ARPA Services (Communication among Systems w/ Different OS) | File Transfer Protocol (ftp) | Transfer a file, or multiple files, from one system to another. This is often used when transferring files between a UNIX workstation and a Windows PC, VAX, etc. The following example shows copying the file /tmp/krsort.c from system2 (remote host) to the local directory on system1 (local host): |
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| $ ftp system2 | Issue ftp command | | Connected to system2. | | | system2 FTP server (Version 4.1) ready. | | | Name (system2:root): root | Log in to system2 | | Password required for root. | | | Password: | Enter password | | User root logged in. | | | Remote system type is UNIX. | | | Using binary mode to transfer files. | | | ftp> cd /tmp | cd to /tmp on system2 | | CWD command successful | | | ftp> get krsort.c | Get krsort.c file | | PORT command successful | | | Opening BINARY mode data connection for krsort.c | | | Transfer complete. | | | 2896 bytes received in 0.08 seconds | | | ftp> bye | Exit ftp | | Goodbye. | | | $ | |
In this example, both systems are running UNIX; however, the commands you issue through ftp are operating system-independent. The cd for change directory and get commands used above work for any operating system on which ftp is running. If you become familiar with just a few ftp commands, you may find that transferring information in a heterogeneous networking environment is not difficult. Chances are that you are using your UNIX system(s) in a heterogeneous environment and may therefore use ftp to copy files and directories from one system to another. Because ftp is so widely used, I describe some of the more commonly used ftp commands: | ascii | Set the type of file transferred to ASCII. This means that you are transferring an ASCII file from one system to another. This is usually the default, so you don't have to set it. Example: ascii | | binary | Set the type of file transferred to binary. This means that you are transferring a binary file from one system to another. If, for instance, you want to have a directory on your UNIX system that holds applications that you copy to non-UNIX systems, then you want to use binary transfer. Example: binary | | cd | Change to the specified directory on the remote host. Example: cd /tmp | | dir | List the contents of a directory on the remote system to the screen or to a file on the local system, if you specify a local file name. | | get | Copy the specified remote file to the specified local file. If you don't specify a local file name, then the remote file name will be used. | | lcd | Change to the specified directory on the local host. Example: lcd /tmp | | ls | List the contents of a directory on the remote system to the screen or to a file on the local system, if you specify a local file name. | | mget | Copy multiple files from the remote host to the local host. Example: mget *.c | | put | Copy the specified local file to the specified remote file. If you don't specify a remote file name, then the local file name will be used. Example: put test.c | | mput | Copy multiple files from the local host to the remote host. Example: mput *.c | | bye/quit | Close the connection to the remote host. Example: bye |
Other ftp commands are available in addition to those I have covered here. If you need more information on these commands or wish to review additional ftp commands, the UNIX manual pages for ftp are helpful. | telnet | Used for communication with another host using the telnet protocol. Telnet is an alternative to using rlogin, described later. The following example shows how to establish a telnet connection with the remote host, system2: |
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| $ telnet system2 | | | Connected to system2. | Telnet to system2 | | AIX version 4 system2 | | | | | | login: root | Log in as root on system2 | | password: | Enter password | | | | | Welcome to system2. - rs6000 aix 4.3.1.0 | | | | | | $ | AIX prompt on system2 |
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