Using FTP

FTP - Files Transfer Protocol

The first thing to do after receiving the confirmation email is to transfer the website to the hosting server. This can be done in multiple ways, depending on what type of access you have (SSH, FTP, direct remote access, etc). In this article we will look at how you can transfer files using the Files Transfer Protocol.

To use this protocol you need a FTP client and a FTP server to which the client will connect to. The FTP client will run on your computer and the FTP server will or already runs on the hosting computer. When the connection is made, files transfer between the two computers is possible. So, if you already have a FTP client, let's setup the connection, if not, you can download for free and install FileZilla from here. We will explain the FTP transfer using FileZilla as an example but if you prefer other FTP clients, they have similar options.

Using FileZilla

Connecting.
To setup a connection you need the following information: the address and the port of the host that runs the FTP server, a username and a password. The address of the host is the name of your website (e.g. mywebsite.com) and you don't usually need to know the port, unless the host uses a non-standard FTP port. Remember that in the first hours, your website will not be available by its name and you must use the temporary URL or IP address assigned by the web host. The username and password are the ones you received in your confirmation email.

The Filezilla client is divided into several sections. The first section after the buttons is the login section. In this section you will enter the host name, the username and the password. Hit the [Quickconnect] button and you will see below details about how Filezilla is trying to connect to the host's FTP server.

Transferring Files.
After the login section, you can see four panels (two on the left and two on the right). The panels on the left show the folders and files structure on the local computer while the panels on the right show the folders and files structure on the remote computer (your hosting account). If you're not connected, the right panels are blank.

Browse on the left to find the source of the files that you want to transfer and also browse on the right to the destination folder (which usually is /public_html/). Now that you have the source and the destination, to copy the files, you can just drag and drop them from left to right or right to left with your mouse, or select them and right click the mouse to get additional options like: Upload (if you are on the left) or Download (if you are on the right), Delete, Rename, Create Directory.

Right-click options on left panel in FileZilla.

In the last panel, you will see the transfer's details: percentage completion, estimated time left and number of successful or failed transfers, etc. So, select the files on the left, right click on them and select the Upload option. That's it! You just uploaded your website.

Additional options.
Two additional Filezilla features are worth mentioning when discussing files and files transfer: files queue and files attributes. Both options are available when right clicking on a file, the files attributes option is specific to Linux OS, so it might be available only on the "right" side.

Adding a file to a queue means putting the transfer "on hold" until you decide to start "processing" the queue (by pressing the Q-arrow button on the top). This is useful when you have multiple transfers to make and you need to transfer them in an organized way. Changing the files attributes (the rights to read, write and execute) can be useful to protect important files from overwriting them by mistake. Uncheck the write permission to avoid this.