The Basics of FTP
By Mitch “The Transfererer” Keeler
One of the web hosting basics that all must eventually learn about and master is the art of FTP. FTP stands for file transfer protocol and acts as a way for you to move files and folders from your PC to your hosting account Online. With any of the Lunarpages web hosting accounts – this option is available to you.
Some of my top choices for FTP clients would be:
- FileZilla – One of if not the most popular open source FTP client out there today. Highly suggested solution for your file transferring needs.
- CoreFTP – Another awesome free and paid FTP program that features site file transfers, auto try failed transfers, one click transfers, keep alive functionality and more.
- SmartFTP – The best looking of the free FTP programs out there that you could use. SmartFTP is also a name you can trust, as they have been providing a good service for years.
When filling out your account information, this is what you should put in each box:
Hostname: For this, you would need to put in yourdomain.com (where yourdomain.com is your actual domain name) or servername.lunarpages.com (also where it says lunarpages.com this information might also change. See your welcome e-mail for more information).
User Name: This would be your account user name that you put in. This is the same one you use to login to your control panel.
Password: The password you can use, is the same one you use to login to your control panel.
That should be it. Try it out and see if it connects. If not, you might double check to make sure that you got all of your connection information correct. Yet again, this would be a good time to check back with your welcome e-mail to make sure that your information matches there with what you put in.
Also as a bonus we have a number of video tutorials to help you get your FTP account up and running.
Related Tips and Tricks:
March 18th, 2008 at 4:15 pm
FireFTP ftw.
Get it: http://fireftp.mozdev.org/
Donate too, ya cheapskate.
March 19th, 2008 at 9:10 am
Hey Mitch, good wrap up on FTP. I noticed all the clients you mentioned were desktop applications. You may also wish to talk about java applets that can be run inside a web-browser. So if any of your readers /customers wanted to provide an easy way to transfer files from their corporate website to their lunarpages account, they can using these applets. The reason why I mention this is because my company provides such a product called UnlimitedFTP. It’s free to download and use for non-commercial purposes. Have a look at http://www.utechsoft.com/products/unlimitedftp
March 21st, 2008 at 6:17 am
Thanks for the kind words and suggestions Zaki!
June 23rd, 2008 at 10:48 am
[...] We recommend using an FTP program so you can do it quickly! If you don’t have an FTP program or have never used one before, check out Mitch’s tutorial on the Basics of FTP. [...]