with whatever port number you want.

To change the port in Vsftpd, edit /etc/vsftpd/vsftpd.conf and change the line:

listen_port=21

When you are finished, you should restart your FTP server to force the changes to take effect.

There are a few issues you should note. Before changing the port, make sure the port you want to use is available and not used by another service. Also, after you free up port 21, you should close it in your firewall settings and open whatever port you have opened to replace it.

By default, FTP servers require the user to login in order to upload or download files. Many web hosts, however, additionally offer the ability to use anonymous FTP. It basically gives you the ability to allow users to login to the FTP server without providing a username or a password.

What it really does is give users access to a username called anonymous, which does not require a password. They can then perform whatever tasks that are allowed for that user. For example, the anonymous use may be allowed to download public files but probably will not be allowed to upload. Downloading with FTP takes load off of the web server and usually offers more connections so more users can access the files at once.

Despite its name, anonymous FTP is not completely anonymous. As a website owner, you can still track IP addresses and host name, in case someone attempts to compromise your system. If you do not offer public downloads of any sort, it is usually a good idea to disable anonymous FTP.

To begin, choose to create a new connection. For the “hostname” enter your domain name without the “www” or use the IP address given to you by your web host. You can normally leave “port” as is unless your hosting provider gave you a port other than the default (21). The username will be whatever your host assigned. It could be use a name or your entire email address (particularly if it is a shared hosting account). If you are not sure, contact your host. Next, enter your password.

You should then be able to click “connect” and have no problems getting logged in. If you cannot, the first thing to check is your password and then username. If those are both correct, contact your web host to make sure you have the right information. If you have your own dedicated server, you may need to configure your FTP server before you can connect to it. You can do this in your web-based control panel or through SSH.

Attrib – Allows you to display and modify file attributes
Chkdsk – Checks the disk and lists any errors found
Comp – Compare the contents of two files or groups of files
FTP – File Transfer Protocol – similar to Unix command-line FTP
Hostname – Shows the local system’s name
Ipconfig – Shows the current network configuration settings
Net Pause – Pauses a running service
Net Continue – Resumes a paused service
Rd/Rmdir – Removes a directory
Ren – Renames the specified file

These are just a few of the useful command line options. For a more extensive list, see techotopia

When logged into to a remote server, you still have the option of using FTP to connect to other servers, such as your backup storage device, although you will not have the benefit of a graphical interface. Here are a few basic commands for text-based FTP.

ftp – Starts the FTP program.
open – Connects to a remote server. You can use it in combination with an address (i.e. open ftp.mysite.net)
ls – Lists the files in a directory
cd – changes to the specified directory
get – downloads the specified remote file (i.e. get filename)
lcd – changes the current local directory (i.e. lcd /home/user)
send – uploads specified file (i.e. send whois-list)
quit – exits and returns the prompt to the local server

Image Source: Wikimedia Commons

A binary file is a file that contains data, but that data is encoded in some type of binary form. This means that if you open up the file, you will not understand most of the contents, although some text metadata may be included. A computer, on the other hand, can read the file just fine. Examples include images, videos, and compiled software.

ASCII files are just the opposite. These files are human readable, even if they contain software code. They are in plain text format. Examples include html, txt, and php files. Your FTP program will have a selector that lets you choose which type of file it is or select automatic to have the program attempt to automatically determine the right type of uploading required.

Photo Source: Flickr

1. Check your own network connectivity. If your website (or the email associated with it) was the first sign of a problem, you might find that other websites are down as well. If this is the case go through normal ISP connectivity troubleshooting.

2. Check your web host’s website for any connection status notices.

3. Try to connect to your server via FTP and/or SSH.

4. Try a traceroute to see if there are connection hiccups along the way.

5. Use a remote service to run a traceroute. It may be a connection problem only for your service provider. You can also check the Internet health.

6. Contact your web host.

You can do all of these checks in less than 5 minutes, so do not worry about wasting time when you could have been tearing into your web host on the phone. With the right tools at your disposal, you can be up and running again in a matter of minutes.

Photo Source: Wikimedia Commons

CrossFTP is an FTP client, but among its features is built-in support for Amazon S3 and Amazon CloudFront. With it you can upload, download, perform backups, modify metadata, create schedules, and synchronize content with your servers.

The best part of all is that CrossFTP is a graphical client that runs on Windows, Mac, and Linux computers while still providing access to both your remote server and your Amazon S3 remote storage. CrossFTP is free, and Amazon S3 support works out of the box, but there is also a “Pro” version that provides added features. It is available for download from the project’s website.

Photo Source: CrossFTP

Imagine having your website visited by thousands of visitors at once. Will your website hold up to the stress? Curl-loader allows you to test it and find out. Some of the features include:

• GET, POST, and PUT tests
• Web and proxy authentication
• Cookies and DNS caches
• URL fetching probability
• and much more.

Curl-loader is free and open source software released under the GNU GPL, available for download from the sourceforge.net.

Source: curl-loader

Using a web FTP client, you can access your site files from any computer and even mobile phones with Internet capability. This eliminates the need to install a client on every computer you use. There are some limitations, however. Web FTP works best with smaller files and may time out if you try to transfer a large video or database.

Check with your host to see if web FTP is available. It’s quick, fast, and great for on-the-go.