Other Types of FTP Connections

FTP has more tricks up its sleeve than just active or passive connections. It is also possible to connect securely to an FTP site and also perform direct remote to remote server file transfers.

Secure FTP

Secure FTP (also known as SFTP) is a more secure method of transferring and working with files. It encrypts all traffic to and from your web server so no one else can access your data, similar to SSL (https://) access of web pages in a browser, but for file transfers. SFTP is actually a combination of two different protocols, SSH (Secure Shell—see Chapter 10 for information on SSH) and standard FTP. In order to access your account via SFTP, you will need three things:

• The main FTP account
• SSH (regular or jailshell) access to your account
• An FTP client that supports SFTP (most dedicated clients will)

Note

You may need to contact your web host to get SSH access for your cPanel account.

Accessing your account via SFTP is simple if your FTP client supports it; you use the main FTP account login details as you normally would, but you tell your FTP client to try to access the account via SFTP.

Note

SFTP uses port 22, the standard port for SSH access, so make sure if you use a firewall that port 22 is open.

FXP Transfers

FXP stands for File eXchange Protocol. FXP is FTP directly between two separate FTP accounts you are logged into via your FTP client. FXP allows you to transfer files directly from one remote server to another one without having to download the files to your local computer first. Not only does it save a step, but FXP transfers are often much faster than uploads and downloads to your computer since the two servers communicate directly with each other using your account login on both servers. Some servers also support SFTP FXP transfers.

FXP requires all of the following in order to work:

• Valid FTP/SFTP accounts on both servers you want to transfer files between. It is extremely rare for a server to allow anonymous FXP.
• Both servers must allow FXP. Many do not. If only one of the two servers allows FXP then it will not work.
• An FTP client that supports FXP (and SFTP FXP if you want to use that). This is becoming more common, but many clients still don’t support FXP.

If any of those conditions are not met, FXP will fail.

Note

You should contact your web host if you want to find out if your web server supports FXP.