File Transfer Protocol,

FTP

File Transfer Protocol, ftp is a program that allows you to transfer your files to or from a remote system connected by the Internet.

If you have accounts on more than one system, you can use ftp to transfer files back and forth between them. You must know the Internet address of the remote system, and also the pathname of the file on the remote system.

FTP - a brief note

The ftp command uses the File Transfer Protocol (FTP) to transfer files between the local host and a remote host or between two remote hosts. The FTP protocol allows data transfer between hosts that use dissimilar file systems.

• Syntax

ftp [Hostname [Port ]]

At the ftp> prompt, you can enter subcommands to perform tasks such as listing remote directories, changing the current local and remote directory, transferring multiple files in a single request, creating and removing directories, and escaping to the local shell to perform shell commands.

• FTP Commands - What they do and how to use them effectively

Sub-Commands	What they do
ascii	Every FTP client can transfer files in two modes: ASCII and BINARY. ASCII is for text and html files. Images should never be transferred in ASCII mode .Secure documents, such as .htaccess and .htpasswd should be transferred in ASCII mode.
binary	The second ftp transfer mode. It is more powerful than ASCII, because both text/html files and images, can be transferred correctly with it.
open	The first step to connect to a remote server with your ftp client.
user	When you connect to an ftp server, you are automatically asked for your username and password. If for some reason the login fails for you, you can type user. That way you'll be asked for your username and password again.
dir	Shows the contents of the current remote directory, with several details, such as the date of their creation, their size and their chmod status. If you type dir yourfilename.html, it will only show this file. If you type dir a*,it will show all the files beginning with a. If you type a*.jpg, it will show all the .jpg files that begin with a.
get	Enables you to download a remote file from the current remote directory, to your current local directory.
mget	Enables you to get multiple remote files and transfer them to your local directory.
put	Enables you to upload a local file from your local directory to the current remote directory.
mput	Enables you to put multiple local files form your local directory to your current remote directory.
bye	Terminates the current connection.
cd	Changes the remote directory.
hash	This is a useful command, when you want to see the transfer process. When you turn hash on, it will say: hash mark printing on ftp:(x bytes/hash mark)It will show up a certain number of bytes in the place of x. The hash mark is this symbol (#).If you see that when transferring a file there are no hashmarks and you have hash enabled, then your request might have timed out or stopped for some weird reason. Some times, though, it's just the server being slow.
lcd	Changes the local directory to the directory of your choice. You must type in the full path, for example lcd C:\website\docs.
mdelete	Enables you to delete multiple remote files.
prompt	Or Interactive mode. By default it is turned on and each time you want to transfer or delete multiple files, you will be asked: mdele/mput/mget filename.html?(press enter or y for yes, n for no).That can be annoying if you want to transfer a whole directory or such, so you should turn it off in that case. To turn it on again, just type prompt for another time.

TIP: If you want to transfer a whole remote or local directory, just switch to it and type: mget/mput *.* .If you want to download/upload only certain file types, for example, only gifs, type in: mget/mput *.gif. You get the idea. That's the reason FTP can save you from wasting time on typing in filenames. You should disable interactive mode before trying to download/upload though (type in "prompt"), because if you don't, the program will ask you for confirmation before downloading/uploading each file.

• To Log in to a Remote Host

1.) Change to the directory that contains the file you want to send (sending a file) or to the directory where you want the transferred file to reside (receiving a file).

2.) Log in to the remote host. This can be done either directly or indirectly. To log in to a remote host directly, enter:

ftp HostName

Enter your login name and password when prompted by the system.

1.     Connected to canopus.austin.century.com.

2.     220 canopus.austin.century.com FTP server 

3.     Name: dee

4.     331 Password required for dee.

5.     Password:

6.     230 User dee logged in.

7.     ftp>

3.) To log in to a remote host indirectly, enter:

ftp

When the ftp> prompt is displayed, enter:

open HostName

Enter your name and password when prompted by the system.

1.     Connected to canopus.austin.century.com.

2.     220 canopus.austin.century.com FTP server 

3.     Name: dee

4.     331 Password required for dee.

5.     Password:

6.     230 User dee logged in.

7.     ftp>

You are now ready to copy a file between two hosts.

• To Copy a File from a Remote Host to a Local Host

The ftp command uses the ASCII default transfer type to copy files.
1.) Determine if the file that you wish to copy is in the current directory by issuing the dir subcommand. (The dir subcommand for the ftp command functions the same as the ls -l command.) If the file is not there, use the cd subcommand to move to the proper directory.

2.) If you wish to copy your local file using binary image type, enter:

binary

3.) To copy a file to your host, enter: 

get FileName (use mget for multiple files)

The file will be placed in the directory from which you issued the ftp command.
4.) To end the session, press the Ctrl-D key sequence or enter quit.

• To Copy a File from a Local Host to a Remote Host

The ftp command uses the ASCII default transfer type to copy files.

1.) If you wish to place the file in a directory other than the $HOME directory, use the cd subcommand to move to the desired directory.

2.) If you wish to copy your local file using binary image type, enter:

binary

3.) To copy a file to the remote host, enter:

put FileName (use mput for multiple files)

The file will be placed in the working directory of the remote host.

4.) To end the session, press the Ctrl-D key sequence or enter quit.

FTP:  (Transfer files from front end to Application Server):

Download from SAP market place in to front end.

FTP to one of the Application server into which we want to import support packages.

C:\temp>ftp ls0017

User name:      sidadm

Password:

ftp> bin

Go to transport directory of the Application server

ftp> cd /usr/sap/trans

ftp> put KB62009.car

ftp> bye