To connect to an FTP site using the connection dialog, do any of the following actions:
FTP -> Connect...
from
the menu bar
F3
key on your key board
When you do any of the above actions, a new dialog box titled,
Connect
will be displayed.
The
Connect
dialog has four tabs namely,
General
,
Security
,
Advanced
and
Commands
. By default, when ever you open the
Connect
dialog, the
General
tab gets activated. To activate another tab, just click on the desired
tab.
In most cases, you just have to fill
in the
Host Name
,
User Name
and
Password
in the
General
tab. All other fields will be filled in with default values (some of
them are taken from your global preferences), which will work with
most FTP sites.
Host Name
Enter the host name or IP address of the FTP site that you
wish to connect to. For e.g.
ftp.netscape.com
.
User Name
To log on to an FTP site, you must identify yourself with a
valid user name and password and optionally an account number or
account name. In this field, enter the user name that you would like
to use for log in. If you are connecting to an anonymous FTP site such
as
ftp.netscape.com
, enter the word
anonymous
as user name.
Password
Enter your password for logging in to the FTP site. If you
are connecting to an anonymous FTP site such as
ftp.netscape.com
, enter your e-mail address as password.
Port Number
In order to connect to a remote service using TCP/IP, one
must know the port number on which the service is running on the
remote system. By default, the FTP service runs on port 21. However,
this might not be the case all the time. For e.g. if you are
connecting through a firewall or, if the FTP site administrator has
set a different port for the FTP service. Contact your system
administrator or the site's administrator if the default port does not
work well for you.
Account
Enter your account number or account name to log in. Most
FTP sites do not need account information during log in. However, if
your FTP site needs one, enter it here.
At this point, you may click on the
Connect
button to connect to the FTP site, or, click on the
Security
tab to configure security options.
Click on the
Security
tab to configure the security options for this FTP connection.
Do Not Use SSL
Select this radio button to use a plain TCP/IP connection.
All commands and data will be sent in clear (un-encrypted) when this
option is selected.
Use SSL If Available
Select this radio button to tell JFTP to use a secured
connection if the server you are connecting to supports SSL. If the
server supports SSL, all commands and/or data that is transferred will
be encrypted.
Use Explicit SSL
Select this radio button to tell JFTP to use an Explicit SSL
connection. This means, after connecting to the FTP server, JFTP will
negotiate for an SSL connection and if it succeeds, the plain TCP/IP
connection will be transformed into an SSL connection. If the SSL
negotiation fails for any reason, the connection will be closed.
Use Implicit SSL
Select this radio button to connect to the FTP server using
an implicit SSL connection.
Port Number
Enter the port number to connect to for an Implicit SSL
connection. The default port number for Implicit SSL is 990. If your
FTP server listens on a port other than the default, enter that port
number here.
Do Not Encrypt Data Channel
Select this option to instruct JFTP not to use SSL for
transferring actual data such as file transfers and directory
listings. With this option selected, only the data sent over command
channel gets encrypted. This data includes user name and password.
At this point, you may click on the
Connect
button to connect to the FTP site, or, click on the
Advanced
tab to configure advanced connect options.
The advanced connect options can be set by clicking on the
Advanced
tab in the
Connect
dialog.
FTP Client
Select the FTP client that you would like to use for
connecting to this FTP site. This drop-down box contains a list of all
installed FTP client implementations. You can see the list by clicking
on the down arrow of the drop-down box. The default installation of
JFTP comes with two different clients:
Default FTP Client
AS/400 FTP Client
The
Default FTP Client
works well with most FTP servers. The AS/400 FTP client is
specifically designed for connecting to AS/400 (or iSeries) FTP
servers.
List Parser
Select a list parser that you would like to use for this FTP
site. This drop-down box contains a list of all installed list
parsers. A list parser is a small program used to parse the directory
listing produced by an FTP server in response to the
LIST
command. The default installation of JFTP comes with the following two
list parsers:
Default List Parser (UNIX)
MS-DOS List Parser
The
Default List Parser
works well with most FTP servers that produce UNIX style directory
listing. The
MS-DOS List Parser
is used to parse the DOS/Windows style directory listing.
Initial Local Directory
Enter a valid directory that you would like to set as
initial local working directory for this session. Upon connecting to
the FTP site, the working directory in the local pane will be changed
to the directory you specify here.
Browse...
Use this button to open a file dialog that allows you to
browse the local file system and select an existing directory to be
used as
Initial Local Directory
.
Initial Remote Directory
Enter a valid directory that you would like to set as
initial remote working directory for this session. Upon connecting to
the FTP site, the working directory in the remote pane will be changed
to the directory you specify here.
Transfer Data in Passive Mode
To transfer a file using FTP, a data connection needs to be
established between your PC and the FTP site. The data connection can
be opened in either active or passive modes. In the active mode, the
FTP site establishes the data connection to your PC (client). In the
passive mode, the PC establishes a connection to the FTP site. The
passive mode is helpful if you are behind a firewall and your firewall
does not accept incoming connections from computers outside of your
network.
Check this check box to transfer data in passive mode. Un-checking this will cause the data to be transferred in active mode.
At this point, you may click on the
Connect
button to connect to the FTP site or, click on the
Commands
tab to further customize the connect options.
This tab is provided for the sake of advanced users who are familiar with FTP protocol and site specific features.
Execute the following commands after login
You may request JFTP to execute zero or more FTP commands up
on a successful login. A simple example would be, if you want to know
what all features an FTP site supports, you issue the
HELP
command. However, in practical scenarios, you use this feature to
alter some site specific parameters such as changing the directory
listing style; i.e. whether to list the directory contents in server
operating system's proprietary format or to list them in standard UNIX
format. In this text area, enter the FTP commands that you would like
to execute after login. Make sure to separate each command by a new
line.
Connect
Clicking this button validates the input you have provided,
closes the
Connect
dialog and connects to the specified FTP site. If the data you have
provided is insufficient or invalid to make a connection an
appropriate error message will be displayed.
Cancel
Clicking this button simply closes the
Connect
dialog. You may also press the
Esc
key on your keyboard to close the dialog.
Help
Click this button to display this help topic.