FTP Hosting

What is FTP?

FTP is a way of transferring files over the Internet. With FTP, files are put in a queue to be downloaded by the receiving program and saved. Even large files can be sent this way. When you upload pictures or web pages or download software from the Internet you are probably using FTP. If your upload or download is interrupted, you can pick it up again where you left off. FTP also allows webmasters to view their files on their hosting server and rename or delete them when necessary. FTP is an important tool for managing a web page because it allows you to quickly upload your files to the server and then delete them later if necessary.

How do I use FTP?

To use file transfer protocol, you need software that is programmed for FTP. The web browser you use to view web pages is able to use FTP in addition to the common HTTP, or HyperText Transfer Protocol. To use your browser to access an FTP site, you would type in FTP:// instead of HTTP:// at the beginning of the site's URL. You just need to know the FTP site's URL to reach it. This is one way of getting your web pages to the web host server.

In addition to your browser, you can also use an FTP software program. Some of these are free while others can be very expensive. WS_FTP and CuteFTP are two of these programs. They are fairly easy to learn, and let you work with your files on your hosting server. Or, you can use your web page software, like Adobe Dreamweaver or Microsoft FrontPage. Because FTP is the common way of uploading websites to web host servers, these programs are also capable of using FTP.

Anonymous FTP

Anonymous FTP is way of transferring files using FTP without needing a username or password. This is used by some websites to accept files from their visitors, especially if the files would be too big to email. Unfortunately, anonymous FTP is also used to transfer pirated and copyrighted material. For this reason, many web hosts don't allow anonymous FTP accounts on their servers, which means that you would not be able to have anonymous FTP on your website, though few websites need anonymous FTP. Web hosts that do allow anonymous FTP usually either charge a significant fee to cover their trouble for hosting it or have lax security.

Multiple FTP accounts

Some web hosting plans allow you to have multiple FTP accounts. These may all lead to the same folder on the server, or can all go to their own folders. This might be useful if you have multiple sites on one server, or have multiple users uploading files to a website.

Do I need to be able to use FTP?

FTP is a very useful tool. Some free hosts do not support FTP on their server, which means you either have to create your web pages through online tools that they provide, or upload your pages this article has all rights reserved and is copyright by 100 Best through an online file manager, which can be very slow. A good web host will offer FTP at least so that you can quickly and easily upload your website and make changes to the files when necessary.