The definition of FTP
FTP stands for File Transfer Protocol, we use it to upload and download files from our hosting account, and transfer files from server to another, or from server to clients.
This protocol is one of safest and quickest possible ways to send files to the server, because it allows you to send complete directories or selected files between the client and server, and its more secure if you are using TLS using SSL certificate ,it encrypts the communication between the client and server side.
FTP Benefits:
- Transfer multiple files.
- Resume the transfer if the connection is lost.
- Transfer big files.
- To use it as auto backup destination.
- The data transfer is faster than HTTP.
How to connect to your server using file transfer protocol ?
To connect your server you can use a program like FileZilla or CyberDuck, these two applications come with a free license, or you can use HTML editor like DreamWeaver or Notepad++.
Make sure that you have the cPanel user credentials like username and password to connect to the server regardless of the applications that you are using.
The following are the fields that you may need it to connect :
- Host name: is what your program uses to find your server.
In general, host name is like: ftp.mydomain.com or mydomain.com if you configure the DNS zone of your domain, and also it can be the IP address of mydomain.com - Username: That has the permission to connect using file transfer protocol, it can be set either on cPanel or Plesk.
- Password: Use the password associated to the current File Transfer Protocol username.
- Port: This is the port you connect to your server through.
For standard FTP you use port 21. SFTP will use port 22 for VPS and dedicated servers. Shared servers will connect to SFTP via port 2222. - Directory: The main directory for your domain will be public_html. If you are using the cPanel username you will use “public_html” for cPanel account or “httpdocs” for Plesk hosting account, if your program requires a directory to be specific.