ProZ.com provides comprehensive web hosting services to full platinum members. See the hosting info page for more information.

This document explains how to use the FTP features provided by ProZ.com hosting.

Introduction

File Transfer Procotol (FTP), as its name suggests, is a protocol used for transferring files over the Internet. This protocol is implemented by FTP programs (also known as FTP clients) such as WS_FTP and Cute FTP.

You can use FTP to upload your web site to your ProZ.com hosting account. You can also allow others to download files from your FTP server, either using anonymous FTP (which requires no login) or using an FTP account that you create for them.

Your FTP server name is ftp.yourdomain.com, (with your own domain name substituted for yourdomain.com). Your own FTP server name can be found on your hosting info page.


Your main FTP account

Use your main FTP account to upload your web site. Your main FTP account has access to all of the files in your hosting account. Other FTP accounts you create will be restricted to accessing only certain directories of your site.

To access your main FTP account, connect to your server with an FTP client and use the login name and password of your hosting account. Your login username is shown on your hosting info page. If you forget your password, see this FAQ about resetting your hosting password.


Anonymous FTP

Anonymous FTP allows public access to a restricted directory of your FTP server.

To allow anonymous FTP access to your FTP server, first enable anonymous FTP in your control panel. Log in to your control panel, then go to FTP Manager -> Setup Anonymous FTP Access.

To allow anonymous users to read files in your "public_ftp" directory, tick the checkbox next to "Allow anonymous access to ftp://ftp.yourdomain.com".

To allow anonymous users to upload files to your "public_ftp/incoming" directory, tick the checkbox next to "Allow anonymous uploads to ftp://ftp.yourdomain.com/incoming".

After enabling anonymous FTP access, users can log in to your FTP server with the username "anonymous@yourdomain.com" and an empty password.

You can add a welcome message that will be displayed each time an anonymous visitor connects to your FTP site. To do so, log in to your control panel and go to FTP Manager -> Anonymous FTP Message. Enter the desired message and then click "Save Message".

Note: Do not be alarmed by the following message at FTP login time: "This is a private system - No anonymous login". This refers to the global "anonymous" account, which is disabled. Anonymous access is still allowed to hosted websites using the above method.


Adding and maintaining FTP accounts

To manage your FTP accounts, log in to your control panel. Then go to FTP Manager -> FTP Accounts.

This page lists your FTP accounts, and provides options to add accounts, change passwords, or delete accounts.

To create a new FTP account, click Add FTP Account. To add an account named "john", for example, enter "john" in the "login" field. Choose a password, and select a subdirectory of public_html that you want this account to have access to (subdirectories of public_html are accessible on your web site). Then click "create".

To log in to your FTP server using this new "john" account, use the following login information:

FTP Server: ftp.yourdomain.com
Login username: john@yourdomain.com
Password: (whatever password you chose)

Note that you must include @yourdomain.com in the login username when you log in to your FTP server (where yourdomain.com is your hosted domain name). This applies to all of your FTP accounts, with the sole exception of your main FTP account.


Managing FTP sessions

You can view and terminate active FTP sessions using your control panel. This is useful for general information and stopping unwanted FTP activity.

To manage FTP sessions, log in to your control panel and go to FTP Manager -> FTP Session Control.

All FTP connections that are actively uploading or downloading files will be listed on this page.

To terminate a session, click the Delete button next to that session.


Further resources

The FTP section of the cPanel manual has step-by-step instructions for using the cPanel FTP features.

The hosting Getting Started Guide discusses uploading your web site using FTP.

The Hosting FAQ and hosting info page provide more information about the hosting service.

If you still have questions, please submit a support request.