Essential ftp Commands

Essential ftp Commands

Essential ftp Commands

Command Description ftp Accesses the ftp command interpreter. ftp remote-system Establishes an ftp connection to a remote system. open Logs in to the remote system from the command interpreter. close Logs out of the remote system and returns to the command interpreter. bye Quits the ftp command interpreter. help Lists all ftp commands or, if a command name is supplied, briefly describes what the command does. reset Re-synchronizes the command-reply sequencing with the remote ftp server. ls Lists the contents of the remote working directory. pwd Displays the name of the remote working directory. cd Changes the remote working directory. lcd Changes the local working directory. mkdir Creates a directory on the remote system. rmdir Deletes a directory on the remote system. get, mget Copies a file (or multiple files) from the remote working directory to the local working directory. put, mput Copies a file (or multiple files) from the local working directory to the remote working directory. delete, mdelete Deletes a file (or multiple files) from the remote working directory.

How to Open an ftp Connection to a Remote System

1.     Ensure that you have ftp authentication.

You must have ftp authentication.

bash-3.2# vi /etc/ftpd/ftpusers

Comment or remove required user to connect through ftp...

Eg:

#

#  List of users denied access to the FTP server, see ftpusers(4).

#

#root

daemon

bin

sys

adm

lp

uucp

nuucp

smmsp

#

2.     Open a connection to a remote system by using the ftp command.

#ftp remote-system

Eg:#ftp 172.16.0.1

     If the connection succeeds, a confirmation message and prompt are displayed.

3.     Type your user name.

Name (remote-system:user-name): user-name

4.     If prompted, type your password.

331 Password required for user-name:

Password: password

(If the system giving access to anonymous ftp account, then it’s prompt for an email address for the password. If the ftp interface accepts your password, it displays a confirmation message and the (ftp>) prompt.)

Example: Opening an ftp Connection to a Remote System

This ftp session was established by the user slt on the remote system NTU-DR-GLOBAL:

# ftp 172.16.0.4

Connected to 172.16.0.4.

220 NTU-DR-GLOBAL FTP server ready.

Name (172.16.0.4:slt): slt

331 Password required for slt.

Password:

230 User slt logged in.

Remote system type is UNIX.

Using binary mode to transfer files.

ftp>

How to Close an ftp Connection

Close an ftp connection to a remote system by using the bye command (or you can use “!” symbol).

ftp> bye

221-You have transferred 0 bytes in 0 files.

221-Total traffic for this session was 255 bytes in 0 transfers.

221-Thank you for using the FTP service on NTU-DR-GLOBAL.

221 Goodbye.

.

How to Copy Files from a Remote System (ftp)

1.     Change to a directory on the local system where you want the files from the remote system to be copied.

 #cd target-directory

2.     Establish an ftp connection.

. #ftp remote-system

3.     Change to the source directory.

# cd source-directory

If your system is using the automounter, the home directory of the remote system's user appears parallel to yours, under /home.

4.     Ensure that you have read permission for the source files.

# ls -l

5.     Set the transfer type to binary.

You must use binary mode when transmitting all file other than ASCII files.

ftp> binary

or

ftp> bin

(Binary mode transmits all 8 bits/byte and it’s provide less error ftp transition)

6.     To copy a single file, use the get command.

ftp> get filename

7.     To copy multiple files at once, use the mget command.

#mget filename [filename ...]

You can supply a series of individual file names and you can use wildcard characters. The mget command copies each file individually, asking you for confirmation each time.

8.     Close the ftp connections.

ftp> bye

Example : Copying Files From a Remote System (ftp)

In this example, the user SLT opens an ftp connection to the system SLT_DR, and uses the get command to copy a single file from the /tmp directory.

# cd $HOME

ftp SLT_DR

Connected to SLT_DR.

220 SLT_DR FTP server (SunOS 5.8) ready.

Name (SLT_DR:SLT): SLT

331 Password required for SLT.

Password: xxx

230 User SLT logged in.

ftp> cd /tmp

250 CWD command successful.

ftp> binary

ftp> ls

200 PORT command successful.

150 BINARY data connection for /bin/ls (172.16.0.1,34344)

(0 bytes).

file_a

files

ps_data

226 BINARY Transfer complete.

53 bytes received in 0.022 seconds (2.39 Kbytes/s)

ftp> get file_a

200 PORT command successful.

150 BINARY data connection for file_a (172.16.0.1,34331)

(0 bytes).

221 Goodbye.

In this example, the same user SLT uses the mget command to copy a set of files from the /tmp directory to his home directory. Note that SLT can accept or reject individual files in the set.

$ ftp> cd /tmp

250 CWD command successful.

ftp> ls files

200 PORT command successful.

150 ASCII data connection for /bin/ls (172.16.0.1,34345)

(0 bytes).

fileb

filec

filed

remote: files

21 bytes received in 0.015 seconds (1.36 Kbytes/s)

ftp> cd files

250 CWD command successful.

ftp> binary

ftp> mget file*

mget fileb? y

200 PORT command successful.

150 BINARY data connection for fileb (172.16.0.1,34347)

(0 bytes).

226 BINARY Transfer complete.

mget filec? y

200 PORT command successful.

150 ASCII data connection for filec (172.16.0.1,34348)

(0 bytes).

226 BINARY Transfer complete.

mget filed? y

200 PORT command successful.

150 ASCII data connection for filed (172.16.0.1,34351)

(0 bytes).

226 BINARY Transfer complete.200 PORT command successful.

ftp> bye

221 Goodbye.

How to Copy Files to a Remote System (ftp)

1.     Change to the source directory on the local system.

The directory from which you type the ftp command is the local working directory.

2.     Establish an ftp connection.

#ftp remote-system

3.     Change to the target directory.

ftp> cd target-directory

Remember, if your system is using the automounter, the home directory of the remote system's user appears parallel to yours, under /home.

4.     Ensure that you have write permission to the target directory.

ftp> ls -l target-directory

5.     Set the transfer type to binary.

ftp> binary

6.     To copy a single file, use the put command.

ftp> put filename

7.     To copy multiple files at once, use the mput command.

ftp> mput filename [filename ...]

You can supply a series of individual file names and you can use wildcard characters. The mput command copies each file individually, asking you for confirmation each time.

8.     To close the ftp connection, type bye.

ftp> bye

Example : Copying Files to a Remote System (ftp)

In this example, the user SLT opens an ftp connection to the system SLT_DR, and uses put command to copy a file from their system to the /tmp directory on system SLT_DR.

$ cd /tmp

ftp SLT_DR

Connected to SLT_DR.

220 SLT_DR FTP server (SunOS 5.8) ready.

Name (SLT_DR:SLT): SLT

331 Password required for SLT.

Password: xxx

230 User SLT logged in.

ftp> cd /tmp

250 CWD command successful.

ftp> binary

ftp> put filef

200 PORT command successful.

150 BINARY data connection for filef (172.16.0.1,34356).

226 Transfer complete.

ftp> ls

200 PORT command successful.

150 BINARY data connection for /bin/ls (172.16.0.1,34357) (0 bytes).

file_a

filef

files

ps_data

226 BINARY Transfer complete.

60 bytes received in 0.058 seconds (1.01 Kbytes/s)

ftp> bye

221 Goodbye.

In this example, the same user SLT uses the mput command to copy a set of files from their home directory to SLT_DR's /tmp directory. Note that SLT can accept or reject individual files in the set.

$ cd $HOME/testdir

$ ls

test1   test2   test3

$ ftp SLT_DR

Connected to SLT_DR.

220 SLT_DR FTP server (SunOS 5.8) ready.

Name (SLT_DR:SLT): SLT

331 Password required for SLT.

Password: xxx

230 User SLT logged in.

ftp> cd /tmp

250 CWD command successful.

ftp> binary

ftp> mput test*

mput test1? y

200 PORT command successful.

150 BINARY data connection for test1 (172.16.0.1,34365).

226 Transfer complete.

mput test2? y

200 PORT command successful.

150 BINARY data connection for test2 (172.16.0.1,34366).

226 Transfer complete.

mput test3? y

200 PORT command successful.

150 BINARY data connection for filef (172.16.0.1,34356).

226 Transfer complete.

ftp> bye

221 Goodbye.

Reference: System Administration Guide: Network Services     Oracle Solaris 10 8/11 Information Library