External Storage
Introduction
So, let's say you want to have storage space that can be accessed anywhere. You can't do that with LAN (Local Area Network), because it's only accessible locally. Like its name implies. You want to set up a WAN (Wide Area Network) storage space. How would you go about doing that? You can't. Sorry. Okay... maybe there is a way. It's called File Transfer Protocol or FTP. To do this, you'll need a machine to act as a server (hands out the files) and a FTP client.
What is FTP?
File Transfer Protocol is a commonly used to transfer files over any network that supports TCP/IP. FTP is old. Like back in the early 1970s. But most people still use it to this day for transferring files. Back in the good old days, they had to use a command-line FTP client (meaning they'd have to type stuff like "get example.exe"). Nowadays, there are FTP clients with a graphical interface, making it easier to navigate. It requires a server and a client. The server listens to connection requests on the network, and the client is used to initiate connection to a server. The good thing about FTP is that you can transfer much larger files than you could with email attachments. Oh boy! Imagine what you could do!...(I have no idea what you could do.)
There are two data formats for an FTP client/server to transmit data:
- ASCII mode
- Binary mode
ASCII is marginally faster, and is the default for most FTP clients. Binary sends each file bit by bit, so that the file will not be corrupted if it is not in plain text.
Using FTP
First off, you'll need to set up a FTP server. This can be done on one of your own machines, or you can find servers online. Some of them are free, however, some of them you need to pay. Free servers may have advertisements and less space than paid ones. You do not need a high end computer to serve as a server. An old one will do actually. The program I recommend you using is FileZilla server. FileZilla only works for Windows, however. If you are using Linux, I would recommend using a text-based server called VSFTPD (Very Safe FTP Daemon).
Secondly, to connect to the server, you'll need a client. I personally use FileZilla, because it is relatively easy to use. It is only for Windows, however. The second FTP client I would use is FireFTP, which works for all OS. It is a cross platform FTP client with Mozilla Firefox.
 FileZilla client running |
 FileZilla server running |
 FireFTP client running on Firefox |
FTP servers
The lab will teach you how to set up a FTP server on a Linux and Windows machine. FTP servers are the ones that checks for communications and sends the file. It hosts the files. You'll need a second computer to do the lab. You can also buy servers online. Some servers online are free, while others cost some money. When you set a server on one of your computers, you decide which files are available to transfer.
FTP clients
There are a whole variety of FTP clients, but they all basically do the same thing: make connections with a FTP server. From there, you can change files, folders, upload stuff, whatever! You will download and install a FTP client in the lab. You can also use a web browser to facilitate in FTP. You just type: ftp://someaddress in the address bar.