Cheap uk web hosting, domain name registration, dedicated servers and ssl certificates. Your first choice for fast uk web hosting and servers.
  • Web Hosting

Uploading Content Support

Please find below our support section about uploading content. If you have a question that is not answered here, please contact us.

What is FTP?

FTP stands for file transfer protocol. FTP is used to transfer files from one place to another, most commonly to transfer web pages from your local computer to your web space on the server. FTP can be done from telnet (SSH) or by using an FTP client (application) such as WS-FTP. More information can be found here: How do I transfer files (FTP) using the WS-FTP client?

Please note that if you want to use the FrontPage Extensions to publish your webpages then you should not use FTP as it could cause errors when publishing using the extensions.

How do I transfer files (FTP) using the WS-FTP client?

WS-FTP is a program that is used to upload and download files to and from your web hosting account. A copy of WS-FTP can be downloaded from http://www.ipswitch.com/.

Once you start WS-FTP you a greeted with a screen that may look complicated, but in fact it is very straight forward and simple once you are familiar with the terms that are used.

  • Profile Name is the reference name which WS-FTP remembers the profile by, this can be anything that you like.
  • Host Name/Address is probably the single most important item on this form. Enter your domain name that you have with your account (ftp.mydomain.co.uk). This is so WS-FTP can locate your virtual server on the Internet.
  • Host Type is the type of server that you are working with. All our servers are UNIX based (Redhat) so this must be set to UNIX (standard)
  • Username & Password is the most obvious of details on the form, please note that these details are case sensitive.

Once you have setup WS-FTP and clicked OK WS-FTP will display the directory structure on your virtual server on the right hand side, and your local machine directory structure on the left.

Now you can transfer files to and from your virtual server by dragging files across or tagging files and using the arrow buttons in the FTP window.

Please make sure that when you transfer HTML files that you select the ASCII protocol, and when you transfer Binary/Image files that you use the Binary protocol.

How do I publish my web pages from my PC to my Virtual Server using Microsoft FrontPage?

If you have FrontPage extensions installed on your server, you MUST follow the details below. You should not FTP your site to your server as this is likely to cause corruptions in the extensions.

  • Make sure you have a connection to the internet. (Usually this is through a dial up connection with your ISP.)
  • Open Microsoft FrontPage from your Start menu.
  • Open the FrontPage web that you wish to publish.
  • Click the FILE menu button, and choose 'Publish FrontPage Web'.
  • Enter your web address as www.yourname.dom and then click the OK button.
  • FrontPage will now contact the server.
  • Enter your username and Password when prompted. These were provided in your welcome e-mail.
  • If there are no problems then FrontPage will now publish your site to the web.
  • If you just want to send the pages you have changed since you last updated, please remember to tick the 'publish changed pages only' box when publishing.

Note: You will only be able to publish using the domain name (not the IP address) so you will need to make sure the domain name is fully propagated and working correctly.

What is 'Passive Mode' FTP?

In the FTP protocol two ports are normally used, 20 and 21. Port 21 is the control channel in which requests such as PUT, GET, and PWD are sent to the server. Port 20 is the data channel in which actual files, folders and directory listings are sent. Normally, when you connect to an FTP site, the site establishes the data connection to your PC (the client) on Port 20. However, if the site allows passive transfers, you can have your PC establish the data connection.

We recommend that you use passive mode for most transfers. Some ftp servers support both active and passive transfers while others only allow active transfers.

In some cases users who are behind some types of router-based firewalls or behind a gateway requiring passive transfers will require passive mode. You will typically get a 'Blocking Call Cancelled' error message if the transfer method you are using is rejected by the server.

Changes made to files on my site don't seem to show up after uploading by FTP. No error messages were produced, and the file does seem to be in the right place.

This is most likely due to caching of files either in your web browser or at your ISP. Try refreshing the page in your browser, but if that has no effect try a different ISP's connection to see if the updated file is found.

All files of a particular type don't display correctly after upload by FTP, although they show in file listing as being in the right place. Why?

Check whether binary or ASCII transfer was used - html pages and scripts should be ASCII, any images or programs should be binary. Most modern graphical FTP clients will choose modes for you for each file, but some either will not, or will get it wrong.

« Back