Re: FTP from one website to another?

Hi Clinton,

Yes, under the correct circumstances. Forgive me if I tell you anything you
already know, as I don't know what you already know, so I'm going to start
at a comfortably low position and work my way up from there...

A web application is an application designed to run in a web server. A web
server is a server application that communicates with its clients via HTTP
(HyperText Transfer Protocol). This is a text-based messaging protocol which
runs on a TCP transport over the Internet, which sends text messages back
and forth between client and server, and can also be used to transmit binary
data as well.

FTP (File Transfer Protocol) is another text-based protocol that runs on a
TCP transport over the Internet. It also involves a server (an FTP server)
and multiple clients, which transmit requests and responses in text format,
and can be used to transmit both text and binary data between server and
client.

There are several differences between these 2 protocols. FTP is a
"connected" protocol. It maintains an open connection between the client and
the server (on the server port 21 usually) for the duration of a user
session. This "command connection" is used to exchange the requests and
responses between server and client, and separate connections are created on
different ports as needed to transfer files. HTTP is a "disconnected"
protocol, which can be configured to keep the underlying TCP connection
opened, or close it and reopen it with each request/response. Because of the
"disconnected" nature of HTTP, it is stateless. It only uses a single port
(usually Port 80) to transfer all messaging and data. FTP is older than
HTTP, and has several issues with firewalls and security that HTTP does not,
but both are generally pretty reliable, as TCP is a reliable networking
protocol. They use entirely different text "languages" to communicate. And
of course, although it is theoretically possible to create an FTP client
that can render HTML, and use FTP as the underlying protocol, FTP is not
used for this purpose, and is generally regarded as simply a mechanism for
transferring files 2 ways between client and server, whilt HTTP is generally
regarded as a one-way protocol in which the client is generally only
receiving files from the server.

Enough of that. Now down to the nitty gritty of what you were asking. Both
protocols require a server to listen and handle incoming client requests.
Both protocols can run on the same machine, and can work with the same
directories. So, it is quite possible, and even common for an HTTP web to
have FTP access. Many web designers use FTP to upload their files to the web
server. So, the only real question you need to ask is, does the web server
machine have an FTP server with access to the same files and folders as the
web site? If so, an application can use both FTP and HTTP to exchange data
and files between server and client.

--
HTH,

Kevin Spencer
Microsoft MVP
Professional Chicken Salad Alchemist

I recycle.
I send everything back to the planet it came from.


"clintonG" <csgallagher@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx> wrote in message
news:%23zGox$slGHA.3588@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx
I'm puzzled and don't think this is possible but if an application that is
running on websiteA generates a file can FTP be used from websiteA to
transfer that file to websiteB which would be located on another server?

--
<%= Clinton Gallagher
NET csgallagher AT metromilwaukee.com
URL http://www.metromilwaukee.com/clintongallagher/



.

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