Web Services and Web Technical Infrastructure

(All web servers, whether at IU, AOL or Earthlink, etc. store web page files in a folder named: www)

• Initial Local Directory: :\webaccountusername
• Click OK button to save these settings and connect to the server (computer) where your web pages are stored for public viewing. The WS_FTP main window opens showing the connection between your local computer and the Remote web server.

How to Configure WS_FTP for Personal Home Pages

• Start WS_FTP95LE: On the Start menu, choose Programs, WS_FTP, WS_FTP95LE.
• The Session Properties window opens. 

NOTE: These directions assume that you created a folder on your hard drive that holds all of the files for your personal web page and that it has the same name as your personal web account. In the example shown here, the name of the web account is jdoe, so the folder on the C:\ drive of your computer should be jdoe. This keeps everything together for your personal home page.

• On the General tab, click the New button and complete the following:
• Profile Name: IU Northwest - a name for this profile that identifies as your personal account.

• Host Name/Address: mercury.ucs.indiana.edu
• Host Type: Automatic detected
• User ID: your personal home page web account) username
• Password: (your personal home page web account) password

• Account: leave blank
• Comment: leave blank
  • On the Startup tab, complete the following:
• Initial Remote Host Directory: /fs/username//www

(Many web servers, whether at IU, AOL or Earthlink, etc. store web page files in a folder named: www)

• Initial Local Directory: c:\username
• Click OK button to save these settings and connect to the server (computer) where your web pages are stored for public viewing. The WS_FTP main window opens showing the connection between your local computer and the Remote web server.  

How to Use WS_FTP to FTP files to the Web Server.

Parts of the WS_FTP Main Window

• After you have established a connection between the local PC and a remote system, the WS_FTP main window opens. See Figure 5 above. The folders and files on your own computer are on the left under Local System and the directories and files for the remote system (the web server) are on the right under Remote System. Each side has a number of action buttons along its right side.
• In the middle are two arrow buttons which allow you to transfer (copy) selected files back and forth between the two computers. 
• Below the working area is a message area that indicates the status for the ftp session.

  

• Just above the message area are three radio buttons that allow you to specify the type of transfer. For Web page file transfers, choose the Binary button.
   

  

• At the bottom of the window are control buttons for the session.

How to Select Files to Transfer from your Computer to the Web Server

• When you see information in both columns, you can select files on the left (your computer) to transfer (copy) to the right (the remote web server). This will transfer (copy) new or revised files to your web account for others to see. (You would select files on the right to transfer (copy) back to your computer on the left in order to revise/update the files before transferring them back to the web.)
• In the left column, under Local System, select the files you want to transfer (copy) to the web from your local computer by clicking on them. 
• To select multiple files in a row: Click the first file you want to transfer, hold down the º key and then click the last file you want to select. 
• To select multiple non-contiguous files: Click the first file you want, hold down the control key and click on each additional file you want to select.
• If you have been revising files and only want to transfer (copy) the most recent files you worked on back to the web, on the local system side, click the Date column header bar to sort the files by date. All files you worked on since the last time you transferred files to the web will appear above the Log file. Simply select all the files above the Log file for transfer. There is no need to transfer any of the other files you may have on your local system because you have not changed them. 
• Finally, make sure you have the correct folders showing at the top of the left and right columns, i.e., make sure you are not mixing up professional and personal pages. 

How to Transfer Files from your Computer to the Web Server

• After you have selected all the files you want to transfer (copy), click the right-arrow button in the middle column. This make take a few seconds here at IU Northwest if you have several files to transfer. If you are at home, it make take several minutes. Note the bottom 3 lines of text. They will indicate all action taken.
• Please do NOT keep the connection open. As soon as you are done, click the Close button at the bottom left corner of the window. This breaks the connection but keeps the window open for further work. You may reconnect by using the Connect button.
• If you are finished transferring files, click the Exit button in the bottom right or the X button in the top right-hand corner of the window.
• The files are now on the web server ready for the world to see. Please consider carefully what you display on the web. Listing your address, phone number, and/or email address implies that it is OK to contact you. The information could be there for years. Again, please use caution and good judgment. 
• If you need to make changes/additions to web pages that someone else created or edited, i.e., you may need a copy of the current web pages. In this case, you will need to transfer (copy) the actual web pages back to your own computer so that you are working on the latest version of the pages. Use the same process as above except this time, select files on the right side (the remote system) to transfer (copy) back to the left (your local system). Then click the arrow button that points to the left.