anonymous FTP

Also found in: Dictionary, Thesaurus, Medical, Acronyms.

anonymous FTP

[ə‚nän·ə·məs ¦ef¦tē′pē]

(computer science)

A public FTP (file transfer protocol) site at which users can log in and download documents by entering “anonymous” as their user ID, and their e-mail address as password.

anonymous FTP

(networking)

An interactive service provided by many Internet hosts allowing any user to transfer documents, files, programs, and other archived data using File Transfer Protocol. The user logs in using the special user name "ftp" or "anonymous" and his e-mail address as password. He then has access to a special directory hierarchy containing the publically accessible files, typically in a subdirectory called "pub". This is usually a separate area from files used by local users.

A reference like

ftp: euagate.eua.ericsson.se /pub/eua/erlang/info

means that files are available by anonymous FTP from the host called euagate.eua.ericsson.se in the directory (or file) /pub/eua/erlang/info. Sometimes the hostname will be followed by an Internet address in parentheses. The directory will usually be given as a path relative to the anonymous FTP login directory. A reference to a file available by FTP may also be in the form of a URL starting "ftp:".

See also Archie, archive site, EFS, FTP by mail, World-Wide Web.

This article is provided by FOLDOC - Free Online Dictionary of Computing (foldoc.org)

anonymous FTP

An FTP site on the Internet that contains files that can be downloaded by anyone. The anonymous FTP directory is isolated from the rest of the system and will generally not accept uploads from users.

Copyright © 1981-2019 by The Computer Language Company Inc. All Rights reserved. THIS DEFINITION IS FOR PERSONAL USE ONLY. All other reproduction is strictly prohibited without permission from the publisher.

Mentioned in ?

References in periodicals archive ?

Bailey, Jr., "How to Search the PACS-L Message Database." Machine-readable file available via anonymous FTP from hydra.uwo.ca in the libsoft directory.

Networked resources

specifies that accesses relative to /csftp refer to the root directory of the anonymous FTP server ftp.cs.ucsb.edu.

Ufo: A Personal Global File System Based on User-Level Extensions to the Operating System

File Transfer Protocol, also called ftp or anonymous ftp, is another useful tool in on-line publishing.

Moving governments on-line: implementation and policy issues

They include direct interaction with the WDC staff, an on-line information system called REPHLEX II, a CD-ROM using the WDC program ARS/Access, and anonymous FTP to the Internet address hydrolab.arsusda.gov.

New strategies for the Water Data Center

Many of the printed sources listed in the discussion of telnet--The Whole Internet User's Guide, NUSIRG, the publications by December and Yanoff--list addresses for documents available through anonymous FTP. Obtaining the most recent update of a known document or program can be accomplished by searching an Archie server, considered in the following section.

An Internet primer for music librarians: tools, sources, current awareness

Kehoe (author of the popular Zen and the Art of the Internet: A Beginner's Guide, which is available online) states that the use of anonymous ftp should be restricted to off-peak hours only.[7] It is courteous not to attempt anonymous ftp logins during normal business hours for the remote computer to which you desire access, especially for sites outside the U.S.

ftp: the educator's key to multi-platform file transfers

For example, if an employee downloads a paper from an anonymous FTP server and then distributes it to other users, it could have a virus and infect the whole system.

Tracking down trouble

Beyond the Web, the course teaches the use of Archie and anonymous ftp to find and download useful text and binary files, gopher search tools such as Veronica and Jughead to pinpoint industry-specific information, mailing lists and newsgroups to locate others with common interests, various directory services to find specific e-mail addresses, and telnet and commercial databases to access relevant research data.

OneOnOne introduces course for research on the Internet

The document may also be obtained via anonymous ftp from www.netlib.org/mpi/mpi-report.ps.

A message passing standard for MPP and workstations

On the Internet, the traditional method is called anonymous FTP The "FTP" stands for "file transfer protocol," while the "anonymous" refers to the capability of some host computers of allowing anyone to log on to a remote site without needing a private account and password.

Astronomy on the Internet: instant news, images, and cosmic tours await you in cyberspace

Free [Adobe.sup.TM] Reader software is available by connecting to the anonymous FTP site ftp.adobe.com to download the software.