FTP

HI. I thought I new how FTP works but having the trouble understanding the basics of how FTP works in relation to my own websites hosted on dreamhost. Meaning I dont even understand how to set it up or where it will sit.. meaning, obviously I dont want to post these files I am transferring on an existing website so?? I know its lame but I cant find this info anywhere on Dreamhost knowledge base.. any suggestions about where I can find detailed instructions on how to proceed. Basically what I have is a video file (or several) that I want to be able to allow certain people to download... instead of fed exing them DVDs as I work. Any help appreciated!!
Thanks!
Camilla

You can connect using any FTP clients.

You can set your domain name as the URL. Your login name and password had been mailed to you when your account is activated.

After you connect, change directory to the folder with your domain name. You can put file there which can be accessed by public as http://yourdomain.com/filename.ext

If you use the Firefox web browser (highly recommended), you can download the FireFTP extension. Once you have the extension up and running, you can do the following:

1. Click on "Manage Accounts" and select "New..."
2. Give your account a name (eg. "My website")
3. File in your hostname ("ftp.yourdomainname.com")
4. Enter the username and password you were supplied with when you signed-up for DreamHost
5. Click "OK"

You will now be able to connect to your domain space (which may have one or more domain folders, and various other admin-related folders). You put your web files in the folder that corresponds to your domain name.

DreamHost offers a web FTP client that you can use ("webftp.dreamhost.com"); however, since it has a 7Mb filesize limit on uploads it is unlikely to be adequate for uploading video files.

As they said above the domain is a folder usually called the same as the domain or sub-domain.

To make the video downloadable the simplest way is to put it in to a directory within your site (such as downloads for example). You can than just create a link to the file within within this folder (in this example www.whaever.com/downloads/videoname).

You may also want to set up .htaccess to make this directory unbrowsable.

If you have a unique IP you can also set up anonymous ftp access in the panel. If you haven't signed up yet and want to do this I have other codes in the link on my signature that will give one.