Anonymous FTP

(Note: Go through the tutorial as efficiently as possible, to avoid congestion for the server that you access. It is probably better that you read as far as the end of the 'Retrieving Files' document (three documents after this one) BEFORE attempting to use FTP in conjunction with the tutorial.)

Once we are at the FTP prompt, we can try to connect to a remote machine in order to retrieve some files. The ExPASy Molecular Biology server (University of Geneva) allows public FTP access from which we can retrieve pictures of molecules. To connect to this server from your FTP prompt, type open expasy.hcuge.ch then press ENTER.

You will then be asked for a username. Public users will not have their own personal username. Therefore, for a member of public to gain access into an FTP server, type anonymous as your username then press ENTER. After that, you will be asked for a password. It is common courtesy to enter your full e-mail address (eg username@cryst.bbk.ac.uk) and you will be requested to do so.

(Un)Successful Access

If your access is successful, you will be given the message Guest login OK, access restrictions apply, then given the FTP prompt. Obviously you are restricted if you are anonymously accessing someone else's server.

If access is not successful, you will be informed of this, then you will be given the FTP prompt, but will not be logged in onto your specified server. From here, you can enter quit to quit and try again later. Alternatively type close, then access another server (if you know the address) using the open command as mentioned above.

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