(i) What is FTP? (ii) How do u connect to remote? (iii) Is there another way to use FTP without a special utility In Informatica?

(i) What is FTP? (ii) How do u connect to remote? (iii) Is there another way to use FTP without a special utility In Informatica?

Ans: (i): The FTP (File Transfer Protocol) utility program is commonly used for copying files to and from other computers. These 

         computers may be at the same site or at different sites thousands of miles apart. FTP is general protocol that works on UNIX 

         systems as well as other non- UNIX systems.

         (ii): Remote connect commands:

         ftp machinename 

              ex: ftp 129.82.45.181 or ftp iesg 

         If the remote machine has been reached successfully, FTP responds by asking for a loginname and password. When u enter 

         ur own loginname and password for the remote machine, it returns the prompt like below

                  ftp>

         and permits u access to ur own home directory on the remote machine. U should be able to move around in ur own directory 

         and to copy files to and from ur local machine using the FTP interface commands.

         Note: U can set the mode of file transfer to ASCII ( default and transmits seven bits per character).

 Use the ASCII mode with any of the following: 

- Raw Data (e.g. *.dat or *.txt, codebooks, or other plain text documents) 

- SPSS Portable files.

- HTML files.

If u set mode of file transfer to Binary (the binary mode transmits all eight bits per byte and thus provides less chance of 

a transmission error and must be used to transmit files other than ASCII files).

For example use binary mode for the following types of files:

- SPSS System files

-  SAS Dataset

- Graphic files (eg., *.gif, *.jpg, *.bmp, etc.) 

- Microsoft Office documents (*.doc, *.xls, etc.) 

         (iii): Yes. If u r using Windows, u can access a text-based FTP utility from a DOS prompt.

To do this, perform the following steps:

1. From the Start  Programs MS-Dos Prompt

2. Enter  “ftp ftp.geocities.com.” A prompt will appear

(or)

Enter ftp to get ftp prompt  ftp> open hostname ex. ftp>open ftp.geocities.com (It connect to the specified host).

3. Enter ur yahoo! GeoCities member name. 

4. enter your yahoo! GeoCities pwd.

You can now use standard FTP commands to manage the files in your Yahoo! GeoCities directory