By c-emmons -

The “client-server relationship” is a very common term when it comes to file transfer.. but what exactly is a “client” and what is a “server”?  The networking of a “client-server relationship” involves a distributed application architecture that divides tasks between service providers known as servers and a service requester, or a client.  Clients and servers generally operate over computer networks, such as office LANs or even the Internet.

The server is the more dominant machine in the relationship, being a high-performance host that runs one (or more than one) server applications.  The server applications are what the client “talks to”.  Applicaitons on the client system initiate communication sessions with servers.

Simply put, “client-server” describes the relationship between two computer programs where the client makes request to the server.  This relationship is seen in such tasks as sending emails and accessing the web. Many business applications currently use the client-server model as well as the main Internet application protocols (HTTP, SMTP, telnet etc.)

The simplest type of client-server uses only two systems, a client and a server.  This may also be referred to as “two-tier” and it allows for the sharing of files. Some examples of clients in this relationship would be web browsers, email clients,and online chat clients.  Servers would include web servers, ftp servers, application servers, mail servers, file servers, and most web services.

Client-server architecture enables the responsibilities of a system to be distributed amongst several individual computers. These individual computers  are accessed only through a network so it is easier to maintain and repair or even relocate a server without affecting the clients.  Another benefit exists in that data is stored on servers which generally have greater security than clients. Servers can also control user access and resources.  Client-server technologies are abundant in the world today,  designed to ensure safety and security. One example  of an innovater in this field is Ipswitch – a software company which has been offering FTP software since 1991.  As the field of file transfer continues to grow, so will the need for safe servers and happy clients who together form a healthy, networked relationship.

By Erik Small -

Scheduling a transfer using a script

If you’re setup with a file transfer client and make regular connections to an FTP server, you can easily automate file transfers. This is useful if you want to update a website nightly, or update the same document daily. There are a few ways to do this with WS_FTP. With the Scheduler Utility, you upload a file by setting a specified time interval. Utilizing the Synchronize Utility, a mirrored ( local vs. remote) set of files can be ’synchronized’ automatically. The third feature is for an advanced user — Script Utility allows for a scheduled file transfer, but also allows for deleting files, changing directories, or checking success/failure of a command.

Detailed ‘how-to’ can be viewed in the WS_FTP Professional Tools Guide.

By pete -

File Transfer Planet happily runs on Wordpress – a free, elegant and very powerful blogging platform. Over the last few years, WP has become increasingly popular and at the same time, more advanced and user friendly.

wordpress admin ui

With the release of 2.7, Wordpress had a built in “plugin browser” which allowed on-the-fly plugin installation – where previously you’d have to FTP files to your site. Themes still required FTP however – which I suspect was always a bit of a challenge for novices.

This week, a new version of Wordpress came out that improves on the user experience nicely, and more importantly, allows users to install themes without FTP! This is a pretty big deal, and quite a time saver.

installs on-the-fly - evil?

Is it killing FTP? No way. The plugin and theme browsers are limited to the main Wordpress repository for these items – yet many, many themes and plugins are hosted elsewhere, in other repositories and developer sites. For these types of situations you still need to download, unzip, and FTP your files back to your site. So to really keep your Wordpress blog on the cutting edge – polish those FTP skills. Some of the best plugins and themes are not available via the built in interface!

Did you say you need an FTP Client? We strongly recommend WS_FTP for Windows users, and Fetch for Mac users.. learn and buy them at our online store page.

Interested in learning more about FTP? You certainly came to the right place! Check out our guides, or new forums if you have specific questions. For the record, our forums run on another piece of software by the makers of Wordpress, called BBpress. If you have an account on our blog, it works on the forums as well.

Now – back to WP 2.8!! Here’s a video and info put together for the release:

Major New Improvements

First and foremost, 2.8 is way faster to use. We’ve changed the way WordPress does style and scripting.

The core and plugin updaters in previous versions of WordPress have been such a success we decided to bring the same to themes. You can now browse the entire theme directory and install a theme with one click from the comfort of your WordPress dashboard.

If you make edits or tweaks to themes or plugins from your dashboard, you’ll appreciate the new CodePress editor which gives syntax highlighting to the previously-plain editor. Also there is now contextual documentation for the functions in the file you’re editing linked right below the editor.

If you were ever frustrated with widgets before, this release should be your savior. We’ve completely redesigned the widgets interface (which we didn’t have time to in 2.7) to allow you to do things like edit widgets on the fly, have multiple copies of the same widget, drag and drop widgets between sidebars, and save inactive widgets so you don’t lose all their settings. Developers now have access to a much cleaner and robust API for creating widgets as well.

Finally you should explore the new Screen Options on every page. It’s the tab in the top right. Now, for example, if you have a wide monitor you could set up your dashboard to have four columns of widgets instead of the two it has by default. On other pages you can change how many items show per page.

And Even More

You can read the full list of over 180 new features, changes, upgrades, and improvements on the Codex. The list is exhausting!

via WordPress › Blog » 2.8 Release Jazzes Themes and Widgets.

By c-emmons -

When transferring files, several users seem to have trouble figuring out why such things as images do not send over properly.  A reason for this may be due to the fact that the file could be corrupted by using the wrong type of codes.  Rule of thumb is that if it does not work, you probably corrupted it through your transfer.  Many systems today make it easy to send files without worrying about corruption, but lets take a step back to look at the variations between ASCII and binary transfers.

Binary is the number system that is based on 2, referring to numeric information.  It uses all 8 bits in a byte.

ASCII is the American Standard Code for Information Interchange, or simply the  code that computers have been using to store text for decades.  It is used to code for text only.  If sending an HTML document for example, use the ASCII mode.  It is a limited transfer system because it only uses 7 of the 8 bits in a standard byte.  When it was first created, this was an adequate amount and was run because of the price of computer memory.  The modem speeds then were also much slower, allowing 7 bits instead of 8 made the transfer more rapid.  However, if you were to send something that utilized all 8 bits, 1/8 on the content would be lost.  So the big question here is why do we even bother with ASCII any longer when binary transfers allow for all 8 bits in a standard byte…

If you transfer using ASCII, both FTP clients and servers will translate any symbols into the native language of the computer recieving.  This will rid files that look to have garbage in them or appear to be a long line.  Overall, if sending an HTML file it is safest to used ASCII.  You can send it via binary transfer but you may mess up the file a bit.  Keep in mind if you use a command-line FTP client the default mode is ASCII.

WS_FTP has an Auto mode.  If this is checked, it does not affect the status of the ASCII or binary mode.  This mode helps to send files in either the binary or ASCII mode, whichever is more effective.  This is accomplished by going under the Options dialog, clicking Extensions and filling in the rest.

To summarize, a file that is simply text, HTML, postscript or EBCDIC should be transferred using the ASCII mode because transferring in binary mode could damage the file.  A file that had compressed (.exe, .jpg, .bmp), a bitmap, or an executable should be transferred in binary mode.  Furthermore, keep in mind is the growing system of Unicode.

By Hugh Garber -

I’ve just started using the new WS_FTP Professional secure file transfer client. Version 12.

My favorite new feature is the “Post Transfer File Automation”. Basically, I can now tell WS_FTP what do to with a file after i transfer it. For example, i can have WS_FTP Professional delete (or rename or move) the original source file after i have already copied it to another location. VERY convenient!

Version 12 delivers lots of great new features and capabilities, most having to do with security. I like that… anything that helps protect me from online hoodlums by making my online activities more secure is a good thing in my book.

By Erik Small -

Ipswitch File Transfer has released a new version of it’s WS_FTP file transfer client.

It’s offered in two versions: WS_FTP Home 12 & WS_FTP Professional 12.
New Features in both WS_FTP Home & Professional:

Industry-leading Security

• Built-in local OpenPGP file encryption using up to RSA 4,096 bit keys
• Federal Information Processing Standard (FIPS) 140-2 Validated Cryptography
• SSH Key Management and Enhanced SSH Capabilities
• Enhanced SSL Certificate Management Capabilities
• File non-repudiation and automatic compression with MOVEit DMZ servers

Productivity-enhancing Features

• Improved performance for faster connection, re-connection and transfer times
• Post-transfer file automation for moving, deleting and renaming integrated with synchronizing, scripting, command line and backup
• Universal Naming Convention (UNC) mapped network drive access
• Microsoft IIS and Apache Web Servers full file listing and folder navigation
• Microsoft Windows 2008 support

Download an Evaluation or Buy a license on the company website

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By Erik Small -

FTPplanet’s parent company, Ipswitch File Transfer, has posted some details on it’s upcoming release of the all-new WS_FTP Professional 12.
Check out the Sneak Peek page on their website for a brief summary of the new features in the popular ftp client product.
Also, sign-up with your email address to be notified of the availability of the new version of WS_FTP.