FTP

What is FTP? FTP stands for File Transfer Protocol and it's generally used as a means of uploading files to web sites. There are many different FTP clients (programs) on the market and it's very much up to personal preference which one you choose although we can recommend using FileZilla.

If you're still using Microsoft FrontPage, please see our guide to uploading your FrontPage site.

 

Using FileZilla to upload your website

FileZilla is free and can be downloaded from https://filezilla-project.org/. Click the option to Download FileZilla Client.

Open FileZilla and click "File" from the top menu bar, then select "Site Manager". Note that you can quickly get to the site manager page by clicking CTRL-S

 

Click the "New Site" button and enter the name for your site, then press the Enter key.

 

Under the "General" tab to the right, enter the "host" name of the server. This is the server name that we have provided to you and may be something like "alf.visn.co.uk". Note that you DO NOT need to enter the port number as leaving it blank will automatically use the default port of 21.
Enter your user and password.

 

Click the "Advanced" tab.
For the "Default Local Directory" click the Browse button and navigate to your files, then click "Select Folder".
For Default Remote Directory, enter "/public_html".

 

Click the "Connect" button.
If a window pops for "Unknown Certificate", this is fairly normal at this stage and you will see this message occasionally after any certificate updates on the server. Simply click the OK button. You might need to then doublie-click your site name from the window to re-try the connection. If all goes well, you should now see a page showing your local files in the left pane and the files on the server to the right. Simply drag and drop any files you wish to transfer to the server pane on the right.

 

To exit, click CTRL-D (or go to "Server" in the menu bar and click "Disconnect").
The quick method to re-establish a connection is press CTRL-S then double-click on the name of your site.

 

 

 

General FTP Settings

Whichever software package you use, there are a few fields that need to be completed in order for you to upload your website.

Site Label or site name	Anything you want here - it's for your records only.
Protocol	This should be FTP - File Transfer Protocol.
Host	Use the hostname you have been given for the server hosting your account. Please don't put anything starting with http:// or www in this field.
Port	This can usually be left blank. If required, set this to 21.
Encryption	This should be set to "FTPS (Explicit)", "Use Explicit FTP over TLS" or FTP with "TLS/SSL".
Login Type	Normal
Username	This is your FTP username which you have been given. In some cases, this may be the first part of your domain name or it may be something like admin@insert-domain-name.co.uk.
Password	Which you will have been given. Please be careful as it's case sensitive.
Passive FTP	If you are given a choice of Passive or Active FTP, please make sure you select Passive.

IMPORTANT
Once you have connected, you will see a directory called 'public_html'. Some FTP clients may show this as a folder which should be double-clicked or opened. This is where your web pages will be served from and where you should put all your pages. Having a separate directory or folder for this is more secure and allows more sensitive files to be stored in the home directory away from prying eyes.

If you want your ftp program to bypass this directory, there is usually an advanced tab called "Default remote directory" where you can enter /public_html