FTP

Using the File Transfer Protocol (FTP)

The simplest way to upload files to your hosted account is with an FTP utility such as CoreFTP. I use FileZilla.

The cPanel documentation mentions Cyberduck, CoreFTP and WinSCP which can use SFTP (SSH File Transfer Protocol or Secure File Transfer Protocol) but then has a warning 'You cannot use an FTP account to connect via SFTP.' So this page is for normal people who have a MediaWiki-based website on a hosting service and an FTP Account and want to use it to upload MediaWiki Extensions or maybe a complete MediaWiki version for a manual installation.

So the starting point is an FTP Account. From cPanel --> Files --> FTP Accounts.

From cPanel documentation, "To create an FTP account, perform the following steps:

Enter the desired username in the Log In text box.
Select the desired domain from the Domain menu.
Enter and confirm the new password in the Password and Password (Again) text boxes. Some web hosts require a minimum password strength. You can also click Password Generator to generate a strong password. For more information, read our Password & Security documentation.
Enter the FTP account’s home directory. The Directory text box defines the new FTP account’s top level of directory access. For example, if you enter example in the Directory text box, the FTP account can access the /home/$user/example/ directory and all of its subdirectories. The system automatically populates this text box with public_html/domain.tld/account, where account represents the username that you entered in the Log In text box and domain.tld represents the domain you selected in the Domain menu.
Enter the disk space quota, or select Unlimited. If an FTP account experiences problems with uploads, you may need to increase the Quota value.
Note:
If your server uses the ProFTPD FTP server, you cannot use quotas. For more information about your server’s FTP server daemon, contact your hosting provider.
Click Create FTP Account. The new account will appear in the FTP Accounts table."

These instructions are likely for systems administrators, but the sequence of steps is applicable to a user of a hosting service.

It may be preferable to use cPanel --> File Manager to create the destination directory before adding the account. This should NOT be in the public_html directory - that would be insecure because it is accessible via the web server.

Assuming all went well, you now have an FTP Account ftp_user_name@your_domain with a strong password. The next step is to configure an FTP client to connect to it.

Connect to an FTP Server

Just as the hosting service provides a Web Server for your webpages, they also provide an FTP Server for your FTP Sites.

In the FTP client of your choice, CoreFTP for example, open the Site Manager and add the required data, typically:-

Site Name - can be any descriptive name for you to distinguish between one site or destination and another.
Host / IP / URL - while this could be the URL of your domain, it could also be the IP Address assigned for your website(s). They usually share the same IP Address. A problem can occur though if the hosting provider changes the address. That has happened to me when they migrated my account to a different server and allocated a different IP Address. Their DNS server was updated so browsing was unaffected. But the FTP Site manager data needed correction.
Username - this is the user_name you selected in cPanel
Password - this is the password you selected in cPanel
Account - not usually required
Port - the default port for the File Transfer Protocol is 21
Remote Start Folder - could be a sub-directory in your FTP folder
Local Start Folder - if you tend to store pending uploads in the same local folder add that here
SSL Options - may not be available by your hosting service; add data if required

FTP Connection

Most FTP clients split the screen into two panes; left pane is the local directory tree; right pane is the remote directory tree.

Files or folders can be uploaded simply by copy and paste or 'dropping' source items in a destination location.

Files and folders can also be downloaded.

Moving Files

If you need to move files into a MediaWiki directory, for example /w/extensions, use cPanel --> File Manager and either Copy or Move.

Unlike desktop PCs you have to type in the full path for the destination folder, for example /public_html/website_directory/w/extensions

Some practice helps. Initially, moved files might seem to just disappear, but that will be because the directory path was not correct.

Articles which relate to Using FTP

Articles which relate to Using FTP are included in Category:FTP.

The CategoryTree Extension enables a listing of relevant sub-categories and pages:-

FTP

Add Extensions

Configuring MediaWiki for Images

FTP

Links

FTP