Accessing a FTP Server from a Mac using Cyberduck

In my previous post, if  you are using Finder to access a FTP Server on a Mac you ran into the limitation of not being able to upload files.  To work around this, you can use a FTP Client of your choice.  I will recommend you use Cyberduck.  Cyberduck ia an open source FTP, SFTP, WebDAV, Cloud Files & Amazon S3 Browser for the Mac OS X.

Accessing a FTP Server from a Mac using Cyberduck
1)  Download and install Cyberduck.
2)  Start Cyberduck by going to Applications and double-click the Cyberduck.app.
3)  You will now see 2 screens....one being the main screen and the other is the file transfer screen.

4)  The default protocol is set to FTP, which is what we want.  Fill in the fields for Server, Username and Password and click Connect.

5)  Now that you are connected, you will see the default folder.  In this example you might notice that you have logged into a Mac FTP Server.

6)  You can now complete upload and downloads by drag files to and from this remote folder connection.

7)  To disconnect, click the Disconnect icon on the top right hand corner of the Main screen.

Accessing a FTP Server from a Mac using Finder

In a couple of recent posts, I showed how to quickly set up a FTP on both a Mac (How To Set Up A FTP Server on a Mac) and a Ubuntu 9.04 desktop (How To Set Up A FTP Server on Ubuntu).  This post will show you how to access these or any other FTP servers using native Mac software .  If you are going to use ftp on a frequent basis, it is worth investigating what added capability and ease of use third-party software might provide.

Accessing a FTP Server from a Mac using Finder
1) Using Finder, click on the Go > Connect to Server (or using keyboard shortcut Command+K).
2) In the Server Address field, type in ftp://[ip address] and click Connect.

3) Enter your login and password.

4) You are now successfully logged in! You can now drap and drop file to and from using the FTP connection. You will notice that the ftp server is now a shared drive in the Finder's left pane.

Note:
1) If instead you type in ftp://[username]@[ip address] in step 2, you will be taken to step 3 with the username filled in. For example ftp://keith@192.168.1.106.
2) If instead you type in ftp://[username]:[password]@[ip address] in step 1, you will be taken to step 5 directly. For example ftp://keith:keithpassword@192.168.1.106.

***However there is a huge restriction! You can only download from the ftp server. You CANNOT upload any files.

So what do you do if you need to upload, I will cover this in my next post.

How To Set Up A FTP Server On Ubuntu

In a previous post, I covered how to set up a FTP Server on a Mac.  What can you do if you are running an Ubuntu desktop?  In this example I am running Ubuntu 9.04.

How to set up a FTP Server on Ubuntu 9.04
1)  Open a Terminal session. by selecting Application > Accessories > Terminal.
2)  Type sudo apt-get install vsftpd.  As you are using the sudo command, you will be prompted for a password.  Next, you will receive another prompt Do you want to continue [Y/n]?.  Type Y or you can just enter.

3)   You will now see a successful install.

4)  It is now time to configure the ftp server configuration file vsftpd.conf using gedit.  Type sudo gedit /etc/vsftpd.conf.  Make the following changes, save, and exit the editor

anonymous=NO
local_enable=YES
write_enable=YES

Be sure that there is no # sign in front of these statements.  The # sign will indicate that this is a comment.

5)  To reflect the changes made above, run the following command in Terminal:
sudo /etc/init.d/vsftpd start


6)  Done!  You can now start using your ftp server.