How to update your site using FTP (Technical Notes)
In order to access your web space on A/I servers,
you should connect to it using the FTP
protocol with a proper application (ftp client), such as
Filezilla for windows,
Kasablanca (graphic application --
KDE), gftp (graphic application -- Gnome),
lftp and ftp-ssl (command line) for
linux, and entering your user name and your password (which you'll
receive as soon as you get a web space).
If you don't know what we are talking about, you'd better get some documentation
before asking us to activate a web space :)
You will find the theoretical notions you need in the Web:
- For a quick but efficient introduction to the notions of networking, read http://www.netfilter.org/documentation/HOWTO/it/networking-concepts-HOWTO.html
- For a brief introduction to the FTP protocol, you can read http://www.webmonkey.com/2010/02/ftp_for_beginners/
- If you wish something more serious, please refer to ftp://ftp.rfc-editor.org/in-notes/std/std9.txt
You can find all the information you need to update your site (server name,
username) in your User Panel
under the Websites tab, next to your ftp account
name, where it says server name.
Please, be aware that the server where you site is hosted may
change due to mantainance needs and so the servername you have to connect to
update your site may vary accordingly. Be sure to check it out before asking us
for help.
The directory containing all your online site is the
html-sitename directory you'll see when logging in via ftp.
If you wish to change your FTP account password, visit your
User Panel.
Log in with your user name and change your password by clicking on
Web sites tab and looking for the link "Change
password".
Please remember that when you connect through ftp, your password travels the
internet in plain-text,
and can be thus tapped by anybody unless you use a secure ftp client allowing for
encrypted connections to the server (lftp or Kasablanca for linux, or look for an
ftp client with SSL support).
Our servers do offer an FTP service via SSL, and even if the clients allowing
for this option are few, we strongly advise to use them so as to send your password in
an encrypted way.
To make things more understandable, a plain-text, non-encrypted FTP connection will look more or less like this:
interface: ppp0 (80.116.98.156/255.255.255.255) filter: ip and ( port 21 ) #### T 62.149.193.207:21 -> 80.116.98.156:33247 [AP] 220 FTP Server Ready.. ## T 80.116.98.156:33247 -> 62.149.193.207:21 [AP] USER geek.. ## ## T 62.149.193.207:21 -> 80.116.98.156:33247 [AP] 331 Password required for geek... ## T 80.116.98.156:33247 -> 62.149.193.207:21 [AP] PASS itrainsfrogs.. # T 62.149.193.207:21 -> 80.116.98.156:33247 [AP] 230 User geek logged in...
You will notice that both password and user name are easily readable and identifiable: user geek, password itrainsfrogs.
By using a client with SSL/TLS support, this can be avoided. That's why we strongly recommend to take advantage from this opportunity.
What follows is an example of an FTP connection with an SSL/TLS client communicating with a server allowing for this protocol:
interface: ppp0 (80.116.98.156/255.255.255.255) filter: ip and ( port 21 ) #### T 62.149.193.207:21 -> 80.116.98.156:33227 [AP] 220 FTP Server Ready.. ## T 80.116.98.156:33227 -> 62.149.193.207:21 [AP] AUTH TLS.. ## T 62.149.193.207:21 -> 80.116.98.156:33227 [AP] 234 AUTH TLS successful.. # T 80.116.98.156:33227 -> 62.149.193.207:21 [AP] .|....c......9..8..5..............3..2../.....f..............c..b..a....... ....@..e..d..`.........................$T.)....XLUW ## T 62.149.193.207:21 -> 80.116.98.156:33227 [AP] e..[..4..S....n..?...Q................o...u.h....;.^..V..@....x.vfVmA..o.[. .......y.O1.....Z.".B.U.l8...lA........Y..T...zD};.................... ## T 62.149.193.207:21 -> 80.116.98.156:33227 [A] ....J...F..@C..].?'...;^......!..R.?>...... b..._..d...K#..=......:@-.$.... ...................0...0...........0...*.H........0..1.0...U....AI1.0...U.. ..Paranoia1.0...U....Paranoia1.0...U....Associazione Investici1 0...U....Ce rtification Authority1.0...U....Associazione Investici1.0...*.H........ca@a utistici.org0...030926142954Z..040925142954Z0..1.0...U....AI1.0...U....Para noia1.0...U....Associazione Investici1 0...U....Certification Authority1.0. ..U....www.autistici.org1.0...*.H........ca@autistici.org0..0...*.H........ ## T 80.116.98.156:33227 -> 62.149.193.207:21 [AP] .......................w.iv..fA.V..X.......l.?.; .-..r..XB...9R.'.+q..[b.H. ..\#..w..f5+..*-.....!.p.Y.....C-..oI9....pbB.E....".JOc]Q.m,.F...dc.....1( ..........(%.. .n3........mH...p.h9W.B..#.F...z.... ## T 62.149.193.207:21 -> 80.116.98.156:33227 [AP] ..........(.B...A.G"...........Mq(...-..rz..)....|. ## T 80.116.98.156:33227 -> 62.149.193.207:21 [AP] ....(...7..R/..v....X.8.EaE.m......n...K..x.. # T 62.149.193.207:21 -> 80.116.98.156:33227 [AP] ....8a;...s.la._.....a.R.}P.p.#..D.[..\5.......y.a...H..J..., # T 80.116.98.156:33227 -> 62.149.193.207:21 [AP] ....(...m..,V....@:...z~x.Fz.......-..D...<[. # T 62.149.193.207:21 -> 80.116.98.156:33227 [AP] ..0..yA...d.X(...[P......3H....[|y..q.%...5..Qb.... # T 80.116.98.156:33227 -> 62.149.193.207:21 [AP] .... %.h=0......J.>T....WJk.......[.}
Note how everything appears more mysterious here: you cannot see any useful information about the user's name and password.
THEREFORE WE STRONGLY ENCOURAGE YOU TO CHOOSE AN FTP CLIENT WITH SSL/TLS SUPPORT FOR ANY OPERATION ON THE A/I SERVERS.
The SSL support is not offered by every FTP client. What follows is a brief summary of the ones who do:
- Filezilla: http://filezilla.sf.net. For windows/linux/mac.
- lftp: http://lftp.yar.ru/. By entering the line
set ftp:ssl-force true
in your /etc/lftp.conf or in ~/.lftrc you will force any connection to use the SSL protocol. - ftp-ssl: ftp://ftp.runestig.com/pub/ftp-tls. This project was originally developed for Openbsd, but it can also be compiled with linux. There's a debian package: to install it enter apt-get install ftp-ssl.