How to Set Up Internet FTP Access to a Network Drive

Screen Shot of the FileZilla Homepage

FTP (File Transfer Protocol) refers to a network protocol that is used for transferring information between computers through a network connection. FTP can be used over the Internet or on an internal Intranet. In order to use FTP, you need to have a FTP program (or client) in order to connect to an FTP server computer in order to access the remotely stored files. Once a connection is made with an FTP server, files may be retrieved, uploaded or modified by the user. Many software applications such as Dream Weaver come with an FTP client built in to the software, or you can download a freeware FTP client such as FileZilla to share data with a FTP server.

Things You'll Need

• FTP client program Administrator access to your computer

Instructions

1. Download and install FileZilla if you do not have another FTP client saved on your computer (see Resources below).

2. 

   Select "File" and "Site Manager" from the main application menu. Enter the FTP Server name or IP address in the "Host" text field. This name or IP address can be obtained from your network administrator if conducting FTP operations on a LAN, or through your Domain Service Provider if setting up FTP access to your own website.

3. Input the FTP username and password in the "User" and "Password" fields on the FTP Site Manager menu, and select the "Connect" button on the Site Manager menu.

4. Note the "remote" view of the FTP server network drive on the left-hand side of the FileZilla Application and the "local" view on the right-hand side of the screen. Drag the files you wish to download from the remote view to the local view to download files, and vice versa to upload files to the server. When done, select the "Disconnect" file menu button and exit the FileZilla application.

Resources

• FileZilla Open Source FTP Client Project
• Comprehensive Listing of Additional FTP Clients