Web FTP access

To access external web and FTP sites, students and staff are required to give their Authcate details - a username and password. This is known as Mandatory Proxy Authentication (or MPA).

File transfers using the File Transfer Protocol (FTP) to and from Monash servers such as SNG, Monash FTP etc while on the Monash network will work using standard ftp clients such as WS-FTP.

However, transferring files outside of the Monash network requires authentication. Unfortunately many of the standard ftp clients are unable to do this, however FTP will be possible to external sites using Internet Explorer and Mozilla's graphical FTP interface. At this stage, Internet Explorer and Mozilla are the only ftp clients capable of authenticating to proxy servers approved by ITS.

To connect in an identified (ie. non-anonymous) way to an external server.

• While you can login to an FTP server by typing something like "ftp://username:password@ftpaddress" into Mozilla or Internet Explorer, it is strongly advised that you do not do this. Doing so will compromise your password, revealing it to other users.

  We recommend that you type the FTP address in the location window in the format: ftp://username@host where username is your username on that server.
  eg: ftp://waynej@sng.its.monash.edu.au
  

• You will then be prompted for your password on the server.
  
• Once you are connected, you will either see your home directory for the host or the top-level of the directory hierarchy for the host (depending on the configuration of the host system).

  Navigate to the directory you want. It will look similar to the picture below.

  
  
• From this point you can either get files (download) or put files onto the server (upload).
• To download a file, locate the name of the file you require and double click on the icon on the left hand side of the file name. In this example, the file "sample file.doc" has been selected to be downloaded.
• You may be presented with a warning screen (pictured below). Note that the filename has %20 included in its name. This is not an error; it is a quirk of the File Transfer Protocol - once it has been downloaded, your computer will rename the file correctly. Now, save the file to your local computer. You will need to indicate which directory the file is to be saved into.
  
• To put files onto the server, click on File then click on Upload File.
  
• You will now be prompted for which file you want to upload. Locate the file and double click on it.
  
• The file will automatically upload onto the server. Repeat for all files that need to be uploaded. You may need to reload the page (click on the reload icon) to see new files in the directory listing once you have uploaded them.

Links

• MPA Information

  This site contains information about Mandatory Proxy Authentication

• Request for Proxy Exemption

  If you are experiencing problems with applications in reference to MPA and believe you need an exemption, please follow the instructions on this page.

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