In order to FTP into your website to upload / download or delete files, you will need a good FTP program. If you don’t have an FTP program already, we recommend following instructions for getting one of the following:
- CUTEFTP (paid): found at www.cuteftp.com
- FILEZILLA (free): found at filezilla-project.org
CONNECTING VIA FTP
Now that you have your FTP program ready, it’s time to connect. You should have received an email which contains login information for FTP into your website. Please reference that email and the following
1. Open your FTP program of choice.
2. Enter ftp.yoursite.com for the HOST ADDRESS / LOCAL HOST (name differs based upon program). If your domain has not propagated yet, you can alternatively use your IP address provided within your hosting details email.
3. Enter your provided username and password, then save.
4. Click on the new FTP link you created to automatically login to your website.
Upon logging into your website, you can upload all of your website files by double clicking into either the /public_html/ folder or the /www/ folder (same location).
TROUBLESHOOTING
Depending upon your hosting account setup, there can be a few common issues with FTP connection. Here is some tips to help out.
1. Double check your FTP logins: Logins are case sensitive, and ensure you have no spaces if you are copy and pasting. A good way we find to check these easily is to go to yoursite.com/cpanel/ and use those logins there. If they work (main FTP account only), then the logins are correct.
2. FTP Connection Types: Some servers with higher security may have default FTP turned off. In this event change your connection type to “FTP over TLS explicit” or named similar. The port number should be 21. Change this, save, then try again.
3. Hostname options: In addition with using FTP.YOURSITE.COM, you can also use the server name your website is hosted on. Example: servername.tpphost.com.
4. FTP Software known issues:
a. CUTEFTP: If you are using CUTE FTP and “FTP over TLS explicit” with the default global settings, we have discovered there is a hidden setting that will cause it to not connect. To resolve this issue go into TOOLS > GLOBAL OPTIONS > SECURITY > SSL SECURITY > check “reuse cached session for data connection” and save.
b. FILEZILLA: If this program gives you an error message about the SSL, bypass it by just clicking ‘OKAY’.
FTP OVER TLS EXPLICIT SOFTWARE SPECIFIC SETTINGS
Our team has done some extensive testing with the help of some clients, to provide you with the following specific FTP software settings to use for FTP OVER TLS explicit settings:
CuteFTP:
https://www.globalscape.com/cuteftp
GENERAL TAB:
– HOST: ftp.yoursite.com
– USER / PASSWORD: Enter your ftp username and password as normal.
TYPE TAB:
– PROTOCOL TYPE: FTP with TLS/SSL (AUTH TLS – Explicit)
– PORT: 21
– ENCRYPTION: Require explicit FTP over TLS
Then leave the rest of the settings to default. For futher information see below and search “FTP with TLS”:
https://help.globalscape.com/help/guides/CuteFTP_v9_User_Guide.pdf
TIP: If you successfully connect, but then it disconnects, check the following options on the TYPE tab:
- Clear data channel
- Clear command channel
FileZilla:
https://filezilla-project.org/download.php?type=client
– PROTOCOL: FTP – File Transfer Protocol
– HOST: ftp.yoursite.com
– PORT: 21 (or leave blank)
– ENCRYPTION: Require explicit FTP over TLS
– USER / PASSWORD: Enter your ftp username and password as normal.
Core FTP LE:
http://www.coreftp.com/download.html
– HOST: ftp.yoursite.com
– USER / PASSWORD: Enter your ftp username and password as normal.
– PORT / TIMEOUT / RETRIES: Leave default settings.
– CONNECTION: AUTH TLS
– SSL OPTIONS: Uncheck all of these except “OpenSSL”
