FTP access from an OS X

[Trillian]

I've tried ftp.domainnam.com/foldername using Go/"Connect to Server" in the OS X menubar with usual name/password but no luck. Then I tried ftps but don't see where to configure the port number. Does anyone have more explicit directions?

[Michael D.]

You'll want to use an FTP client such as FileZilla.

[Scott]

I haven't played with this feature too much, but from what I can tell it only supports vanilla FTP (At least as far as FTP goes; no FTPES or SFTP). Furthermore, it appears to be read only, so it won't be very useful other than downloading your site over FTP.

 

To connect, you will want a connection string like this:

ftp://USER@ftp.YOUR-DOMAIN.TLD

 

From there you will be prompted for a password with the username already filled in. If correct, the ftp account will open and you will have a new entry in the sidebar of finder, just as if you put a CD in or opened a .dmg file. Eject the "disk" from the sidebar to disconnect.

 

A few notes:

1. Use of "vanilla," unencrypted FTP is strongly discouraged as it transmits your username and password in plain text over the internet. Anyone listening in can then use this information to access your account. If you must use regular FTP, setup a seperate FTP only account in cPanel with the most restrictive home directory possible (IE: don't set its root as public_html) and rotate the password for the account as often as reasonably possible. Also be sure not to share a similar login name and/or password with any other accounts or login information.
    
   
2. You can likely omit the USER@ portion of the connection string and just type it manually when prompted by OSX.
    
   
3. A real FTP client like FileZilla (Free; Open Source) will serve you much better given the full read/write capabilities, extra features, support for secure protocols (FTPES / SFTP), and so on. There really is no good reason to use Finder's connect to server feature in this case.