To connect to an FTP site using the connection dialog, do any of the following actions:
FTP -> Connect...
from the menu barF3
key on your key board When you do any of the above actions, a new dialog box titled, Connect
will be displayed.
The Connect
dialog has four tabs namely, General
,
Security
, Advanced
and Commands
. By default,
when ever you open the Connect
dialog, the General
tab gets activated. To activate another tab, just click on the desired tab.
In most cases, you just have to fill in the
Host Name
, User
Name
and Password
in the General
tab. All other
fields will be filled in with default values (some of them are taken from your
global preferences), which will work with most FTP sites.
Host Name
Enter the host name or IP address of the FTP site that you wish to connect to.
For e.g. ftp.netscape.com
.
User Name
To log on to an FTP site, you must identify yourself with a valid user name
and password and optionally an account number or account name. In this field,
enter the user name that you would like to use for log in. If you are connecting
to an anonymous FTP site such as ftp.netscape.com
, enter the word
anonymous
as user name.
Password
Enter your password for logging in to the FTP site. If you are connecting to
an anonymous FTP site such as ftp.netscape.com
, enter your e-mail
address as password.
Port Number
In order to connect to a remote service using TCP/IP, one must know the port
number on which the service is running on the remote system. By default, the
FTP service runs on port 21. However, this might not be the case all the time.
For e.g. if you are connecting through a firewall or, if the FTP site administrator
has set a different port for the FTP service. Contact your system administrator
or the site's administrator if the default port does not work well for you.
Account
Enter your account number or account name to log in. Most FTP sites do not need
account information during log in. However, if your FTP site needs one, enter
it here.
At this point, you may click on the
Connect
button to connect to
the FTP site, or, click on the Security
tab to configure security
options.
Click on the Security
tab to configure the security options for
this FTP connection.
Do Not Use SSL
Select this radio button to use a plain TCP/IP connection. All commands and
data will be sent in clear (un-encrypted) when this option is selected.
Use SSL If Available
Select this radio button to tell JFTP to use a secured connection if the server
you are connecting to supports SSL. If the server supports SSL, all commands
and/or data that is transferred will be encrypted.
Use Explicit SSL
Select this radio button to tell JFTP to use an Explicit SSL connection. This
means, after connecting to the FTP server, JFTP will negotiate for an SSL connection
and if it succeeds, the plain TCP/IP connection will be transformed into an
SSL connection. If the SSL negotiation fails for any reason, the connection
will be closed.
Use Implicit SSL
Select this radio button to connect to the FTP server using an implicit SSL
connection.
Port Number
Enter the port number to connect to for an Implicit SSL connection. The default
port number for Implicit SSL is 990. If your FTP server listens on a port other
than the default, enter that port number here.
Do Not Encrypt Data Channel
Select this option to instruct JFTP not to use SSL for transferring actual data
such as file transfers and directory listings. With this option selected, only
the data sent over command channel gets encrypted. This data includes user name
and password.
At this point, you may click on the
Connect
button to connect to
the FTP site, or, click on the Advanced
tab to configure advanced
connect options.
The advanced connect options can be set by clicking on the Advanced
tab in the Connect
dialog.
FTP Client
Select the FTP client that you would like to use for connecting to this FTP
site. This drop-down box contains a list of all installed FTP client implementations.
You can see the list by clicking on the down arrow of the drop-down box. The
default installation of JFTP comes with two different clients:
Default FTP Client
AS/400 FTP Client
The Default FTP Client
works well with most FTP servers. The AS/400
FTP client is specifically designed for connecting to AS/400 (or iSeries) FTP
servers.
List Parser
Select a list parser that you would like to use for this FTP site. This drop-down
box contains a list of all installed list parsers. A list parser is a small
program used to parse the directory listing produced by an FTP server in response
to the LIST
command. The default installation of JFTP comes with
the following two list parsers:
Default List Parser (UNIX)
MS-DOS List Parser
The Default List Parser
works well with most FTP servers that
produce UNIX style directory listing. The MS-DOS List Parser
is
used to parse the DOS/Windows style directory listing.
Initial Local Directory
Enter a valid directory that you would like to set as initial local working
directory for this session. Upon connecting to the FTP site, the working directory
in the local pane will be changed to the directory you specify here.
Browse...
Use this button to open a file dialog that allows you to browse the local file
system and select an existing directory to be used as Initial Local Directory
.
Initial Remote Directory
Enter a valid directory that you would like to set as initial remote working
directory for this session. Upon connecting to the FTP site, the working directory
in the remote pane will be changed to the directory you specify here.
Transfer Data in Passive Mode
To transfer a file using FTP, a data connection needs to be established between
your PC and the FTP site. The data connection can be opened in either active
or passive modes. In the active mode, the FTP site establishes the data connection
to your PC (client). In the passive mode, the PC establishes a connection to
the FTP site. The passive mode is helpful if you are behind a firewall and your
firewall does not accept incoming connections from computers outside of your
network.
Check this check box to transfer data in passive mode. Un-checking this will cause the data to be transferred in active mode.
At this point, you may click on the
Connect
button to connect to
the FTP site or, click on the Commands
tab to further customize
the connect options.
This tab is provided for the sake of advanced users who are familiar with FTP protocol and site specific features.
Execute the following commands after login
You may request JFTP to execute zero or more FTP commands up on a successful
login. A simple example would be, if you want to know what all features an FTP
site supports, you issue the HELP
command. However, in practical
scenarios, you use this feature to alter some site specific parameters such
as changing the directory listing style; i.e. whether to list the directory
contents in server operating system's proprietary format or to list them in
standard UNIX format. In this text area, enter the FTP commands that you would
like to execute after login. Make sure to separate each command by a new line.
Connect
Clicking this button validates the input you have provided, closes the Connect
dialog and connects to the specified FTP site. If the data you have provided
is insufficient or invalid to make a connection an appropriate error message
will be displayed.
Cancel
Clicking this button simply closes the Connect
dialog. You may
also press the Esc
key on your keyboard to close the dialog.
Help
Click this button to display this help topic.