Understanding FTP and FTP Commands
Greeting's AntiOnliner's. This tutorial is going to go over a brief overview of the FTP protocol and what it is/used for and it will also go over the command's you can use while in MS-DOS mode which allow's you to browse FTP site's the "1337" way. I'm going to explain the command's so that you understand them as well as what FTP is. First, let's learn a little as to what it is/does and how it applies to people who surf the web.
What Is FTP?
FTP which stand's for File Transfer Protocol is a method or the protocol used to transfer file's over the internet. It work's similiar to that of the way the HTTP protocol work's in which HTTP tranfer's website's from a server straight to a person's browser. FTP use's the internet's TCP/IP (Transmission Control Protocol/Internet Protocol) to allow the data/file's to be transfered. It is most commonly used to download a file from a server using the internet or to upload in the same fashion. The control port for FTP is 21 while the default data being 20. However, port 21 is generally known as the FTP port.
How Can I Browse FTP Site's With MS-DOS?
Browsing FTP site's is fairly simple. As always, an FTP site would be in numeric form (i.e 67.64.324.245 or any IP address that has an FTP server) and you would connect by taking the IP address of the FTP server's location and going to a DOS prompt. From there, type FTP and you should see something looking like this:
ftp>
From there, you type in open to open a new connection to a FTP address. So from the DOS prompt, you are typing FTP>Open as of right now. It should look like this:
C:\WINDOWS>ftp
ftp> open
To
Now, where you see To is where you want to put the IP address you want to connect to. So as of right now, we go to a DOS prompt and type FTP>Open>xx.xx.xxx.xxx (that would be the IP of the server your trying to connect to). Now, if you get this:
C:\WINDOWS>ftp
ftp> open
To 6x.3x.1xx.1xx
> ftp: connect :10061
ftp>
Then that mean's there isn't an FTP server running on that machine. However, if you get:
Connected to blah.blah.blah.com
220 mozart FTP server (Digital UNIX Version 5.60) ready.
User (admin:(none)):
Then you are connected to the FTP server. Remember, some FTP server's allow anonymous user access that way you can browse. Otherwise, you need a password for the user's account. Anyway's, onto command's.
What Are Some Command's?
Alright, obviously any "command-line browsing" your going to be doing need's it's commands. Well, first let's list the command's. To see the command's, go to the dos prompt and type ftp. When you get there, type ? and you'll see the command's you can use while on a FTP site. It should look something like this:
ftp> ?
Commands may be abbreviated. Commands are:
! delete literal prompt send
? debug ls put status
append dir mdelete pwd trace
ascii disconnect mdir quit type
bell get mget quote user
binary glob mkdir recv verbose
bye hash mls remotehelp
cd help mput rename
close lcd open rmdir
Now these are the command's for your FTP browsing. You can use these while logged into a server and each to it's own has it's function. To the *nix people out there, this shouldn't be unfamiliar at all as most if not all are used in *nix system's. It isn't too hard to figure out which command's are which but for those that would like the help anyways, I'll go into the command's individually :) :
append:
ascii: Set's transfer mode to ASCII.
bell: Beep when command completed.
binary: Set's transfer mode to binary.
bye: Disconnect's from server.
cd: Change's directory.
close: Close FTP Session.
delete: Delete's File.
debug: Go through debugging mode.
dir: List content's of remote directory.
disconnect: Disconnect from Session.
get: Recieve File.
glob: Toggle metacharacter expansion of file name's.
hash: Toggle printing for each buffer transfered.
help: Help with local information.
lcd: Change local working directory.
literal: Send arbitrary FTP command.
ls: List Content's of Remote Directory.
mdelete: Delete multiple file's.
mdir: List content's of multiple remote directories.
mget: Get multiple file's.
mkdir: Make directory on Remote Machine.
mls: List content's of multiple remote directories.
mput: Send multiple file's.
open: Connect to remote ftp.
prompt: Force interactive prompting on multiple command's.
put: Send one file.
pwd: Print working directory on remote machine.
quit: Terminate ftp session and exit.
quote: Send arbitrary ftp command.
recv: Recieve file.
remotehelp: Get help from remote server.
rename: Rename file.
rmdir: Remove Directory on the remote machine.
send: Send one file.
status: Show current status.
trace: Toggle packet tracing.
type: Set file transfer type.
user: Send new user information.
verbose: Toggle verbose mode.
Well, that about wrap's it up :). Sorry it was a tad long, but I hope someone learned a lil' something from it. I'm going to be working on another tutorial called "Network Admin's Shopping List" and I'm going to try and make it extremely valuable to all the network administrator's at AO. Anyway's, hope you enjoyed this tutorial.
