IHANON-1, Help Sheet for Anonymous FTP Page 1 This sheet tells you how to use Internet anonymous FTP. FTP is the Internet's service for copying files from one computer to another. FTP normally requires you to have a username on both computers. Some computers on the Internet offer anonymous FTP, which allows you to retrieve copies of some of their files even you are not enrolled as one of their users. In brief, you use FTP just as you would if you had a username on the remote system. When you are prompted for a username, you use the username "anonymous". When you are prompted for the password, most systems will accept any password you wish. Some systems tell you what password they will accept. Procedure Each different computer has its own FTP program which often differ in the messages and prompts they display. Thus, our explanation will not include the exact wording of the messages and prompts you will receive. (1) Type ftp followed by the official Internet name of the computer you wish to copy files from and press RETURN. (2) Look for a message saying that you are connected to it. When you are connected, you will be prompted for a username. Typical prompts are Name: or User:. At this prompt, type the word anonymous and press RETURN. (3) The computer will prompt you for a password (i.e. Password:). Before this, it will probably give you an explanatory note about what to type. Many computers say send real ident as password. This is asking for your username, but this is not enforced. Some computers will give you more specific instructions, like asking for the password guest. Type a password and press RETURN. At this point, the computer will give you a message to the effect that you are logged in successfully (e.g. Guest login ok) and you may proceed to copy files. By default, you are using a directory specifically reserved for files available to the general public. Commands All the normal FTP commands may be used to retrieve files. Some FTP commands are the same on different computers, but others are not. Usually, FTP will list the commands if you type "help" type a question mark (?). Also, your computer's help command may have information about FTP. Some useful commands available on most systems include: get - copy a file from the remote computer to yours. put - copy a file from your computer to the remote computer. This is of limited use under anonymous FTP. dir - list the files in the directory you are currently set to use. The format of the output depends upon the remote computer. cd - Change directory; use this command with a specification of a directory on the remote system that you wish to use. After this command, further JMW 6/89 IHANON-1, Help Sheet for Anonymous FTP Page 2 commands will assume this directory. binary - Switch to binary mode. By default, file transfers are translated in such a way that text remains readable. Binary mode disables all translation. ascii - Switch to ascii mode. Ascii mode is the default mode which preserves the readability of text. Other commands (including the command to quit) vary. The command to quit is often exit or quit. Example Session % ftp icarus.cns.syr.edu Connected to icarus.cns.syr.EDU. 220 icarus.cns.syr.edu FTP server (Version 4.164) ready. Name (icarus:mmroe): anonymous 331 Guest login ok, send ident as password. Password: 230 Guest login ok, access restrictions apply. ftp> dir 200 PORT command successful. 150 Opening data connection for /bin/ls (ascii mode) (0 bytes). total 5 dr-xr-xr-x 2 root wheel 512 Jan 26 1988 bin dr-xr-xr-x 2 root wheel 512 Jan 26 1988 etc drwxrwxr-x 2 root comdev 512 Jun 29 14:23 hosts drwxrwxr-x 2 root comdev 1024 Jun 29 11:12 info drwxrwxr-x 5 ftp wheel 1024 May 23 10:43 pub 226 Transfer complete. 307 bytes received in 0.78 seconds (0.38 Kbytes/s) ftp> cd info 250 CWD command successful. ftp> dir 200 PORT command successful. 150 Opening data connection for /bin/ls (ascii mode) (0 bytes). total 954 -rw-r--r-- 1 root cns 892 May 9 09:55 README -rw-r--r-- 1 root cns 10110 Jun 29 10:37 abstracts.txt -rw-r--r-- 1 root cns 1380 Jun 29 10:37 titles.txt -rw-r--r-- 1 root cns 22593 May 16 12:33 zoohelp.ps -rw-r--r-- 1 root cns 10519 May 16 12:48 zoohelp.txt 226 Transfer complete. 2202 bytes received in 2.3 seconds (0.95 Kbytes/s) ftp> get titles.txt 200 PORT command successful. 150 Opening data connection for titles.txt (ascii mode) (1380 bytes). 226 Transfer complete. local: titles.txt remote: titles.txt 1411 bytes received in 0.1 seconds (14 Kbytes/s) ftp> quit 221 Goodbye. % Copying to or from a user's directory. In general, the FTP program will allow you to copy files to or from JMW 6/89 IHANON-1, Help Sheet for Anonymous FTP Page 3 individual user's directories on the remote machine, but only if they have protected the directory and/or filename (as appropriate on the remote system) so that anyone is allowed to do this. For example, if I have a file in my own directory called "myfile.forall" and I use my computer's commands to make it readable by all, then if my computer offers anonymous FTP, someone from a different computer can use the "cd" command to ask for my directory and copy the file. The actual procedure for "making it readable" depends upon the computer. Hints Computers offering a lot of files through anonymous FTP often organize them with directories. Learning how to switch and display directories will pay off. Free software (especially Unix software) is often placed in a directory titled "pub". You may find that some directories have so many files that displaying the directory scrolls some of the filenames off the screen before you have seen them. Most computers have a way of capturing the output displayed on the screen in a file. It is often useful to capture the output from anonymous FTP sessions so you later have a chance to look over the directory listings to see what you missed. What is available by Anonymous FTP? Many systems throughout the Internet offer files through anonymous FTP. These include software, documents of various sorts, and files for configuring networks. Archives for electronic mailing lists are often stored available through anonymous FTP. Note that all this is subject to change. Some examples: icarus.cns.syr.edu - offers tables for configuring computers on the Syracuse University Internet, free Unix and Sun software, and various manuals on computer networking. cuvma.columbia.edu - offers Kermit software. titan.rice.edu - offers free software for Sun computers as well as archives of the mailing list about Sun computers. ftp.ncsa.uiuc.edu - offers NCSA's TCP/IP software for PC and Macintosh computers as well as various other miscellaneous free software. uunet.uu.net - offers free software for Unix and various types of personal computers. wsmr-simtel20.army.mil - offers free software for various types of personal computers. sun.soe.clarkson.edu - offers free text-processing software, mostly related to Tex. JMW 6/89