Use of FTP to transfer files between a PC and the Mainframe (VMA)

ECO 499 – Reed Olsen

The directions given in this document are focused on transferring files, especially data files, between a PC and the Missouri State mainframe (VMA) where ECO 499 students will be doing their statistical analysis. However, the same basic protocol is used for transferring files between your PC and any other machine.

Obtain FTP program

The FTP program is shareware and is available free of charge through Missouri State computer services at their web site.  You will generally want the 32bit FTP program, which is found under 32Bit Internet Software (WSFtp32 version 4.5).  Download this file and set it up on your local computer. The software is Windows 95/98 software for IBM compatibles.

There are two steps to installing the program, after downloading the software file from user support. First, this file is a self-extracting WinZip file. Find the file in the location you downloaded it to using either Windows Explorer or another file manager and double click on the file. This will begin the WinZip extraction, which will automatically extract the files needed to install the FTP program. You must note where the WinZip extraction process is placing the files on your hard disk.

After the extraction process is complete, use your file manager (Windows Explorer) to go to the location where the extraction process placed the files. Find the file labeled "Install.exe" and double click on it. This will install the FTP program. The install program will prompt you for several things, including the location on your hard drive where you want the program to be installed and the location where you want downloads to be placed. The latter can be changed from within the FTP program, so don't worry about this. More importantly, the program will ask you what version of FTP you wish to install. Your answer will depend upon the operating system that you are using.

Initial Setup of FTP

Once the FTP program is installed, open the program and learn how to use it. You should initially see a screen labeled "Session Properties" overlaid upon a second screen with two windows sitting side by side, the first labeled "Local System" and the second "Remote System". The first step is to get connected to the VMA computer. On the "Session Properties" screen hit the "General" Tab and click the button labeled "New". All of the input lines should go blank (except for the line labeled Host Type.) You now need to enter some information.

For "Profile Name" enter the name of the computer that you will be accessing. The actual name entered should be one that you can easily remember, but does not have to be the same for each person. (That is, this just labels the computer for your own use.) For example, one could enter "Missouri State Mainframe" or "Missouri State VMA".

For "Host Name/Address" you must enter the Internet address of the computer that you will be accessing. For the Missouri State VMA computer, this address is "vma.missouristate.edu". You must enter this address correctly or else you cannot connect.

Finally, you need to fill in the "User ID" with your VMA user id. The user id for the VMA is the 7 character id, consisting of your initials, the last 3 digits of your social security number and "s" (for student). You must either enter your password on the "Session Properties" screen or, if you don't, you will be prompted later to enter it. You can enter it on this screen and check the "Save Pwd" box. Doing so will save your password so that you don't have to enter it for later sessions. You should never save your password on a machine that is not yours and it is generally not a good idea to do even on your own machine (as others will have access to your account.)

Once you've done the above once will not need to do it again (unless you reload the software or use a new copy of the software on a different computer.) The second time you just need to find the name of the computer under the "Profile Name" list.

You can control where on your computer the program will initially look for files to download by hitting the "Startup" tab on the "Session Properties" screen. Under "initial local directory" enter the directory on your individual PC where you wish to begin (for example, c:\vma). You can also change the directory on the remote system (VMA). However, students generally only have a single directory so this is not particularly useful.

Using FTP

You are now ready to log on to the VMA by clicking the "OK" button on the "Session Properties" screen. You will either be logged on to your VMA account or be prompted for your password and, after giving the password, will be logged on. The "Session Properties" screen will disappear and you will see only the screen with two windows, one labeled "Local System" and the other "Remote System." The "Local System" is your individual computer and the "Remote System" is the computer to which you are attached, in this case the VMA.

If you have logged on correctly you should see a list in each window. The "Local System" window will be pointing to the directory on your local PC that you told it to look in when setting up the session properties. You will see either names of folders (with a folder icon to the left) or files (with a file icon to the left). The "Remote System" folder will have names of files on your VMA account. (If you're on a system that allows folders, which VMA does not, you may also see folders or files on the "Remote System" window.)

The basic method of transferring files back and forth between the two systems is fairly straightforward.

1. First, find the file that you wish to transfer and highlight it by clicking on it once. You can highlight multiple files at the same time by highlighting the first file you wish to transfer in the list, holding down the shift key and clicking on the last file in the list you wish to transfer.

To find a file you can scroll up or down the list by using the scroll bar to the right of each window. You can also limit the size of the files/folders listed in the window by using the small window to the right of each larger window. Inside that window you can inform the program of which type of files you wish to examine. The default is all files and folders (*.*).Here are the general formats you can use.

• FTP treats all files as if they are in the following format: name.extension. On the VMA computer the name equals the filename while the extension equals the filetype.
• x*.* = any files whose name begin with the characters "x".
• *.x* = any files whose extension begins with the letter x.
• *x.* = any file whose name (not extension) ends with the characters "x".
• *.*x = any file whose extension ends with the characters "x".
• Of course, you can include any characters for "x". For example, if you type "*.sas" in this window, you will see only programs with the extensions "sas".

2. Second, find the directory that you wish to move the file to on either the remote or local system (depending upon which way you are transferring the file.)

You can move around by scrolling up or down the list by using the scroll bar to the right of each window. You can also move to new folders by clicking on the folders (if they are in the list) or hitting the green arrow key at the top of the list, to move back to an earlier folder.

You can change the directory (or folder) directly by hitting the ChgDir key to the right of the window and typing in the directory you wish to move to. For example typing "c:\programs" will move you to that directory and folder. Typing "a:\" will move you to floppy drive a:. You can also use FTP to create new directories/folders by hitting the MkDir key.

3. Once you have the destination set correctly and the correct file highlighted then you can transfer by simply hitting the arrow between the two windows in the direction you wish the transfer to go. Hit the right arrow to transfer from the "local system" to the "remote system" and the left arrow for the reverse type of transfer.

You must be careful to pick the correct type of transfer, binary or ascii. Ascii transfers should be used for text files while binary transfers must be used for program transfers (or compressed data, such as SAS datasets.)

4. You can use FTP to view, delete, rename, and execute files simply by highlighting the files and clicking the file(s) and the appropriate button to the right of each window.
   
   
5. You cannot be simultaneously logged on to your VMA account via FTP and the regular telnet session. If you attempt to do so, you will be allowed to do this but will only have read access rather than read/write access. That is, you won't be able to transfer files or work on files, just read them. Thus, if you wish to transfer files you must first log off your regular session of VMA. If you wish to work in VMA in a regular session, you must first log off FTP.

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