FTP Program Example

Home Customer Support Web Site Maintenance Filezilla Help

Download

Download and install a shareware FTP program. For our example we use FileZilla, which is available for Windows, Mac 0SX and Linux.

Set Up Your FTP Program

Your FTP program needs to know certain information to identify and communicate with our web servers. This information is typically:

Host Name: ftp.yourdomain.com
User Name: <provided in your setup confirmation email; also found in your cPanel>
Password: <provided in your setup confirmation email; also found in your cPanel>
Directory: (you can usually leave this blank and the server will locate it for you)
Local Directory: (this is the folder on your computer for your site - you choose it)
Protocol: FTP or SFTP (more info below)
Encryption Type: Plain FTP, or FTP over TLS (more info below)

FTP vs. SFTP vs. FTPS - Which should you choose?

If you are the main account holder for your website or websites, you will own what is called a "special" FTP account in cPanel, and you will have been given credentials for using SFTP. This is a more secure means of connection than FTP and it helps keep our servers protected for all users. In this case, you would set your connection type to SFTP. Plain FTP is disallowed and will fail.

On occasion, you will have been given a standard (non "special") FTP account. This typically happens when you have more than one site and would like to give your designer or assistant access to just a single site, rather than your entire group of sites. You will probably know about this, because we will have created it at your request or you will have generated it in your cPanel. In this case, the person connecting to the server should set their Protocol to FTP and choose an Encryption type of Explicit FTP over TLS. Plain FTP with no encryption is disallowed and will fail.

In rare circumstances, we will allow plain FTP for some accounts.

Please contact support@webvalence.com if you are not sure which type of FTP connection you should make.

Since a picture is worth a thousand words, here's what you will see when you set up your connection in FileZilla:

Setup with FileZilla

Open FileZilla and choose File > Site Manager. Click on the "New Site" button at lower left of the Site Manager Window. Enter your settings in the fields to the right following the examples below. Remember, all of the information you will need will be in your setup confirmation email message. You should only need to adjust settings under the "General" tab in order to make a connection. Click "OK" when you're finished to save your settings.

Setup using SFTP:

Setup using FTPS: (note that the usename will be the user @ the domain name for this protocol)

Choosing a local directory:

It's a good idea to create or choose a specific folder on your computer that will hold all of your website files as you download them from and upload them to the web server. You can select this folder in FileZilla in the Site Manager under the "Advanced" Tab. Just click the "Browse" button to find correct folder on your computer.

A note about multiple attempts to connect…

Our servers are configured with your security in mind. To prevent hackers from being able to connect to your site over FTP using programs that will eventually guess your password, multiple rapid attempts to connect with the wrong credentials will cause a temporary lockout. Keep in mind that what looks like a single attempt to connect often means your FTP software has made multiple attempts behind the scenes before it has given you an error.

If you've made 4 or 5 tries to connect with the settings you've been given and you are unable to connect, you will probably be locked out from further attempts to connect. If you think this might have happened, please browse to your website in your web browser and see if there is a page telling you your IP address has been blocked. If so, please copy and save this IP address and contact support@webvalence.com or call 503-335-3442 to have the block removed and receive help in connecting.

Transfer Files with FileZilla

To transfer files between your computer and the web server, you must first connect to the server. To do this, under Site Manager, look for "My Sites" on the left-hand side and select the site that you just created. Click "Connect" at the bottom of of the site manager. If you receive a message about your security certificate, simply click "OK" to continue.

When your connection is established, you will see your computer's files on the left-hand side and the files on the web server on the right-hand side. To transfer from your computer to the web server (upload), grab a file from the left-hand side and drag it to the right-hand side. To transfer from the web server to your computer (download), grab a file from the right-hand side and drag it to the left-hand side.

Use the "Last modified" dates listed to keep track of the newest versions of your pages, especially if someone else also works on your website. For example, if you connect to the web server and notice that your computer's version of myfile.html has an earlier date than the version of myfile.html on the server, you'll know that someone has changed that file since you last downloaded it. Paying attention to this can help you avoid overwriting someone's work on accident.

 

Naming your files Name your files without any spaces. Legal names are: "MyFirstPage.html", "Links-Page.html", "Baby_Pictures.jpeg" and so forth. Our servers use case-sensitive file naming, so MyFile.html is different from myfile.html. We normally call our home page files "index.html". Ask us if you want to name your home page something different.

 

Acceptable Use Policy · Code of Ethics · Contact