One of the greatest online inventions making the web so powerful and flexible today is the File Transfer Protocol, more popular to the wide Internet public through its abbreviation - FTP. This chapter of our NTC Hosting Encyclopedia will shed some light on the basic terms in the area of FTP and will familiarize you with the most popular FTP software tools distributed online. Here you will be introduced to the main benefits of using FTP for file manipulation purposes and will also learn how to make best use of its extremely useful functionalities.
FTP is the acronym for File Transfer Protocol, a network protocol which is responsible mainly for the transfer of information in the form of files from one computer to another over the Internet.
The increasing availability of free FTP solutions online is one of the best examples of how the open source applications are making the multiple potentialities of the Internet widely accessible to the users.
Through the free FTP software solutions available on the Internet today anyone can make use of the data transfer capabilities of FTP. They are all easy to install and feature a user-friendly interface.
All users planning to use FTP to upload their website files to a host server need to gain authorized access to that server through a unique FTP account assigned to them by their hosting providers.
An FTP client is a web-based software tool with an easy interface dedicated to helping users execute multiple simultaneous file transfers from their PCs to certain servers over the Internet.
The FTP download capability refers mainly to the transfer of certain multi-media files from the Internet to users' personal computers with the help of specialized FTP software programs.
In order for an FTP connection to be established between a user's PC and a host server, users must present some important details such as their FTP host (FTP server) and personal login credentials.
Gaining authorized access to a certain host server is made easy through a special FTP Manager tool for setting up and managing multiple independent FTP accounts for one and the same FTP server.
FTP connections between personal computers and remote servers via FTP clients are executed through two specific ports which could be either default TCP ports or custom ports set by administrators.
With the help of special FTP programs, more popular as FTP clients, users can take full advantage of the File Transfer Protocol by quickly publishing their websites online or downloading certain data from the Internet.
The FTP server is one of the two basic sides of a successful FTP connection. Its set-up is within the capacity of hosting providers and of businesses that manage their own network.
The majority of FTP software distributed over the Internet today enable even the inexperienced users to make quick connections with host servers and execute easy file transfers.
By enabling the transfer of files between separate computers over the Internet the File Transfer Protocol makes it possible for users to publish websites online and download multi-media files from the net.
The FTP upload functionality of the FTP software tools empowers users to transfer files stored on their local computers to certain FTP servers and update newly-modified files at any time.
Thanks to the usability of the web-based FTP clients, widely accessible online today, everyone can carry out quick, multiple file transfers at a time without having to possess any technical skills.
FTP Pro ranks among the most widely used browser-based FTP clients on the Internet, characterized by visual and functional resemblance to the Windows Internet Explorer.
As a free FTP client, Core FTP is dedicated to offering Windows users the option for managing their websites easily via FTP. The tool boasts integrated support for SSL, TLS and SFTP.
Cute FTP is one of the most eagerly recommended FTP software tools online facilitating users of various skills to transfer files of any size and format to and from a certain host server over the Internet.
Offered in both basic and advanced modes, SmartFTP is known for supporting a great deal of file manipulation actions such as website publishing and maintenance, easy file sharing, backup of local/remote files, etc.