FTP connection settings and notes

[wmtprojectsforum]

Instructions for connecting to the web server using FTP

Here are the connection settings:

• Host: ftp.wmtprojectsforum.altervista.org
• Port: 21
• User: <yourusernamehere>
• Password: <yourpasswordhere>
• Connection Type: passive.
• Encryption: None, or explicit TLS/SSL (STRONGLY RECOMMENDED)

You should be able to connect with any decent FTP client, but I recommend FileZilla (https://filezilla-project.org/). If you can't use FTPS, please find a better client or use FileZilla.

If you have to type in the protocol, as in:

Code: Select all

ftp://[email protected]/

Make sure you specify FTPS for encryption like this:

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ftps://[email protected]/

NOTE: SFTP is not the same as FTPS, and it won't work for connection to this web server.

Notes for using the web server storage

NEW: When using Windows Explorer, you may need to omit the "@" from the username when you set up the connection the first time. When you're prompted for the password, you can add the "@" again and it should work.

Please compress large files! I recommend .tar.xz format, but even .zip will suffice if you have no other choice. We have to pay if we want more storage space, so just bear this in mind if you're uploading anything really big.

Also, please make a post that links to the file you uploaded in the relevant forum, so we know what's on the server.

[Penri]

Hamish

I've followed your instructions slavishly, took notes this evening and re-watched the video but my Mac reports as per attached:

Screenshot 2019-08-14 at 21.35.00.png (91.87 KiB) Viewed 9562 times

I can see the "wmtprojectsforum" site via my Web Browser and select files to download, the interface has a text file structure which does not endear itself to me.

In the hope of better success I downloaded and installed a couple of FTP clients: sFTP and FileZilla but although they appear to connect or at least try to connect I can see no files.


Penri

[Penri]

Eventually got things to work via a paid for app Cyberuck.

[TerryJC]

In the hope of better success I downloaded and installed a couple of FTP clients: sFTP and FileZilla but although they appear to connect or at least try to connect I can see no files.

That's odd. I've never used Filezilla on a Mac, but I've used it on Windows and Linux and it's all pretty straightforward. The only problem I had was selecting the protocol and encryption; on some servers, only one combination is allowed. I don't believe that is a problem on the Forum server.

The only thing that occurs to me is that maybe your home router is blocking filezilla and the other clients and methods that you tried, but the commercial one is better at using UPnP to get through it. Also, some routers turn UPnP off by default, although the commercial client shouldn't have been able to get through the router any more than the free ones. Having said all that the symptoms you describe don't seem to stack up with a firewall issue, unless 'appearing to connect' actually means that they aren't connecting really but aren't telling you because something is getting through.

[hamishmb]

I remember encountering this when I made the video at first, but I can't remember what I did to fix it :/

I'm going away camping tomorrow morning though, and I'd like to relax this evening, so is it okay if I take a look at this when I get back? I'm sure I can get it working for you.

[Penri]

It's not an issue for me now so enjoy your trip!

[hamishmb]

Now I'm back, I will investigate this issue when I have some time - probably soon.

Notes on Unicode and International Characters

The FTP server seems to handle international unicode characters in filenames in a slightly strange way that makes it hard to download some files for backups. As a result of this, a few of the audio files used for the minster bells system have had characters with accents replace to remove the accents.

Uploading these files doesn't seem to be a problem, but I thought this was worth noting so that in future non-ASCII characters in filenames can be avoided if possible.

[TerryJC]

Notes on Unicode and International Characters

The FTP server seems to handle international unicode characters in filenames in a slightly strange way that makes it hard to download some files for backups. As a result of this, a few of the audio files used for the minster bells system have had characters with accents replace to remove the accents.

Uploading these files doesn't seem to be a problem, but I thought this was worth noting so that in future non-ASCII characters in filenames can be avoided if possible.

In this context, I presume you are talking about uploading the music files to the Forum fileserver.

Those files were the ones given to me by Greg way back in the mists of time. Since my Python code never called any of those filenames by name, (it simply plays the contents of the directory), I never had any problems with them.

I agree with you however. When naming files I generally avoid any special or foreign chars. Unix usually handles them fine, but FAT32 and other file handling mechanisms frequently barf. I'm surprised that the forum code breaks them; I had assumed that the forums ran on a Linux platform.

[hamishmb]

The forums do use Linux, but I think the FTP server is old and doesn't like unicode.

[hamishmb]

Sadly, it seems the web-based management software has a bug, and as a result of this, all the FTP passwords were lost last week and need to be reset. I will be complaining to our hosting provider. So far the office PC, and Nick's account have been set up again. At the nearest convenient opportunity, I will sort the rest of them out.