This quarter, Stanford will turn off unsecure FTP (File Transfer Protocol). Once that happens, the next time you want to upload or download web files you will no longer be able to use Fetch, transfer.stanford.edu, or any other unsafe means of transferring files.
What can you do instead? All is not lost. At Stanford there are numerous options for transferring files safely over the Internet. MacLeland, MacSFTP, PC-Leland, and SecureFX are just a few of the many different ways you can move files into or out of AFS space. To learn more about them, go to:
http://www.stanford.edu/services/file-transfer/
Retiring the old FTP was necessary because it could not be secured against hackers. It sent your password across the Internet without any encryption, scrambling, or other form of protection that might prevent a hacker from stealing it.
Stanford dealt with this problem by restricting unsecure FTP to a single machine, called transfer.stanford.edu, which was secured as tightly as possible against intrusion. This was all well and good. Everyone who wanted to use Fetch or an HTML editing program like Dreamweaver could configure their program to use transfer.stanford.edu. However, the main problem was FTP itself. Now that a Secure File Transfer Protocol (SFTP) has been developed, Stanford can open file transfer to the whole infrastructure again.
What, on a practical level, does this mean for you?
- Upgrade to HTML editors that support SFTP (a secure file tranfer protocol). The latest version of Dreamweaver, for example, will support SFTP. In the "host" field you can put transfer.stanford.edu, elaine.stanford.edu, or the name of any workstation in the Leland infrastructure.
- If you cannot upgrade to a newer HTML editor, use the old one locally:
Move files down from AFS space and onto your desktop with MacLeland or PC-Leland. (To get either program, go to http://ess.stanford.edu/).
Use an HTML editor (such as Dreamweaver, BBedit, or even your computer's default text editor), to alter the files on your desktop.
Use MacLeland or PC-Leland to tranfer the files back to AFS.
If you have any questions about how to transfer files now that the old FTP has gone away, please send your help request to:
