sFTP

Secure File Transfer Protocol (sFTP) is a method of transferring files between computers. It utilises SSH to ensure that passwords are sent encrypted rather than as plain text when FTP is used which is insecure as the password could be intercepted en-route compromising the security of the remote server.

First step is to have an account on the remote system setup for you by the administrator. They will email you your username and password. Both will be case-sensitive so be careful when you are typing them.

If you are using GNU/Linux then there are command line tools such as sftp that are part of OpenSSH or you can find graphical interfaces such as gFTP (or the Qt based equivalent). Consult your distributions package management system, on Gentoo use eix ftp to see what programs are available then emerge your choice.

If you are using M$-Windows then a good client is WinSCP, download, scan for viruses and install it.

The WinSCP documentation should guide you through setting up your connection. You'll need to know either the IP Address or the server name to which you want to connect (in addition to your account details). By default the port used is 22 but its possible the system administrator may have changed this, if so they will tell you what port to use.

Once you've established a connection WinSCP will show you two panes/windows similar to the usual File Explorer. One of these is the remote system to which you have connected, the other is the local system on the computer you are using. Its then as simple as navigating around and dragging and dropping files from one system to another (or you can right-click on directories on the remote system and select to Download).

gentoo sftp linux