System Administration Guide: Network Services

ProcedureHow to Copy Files to a Remote System (ftp)

  1. Change to the source directory on the local system.

    The directory from which you type the ftp command is the local working directory, and thus the source directory for this operation.

  2. Establish an ftp connection.

    See How to Open an ftp Connection to a Remote System.

  3. Change to the target directory.


    ftp> cd target-directory
    

    Remember, if your system is using the automounter, the home directory of the remote system's user appears parallel to yours, under /home.

  4. Ensure that you have write permission to the target directory.


    ftp> ls -l target-directory
    
  5. Set the transfer type to binary.


    ftp> binary
    
  6. To copy a single file, use the put command.


    ftp> put filename
    
  7. To copy multiple files at once, use the mput command.


    ftp> mput filename [filename ...]

    You can supply a series of individual file names and you can use wildcard characters. The mput command copies each file individually, asking you for confirmation each time.

  8. To close the ftp connection, type bye.


    ftp> bye
    

Example 29–7 Copying Files to a Remote System (ftp)

In this example, the user kryten opens an ftp connection to the system pluto, and uses the put command to copy a file from his or her system to the /tmp directory on system pluto.


$ cd /tmp
ftp pluto
Connected to pluto.
220 pluto FTP server (SunOS 5.8) ready.
Name (pluto:kryten): kryten
331 Password required for kryten.
Password: xxx
230 User kryten logged in.
ftp> cd /tmp
250 CWD command successful.
ftp> put filef
200 PORT command successful.
150 ASCII data connection for filef (129.152.221.238,34356).
226 Transfer complete.
ftp> ls
200 PORT command successful.
150 ASCII data connection for /bin/ls (129.152.221.238,34357) (0 bytes).
dtdbcache_:0
filea
filef
files
ps_data
speckeysd.lock
226 ASCII Transfer complete.
60 bytes received in 0.058 seconds (1.01 Kbytes/s)
ftp> bye
221 Goodbye.

In this example, the same user kryten uses the mput command to copy a set of files from his or her home directory to pluto's /tmp directory. Note that kryten can accept or reject individual files in the set.


$ cd $HOME/testdir
$ ls
test1   test2   test3
$ ftp pluto
Connected to pluto.
220 pluto FTP server (SunOS 5.8) ready.
Name (pluto:kryten): kryten
331 Password required for kryten.
Password: xxx
230 User kryten logged in.
ftp> cd /tmp
250 CWD command successful.
ftp> mput test*
mput test1? y
200 PORT command successful.
150 ASCII data connection for test1 (129.152.221.238,34365).
226 Transfer complete.
mput test2? y
200 PORT command successful.
150 ASCII data connection for test2 (129.152.221.238,34366).
226 Transfer complete.
mput test3? y
200 PORT command successful.
150 ASCII data connection for filef (129.152.221.238,34356).
226 Transfer complete.
ftp> bye
221 Goodbye.