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Uploading Files to Your Server

There are many different ways to get your files from your computer at home to the server in our datacenter.

Some clients prefer to use website publishers to help them create their website, e.g. Dreamweaver and Microsoft Expression Web. These programs are set up to use FTP (File Transfer Protocol) to send the files to the server for you after filling out a bit of information about the server and your user.

Another way is to use the File Manager, located in cPanel. The File Manager is a handy tool that will let you create new folders and files, change the permissions of the files, and even edit the code that is contained within.

Simply clicking the upload button will open up a window that will let you browse your files on your computer.

Instead of logging into cPanel there is another way to get your files onto the server using FTP. Many people like to use an FTP client for more convenient access. FileZillais a popular FTP client which is free to download and use. To access the server via FTP, you will need the following pieces of information:

  • Hostname

  • Username

  • Password

  • Port

The hostname can be many different things. It can be the IP address of the server, the hostname of the server, or even ftp.domain.com, depending upon how your A records are set up. The port number is 21. The username and the password needed will be the same information you use to log in to your cPanel account. If you do not know this information, you can open up a ticket or chat or call HostDime and we would be happy to get the information to you so that you can begin work!

SFTP​

SFTP is much like FTP in the sense that it is a tool which allows you to get your files onto the server. It can stand for a few things: Secure File Transfer Protocol, SSH File Transfer Protocol, Secret File Transfer Protocol. It's called these things because unlike FTP, SFTP uses the SSH protocol to work and is more secure than FTP. Because SFTP uses SSH to work, the information used to log in changes a little bit.

The hostname needs sftp:// in front of it and the port is changed to the SSH port of the server. If you are a shared client, you will also need jailed shell access, which is free to use and can be obtained by contacting HostDime.

While you can not access FTP with root privileges, SFTP allows you to get into the server as root if you have a VPS or a dedicated server, which comes in handy if you need to access files that are not accessible to your regular users.