Using FTP (File Transfer Protocol) you can easily upload large quantities of files to your site, including web pages and images. This system uses a specialized FTP server that links directly to your site's database. By connecting and uploading files via FTP, you can take full advantage of the underlying Content Management System and reduce production time. If you are new to working with FTP, read Understanding FTP.When you use FTP, you are essentially using the same file transfer process used by the File Manager in the Admin Console.
If you work with Dreamweaver, you can also use the Dreamweaver authoring environment (the Files panel) to upload site files.To learn more, see Uploading files with the File Manager and Dreamweaver.
If you do not have full permissions to administer your site, be aware that your user account must have the FTP permission enabled; otherwise attempts to upload files to the remote server will be ignored. If you are not sure if you have the necessary permissions, contact your site's administrator. When this permission is enabled, you'll have the ability to create, edit and delete all content types using FTP. It is a powerful tool, which comes with a great deal of responsibility. Take extra care whenever using FTP to ensure that existing data on the live site is not accidentally overwritten or deleted. If you do not currently have permission to use FTP, ask your site's system administrator to grant you FTP privileges.
The host address that you'll use to connect to the host server is the same as connecting to your site. It is not necessary to add the ftp prefix to your domain name when connecting via ftp. The host address you'll use looks just like your web address, without www, like this:
my_domain_name.com.
If you are hosting more than one site on this system and you use the same username to access the Admin Console for each one, you'll update your login name to specify which site to upload the files. To login using FTP to one of your sites, you'll append your site's domain name to your email address.
For example, if your domain name is http://my_domain_name.com and your email address is: email@my_domain_name.com then your username will follow this structure:
my_domain_name.com/email@my_domain_name.com
Note: If your site is still a trial (and its final domain name hasn't yet been added to the system) then you'll need to append the current trial site URL you use to log in. In this case, the username will look more like this:
my_trial_site.worldsecuresystems.com/email@my_domain_name.com
You'll use your existing password; when connecting via FTP, you'll use the same password that you use to log in to the Admin Console
There are many free third-party FTP programs that you can download and use for free. Be aware that some are platform-specific, and download the software that matches your operating system. A partial list is provided below:
You can find other FTP clients by searching on the following terms using your favorite search engine: Download free FTP client.
While the interfaces may look different, they all work the same way. Usually you can see two panels (a list of the files currently residing on the remote host server, and a list of the local files that exist within the local root folder of your site on your machine). You'll use the credentials (described in the next section) to log in, and then click a connect button to see the remote files.
When you use a third-party FTP client, you'll need to enter the login details to connect to the host server and update your live site.
Use the following syntax (replacing your site's name with my_domain_name.com and your email with email@my_domain_name.com) to log into your site via FTP:
Note: If you are still unable to connect, verify that the network you are using does not have a firewall set up (such as a corporate office, a government agency, etc.) because this could also result in FTP connection issues. If you suspect that you are behind a firewall, try connecting outside the office, using a different network.
The FTP service for this system supports uploading files that use the following file extensions, among others:
You can also upload these file types using the File Manager in the Admin Console.
Many other file types are allowed, so try uploading your file first, to see if it works. If you cannot upload a file type that you think should be supported, contact the Support team with your request.
You can download the Firefox browser and the FireFTP add-on for Firefox, which is a utility that adds FTP functionality within the browser's interface. It works on Linux, Mac OS X, and Windows. This is not trial software and does not require any other programs to work. Using FireFTP, you can upload, download, delete, rename files with ease, just as you work with local files on your computer. Follow these steps:
To learn more about working with FireFTP to upload and manage site files, see the tutorial on the jtoolkit website.
To get instructions on uploading files via FTP using the Admin Console or Dreamweaver's Files panel, see Uploading files with the File Manager and Dreamweaver.
If you are having issues, read Troubleshooting FTP connectivity issues.
When you log into the Admin Console and choose Site Manager > Pages, you can select specific pages and make changes to them. When the changes are complete, you have the option of Save or Save and Publish. The Save and Publish button uploads your changes to the live site, pushing the updated page live. When you click Save, the system saves a working copy of the page, to retain the changes you made, but does not update the live site. That way, you can return to the page later and continue editing it.
When using FTP to upload web pages, the workflow is different. Uploading the files is essentially the same as clicking the Save and Publish button, because the files you upload to the remote server are instantly published. When uploading files with FTP, you do not have a button with the option to save the changes without publishing them; instead you simply work with the file on your local machine and do not upload it until your want the changes to be published to the live site.
This behavior is consistant with the usual web production workflow, when using any FTP client (or Dreamweaver) to upload site files.
Since all uploaded files instantly affect the live site, it is important to understand this responsibility. Tread lightly when uploading pages, and only upload them after you've tested the pages locally in a browser and confirmed they are ready for public viewing.
Additionally, if you are the site administrator, only grant FTP permissions to site users that understand how FTP works and are careful not to delete files from the live site (or overwrite them). To ensure the site does not encounter issues, only assign FTP permissions to those users who are familiar with the process of uploading files via FTP and the ramifications of modifying files on the remote server.
Copyright 2004 - 2011 Business Catalyst