RFC 1635 (rfc1635) - Page 2 of 13

How to Use Anonymous FTP

RFC 1635                       How To FTP                       May 1994


   However, Internet users may also take advantage of a wealth of
   information available from archive sites by using a general purpose
   account called "anonymous FTP".

What is an Archive Site?

   An archive site is a host that acts as a repository of information,
   much like a conventional library.  Information stored on these
   Internet hosts is made available for users to transfer to their local
   sites.  Users run software to identify this information and transfer
   it to their own hosts.  Such a transfer is done with a program that
   implements the File Transfer Protocol (FTP).

What is Anonymous FTP?

   Anonymous FTP is a means by which archive sites allow general access
   to their archives of information.  These sites create a special
   account called "anonymous".  User "anonymous" has limited access
   rights to the archive host, as well as some operating restrictions.
   In fact, the only operations allowed are logging in using FTP,
   listing the contents of a limited set of directories, and retrieving
   files.  Some sites limit the contents of a directory listing an
   anonymous user can see as well.  Note that "anonymous" users are not
   usually allowed to transfer files TO the archive site, but can only
   retrieve files from such a site.

   Traditionally, this special anonymous user account accepts any string
   as a password, although it is common to use either the password
   "guest" or one's electronic mail (e-mail) address.  Some archive
   sites now explicitly ask for the user's e-mail address and will not
   allow login with the "guest" password.  Providing an e-mail address
   is a courtesy that allows archive site operators to get some idea of
   who is using their services.

What Information Do You Need to Know?

   To retrieve a specific file, a user needs to know what host it is on,
   and the pathname of the file.  A pathname tells the directory (and
   possibly subdirectories) that house the file, and the name of the
   file.  Often discussions of available files will not specifically
   say, "This file is available for anonymous FTP from X host with Y
   pathname".  However, if a file is publicly announced as available and
   referred to as something like pub/good-stuff on nisc.sri.com, it is a
   good assumption that you can try to transfer it.

   You may also need to know if your machine uses an ASCII, EBCDIC, or
   other character set to know how likely a transfer of binary
   information will work, or whether such a transfer will require other



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