Using FTP
Cepheid.org does not support FTP anymore. SFTP is supported, which uses the SSH protocol to encrypt your login and password, keeping them safe.
Common, free SFTP clients for Windows include Filezilla and WinSCP. They need to be set to use SFTP over port 22 (SSH).
Some people are having problems with using SFTP. An explanation follows:
The most common problem is that lots of people use pdmenu as their shell (a shell is how someone interacts with cepheid.org--or indeed, any Unix.) It's simple to set up, provides a semi-graphical menu for common tasks (like checking e-mail and using IRC) and just makes life easier for those who aren't comfortable on the command line.
Unfortunately, SCP and SFTP require a real, interactive shell, so the admin's solution has been to move people to bash, set up a .bash_login which invokes pdmenu and then exits, and then ask them to try again. The .bash_login shouldn't be executed when logging in with SFTP, so it tends to work out--the user gets a pdmenu if they log in interactively, and they get to SFTP to their heart's content. In addition, this completely mitigates other problems with traditional FTP, where firewalls on either the server (cepheid.org) or client (user's computer) could cause problems.
Changes are made on a case-by-case basis, so until someone complains, nothing will get changed.
Users should mail the admin user at cepheid.org to request help.
Common, free SFTP clients for Windows include Filezilla and WinSCP. They need to be set to use SFTP over port 22 (SSH).
Some people are having problems with using SFTP. An explanation follows:
The most common problem is that lots of people use pdmenu as their shell (a shell is how someone interacts with cepheid.org--or indeed, any Unix.) It's simple to set up, provides a semi-graphical menu for common tasks (like checking e-mail and using IRC) and just makes life easier for those who aren't comfortable on the command line.
Unfortunately, SCP and SFTP require a real, interactive shell, so the admin's solution has been to move people to bash, set up a .bash_login which invokes pdmenu and then exits, and then ask them to try again. The .bash_login shouldn't be executed when logging in with SFTP, so it tends to work out--the user gets a pdmenu if they log in interactively, and they get to SFTP to their heart's content. In addition, this completely mitigates other problems with traditional FTP, where firewalls on either the server (cepheid.org) or client (user's computer) could cause problems.
Changes are made on a case-by-case basis, so until someone complains, nothing will get changed.
Users should mail the admin user at cepheid.org to request help.