What is it and how does it work? and can anyone have it?

FTP: File Transfer Protocol

It's basically a type of connection that is established between two computers and you get to view the files avaliable based on the permission given to the account you use to login.

Lets say its like you can see windows explorer of another computer but with restriction of which folders the computer your connecting allows you to see.

Anyone who has a FTP server basically can run it. windows has built in ftp server if IIS was enabled.

to access an ftp server you would require

1- username (if not the default username > anonymous)
2- password
3- IP address
4- port (if not default 21)

Usually using an FTP client is used to access an FTP server. But there is another way, which is using a browser with the following syntax:

ftp://Username:Password@IP:PORT

Thanks for explaining, Although there are things that I didnt understand much :p

You said anyone has an FTP server can run it.. can I do that? and how would I know that I have an FTP server?

An Ftp Server is a software you can use as titled. So if you have such software then you can for sure. Based that your internet connection allows it as well, if you arent within a network that declines such connections.

Thanks for explaining, Although there are things that I didnt understand much :p

You said anyone has an FTP server can run it.. can I do that? and how would I know that I have an FTP server?Here is a good article that gives you all the basics.

http://www.pcstats.com/articleview.cfm?articleID=1491

One way to think of it in simple terms is to think of "kazza" but "regulated" (with defined users, passwords and server host name) to only allow people that have permission to upload/download files to your machine.

I doubt you want to run an FTP server on your personal machine though. They are usually a dedicated machine setup for hosting files. If some cracker hacks in they can get to all your files.

Thanks DD for the info..

Jack thanks for the warning ;)

I use FTP to transfer files to a remote server. These are the files that use to setup my Web pages. This is how u get to see websites. As others have already mentioned, they require passwords etc.

Here is a good article that gives you all the basics.

http://www.pcstats.com/articleview.cfm?articleID=1491

One way to think of it in simple terms is to think of "kazza" but "regulated" (with defined users, passwords and server host name) to only allow people that have permission to upload/download files to your machine.

I doubt you want to run an FTP server on your personal machine though. They are usually a dedicated machine setup for hosting files. If some cracker hacks in they can get to all your files.

Actually jack ftp is nothing like kazaa. Kazaa is P2P meaning that you can download many files of many people at a time. there is no central server. FTP is a protocol that is installed on a server or workstation and files can be uploaded or downloaded to/from it. vBulletin was uploaded to the english sabla server using FTP unless it was a script already on it...but thats another matter. If you have web hosting then you most likely have FTP access. geocities uses a different method of file upload. thats its name...file upload :). but you can only upload one file at a time. With ftp you can upload multiple files at a time.

You can access ftp servers by typing in the address bar:

ftp://address.com:21

Actually jack ftp is nothing like kazaa. I understand ...

I was just trying to give blood rose an example she could relate to.

Why is everyone writing essays about FTP. BR, listen to me, FTP is a file browsing protocol, while HTTP a webpage browsing protocol. I don't think that it can get more basic than this.

ftp://Username:Password@IP:PORT

I do not recommend this way, because anyone who is sitting with you or so can check out the password. What I would suggest is ftp://username@domain it then asks you for password.

Also, no need to add the port number, because the FTP header by default knows its port number. Use domain name if you know it instead of IP.

Don: True... good point at the security issue. But port wise, its not always the default. And most ftp links out there share the ip instead of domain name... well at least those that share free files to download for example. Or those setup personally.

I find with windows explorer, if you just type in the following:

ftp://address

then it asks you for a password if there isnt one needed it will just go into the anonymous...

You don't need an ftp client, windows has one built in however with very limited features. I find the best ftp client is the sourceforge project Filezilla (filezilla.sourceforge.net). Unlike other ftp clients, when you open a folder, if you come back to it then it does not reload the page, it uses what was cached. If something is changed by you then it will reload but it makes browsing folders so much faster and it can go through the cycles of uploading and downloading files much faster than any other client i have used. With Filezilla, you can choose how many files to upload at a time depending on your internet connection and this makes it extremely easy if you have hundreds of small files to upload. I uploaded about 1000 files that were about 2mb on 56k in about 3 minutes. now thats speed :D. Of course it also depended on the server but i tried the same thing with FS_FTP and it took 20 mins....