Internet Services ARPA (Communication among Systems w/ Different OS) | File Transfer Protocol ( ftp) | Transfer a file, or multiple files, from one system to another. This is often used when transferring files between a UNIX workstation and a Windows PC, VAX, etc. The following example shows copying the file /tmp/krsort.c from system2 (remote host) to the local directory on system1 (local host): | | | Comments | | $ ftp system2 | Issue ftp command | | Connected to system2. | | | system2 FTP server (Version 4.1) ready. | | | Name (system2:root): root | Log in to system2 | | Password required for root. | | | Password: | Enter password | | User root logged in. | | | Remote system type is UNIX. | | | Using binary mode to transfer files. | | | ftp> cd /tmp | cd to /tmp on system2 | | CWD command successful | | | ftp> get krsort.c | Get krsort.c file | | PORT command successful | | | Opening BINARY mode data connection for krsort.c | | | Transfer complete. | | | 2896 bytes received in 0.08 seconds | | | ftp> bye | Exit ftp | | Goodbye. | | | $ | | In this example, both systems are running UNIX; however, the commands you issue through ftp are operating system-independent. The cd for change directory and get commands used above work for any operating system on which ftp is running. If you become familiar with just a few ftp commands, you may find that transferring information in a heterogeneous networking environment is not difficult. Chances are that you are using your UNIX system(s) in a heterogeneous environment and may therefore use ftp to copy files and directories from one system to another. Because ftp is so widely used, I describe some of the more commonly used ftp commands: | ascii | Set the type of file transferred to ASCII. This means that you are transferring an ASCII file from one system to another. binary is usually the default. Example: ascii | | binary | Set the type of file transferred to binary. This means that you are transferring a binary file from one system to another. If, for instance, you want to have a directory on your UNIX system that holds applications that you copy to non-UNIX systems, then you want to use binary transfer. Example: binary | | cd | Change to the specified directory on the remote host. Example: cd /tmp | | dir | List the contents of a directory on the remote system to the screen or to a file on the local system, if you specify a local file name. | | get | Copy the specified remote file to the specified local file. If you don't specify a local file name, then the remote file name will be used. | | lcd | Change to the specified directory on the local host. Example: lcd /tmp | | ls | List the contents of a directory on the remote system to the screen or to a file on the local system, if you specify a local file name. | | mget | Copy multiple files from the remote host to the local host. Example: mget *.c | | put | Copy the specified local file to the specified remote file. If you don't specify a remote file name, then the local file name will be used. Example: put test.c | | mput | Copy multiple files from the local host to the remote host. Example: mput *.c | | bye/quit | Close the connection to the remote host. Example: bye | Other ftp commands are available in addition to those I have covered here. If you need more information on these commands or wish to review additional ftp commands, the UNIX manual pages for ftp are helpful. | telnet | Used for communication with another host using the telnet protocol. Telnet is an alternative to using rlogin , described later. The following example shows how to establish a telnet connection with the remote host, system2: | | | Comments | | $ telnet system2 | | | Connected to system2. | Telnet to system2 | | AIX version 4 system2 | | | login: root | Log in as root on system2 | | password: | Enter password | | Welcome to system2. - rs6000 aix 4.3.1.0 | | | $ | AIX prompt on system2 | |
