Secure File Transfer Protocol FAQs

Here are just a few reasons:

1. For multiple simultaneous connections, you simply can’t afford to provide the bandwidth to match FTP Today without spending thousands of dollars per month.
2. FTP Today’s servers are accessible through redundant connections to the Internet, whereas your own server would likely have a single point of failure.
3. Putting a server on your own network potentially opens your entire network up to security issues, hacker attacks, etc.
4. FTP Today’s servers are dedicated file transfer systems that are tuned for high performance file transfer, whereas an in-house server would likely be multi-purpose.
5. There are significant costs associated with managing your own server, including the ISP cost for a dedicated Internet circuit, software licensing and maintenance, security and OS maintenance, plus the necessity to devote hardware and personnel to managing that server.
6. FTP sites generally take up lots of bandwidth, so if your single internet connection is bogged down with file transfers, your transfer rates may suffer. Your other use of your internet connection (for browsing and e-mail) would also suffer from this bottleneck.

Using the latest advanced routing protocols, FTP Today’s network allows your data to travel over the optimal path to reach its destination. This is done through utilizing direct connections to several leading international Internet backbone providers. The result is a solid, secure and fast fiber optic connection between your FTP site and your customers. And our commitment to adopting the best technologies available means that we’ll continue to provide unbeatable speed and reliability.

That depends entirely on the speed of your Internet connection. With a good connection, a 10MB file should take less than a minute to download. But, keep in mind that most broadband providers limit your upload bandwidth significantly, so uploads may take longer than downloads.

Regardless of their respective ISP speed and quality, your FTP Today site will be able to handle many simultaneous connections from high-speed users and keep up with them all!

No. Your users are not forced to purchase or install any FTP client software.

FTP Today provides a WebApp as part of the hosted FTP service. However, should your users prefer to use a third party FTP client software tool, they will find that your FTP site from FTP Today is fully compatible with that software. More on User Interfaces

All our plans allow UNLIMITED simultaneous connections. Our servers and network are so robust that we can handle many simultaneous high-speed connections or threads without slowing anybody down!

There is no file size limit on FTP Today servers. Therefore, the only limit on an upload is how much space you have left on your plan’s overall storage limit (which can also be exceeded by 1 file upload of any size).

Many times the terms are used interchangeably. We also use them interchangeably, such as on our pricing page, because that is the norm. But, technically speaking,

• Transfer = Bandwidth Usage.
  
  Transfer is the quantity of bytes per month your FTP site uploads and downloads.
  
  Some hosting services limit monthly transfer or bandwidth usage, charging you extra when you go over a set limit. Others say it is “unlimited”, but they also have a policy against using too much.
  
  With FTP Today your monthly bandwidth transfer is truly UNLIMITED!

• Bandwidth is the speed of transfer, or how many bits per second the server can send and receive.
  
  In other words, it is the “size of the pipe” or the maximum rate of flow. Each site at FTP Today has access to 1 Gigabit of bandwidth.

No. Think of your storage limit like a hard drive on one of your local machines. You cannot go over 100%.

You should be aware when your limit is reached. For example, if someone tries to upload a file that would put you over the limit, an error message will be received indicating the over quota state. You can also set up email notifications to let you know when you are nearing your limit.

Storage can be quickly increased by contacting FTP Today support.

First, because we allow you unlimited bandwidth transfer per month at no cost. FTP Today’s customers consume a lot of bandwidth and this is our single largest cost of operation. The typical FTP site turns over its data storage regularly — often daily or even multiple times per day. Every file you send to someone is transferred at least twice (once to upload and once to download). This usage affects our costs and it is directly related to storage.

Second, FTP Today does not use “cheap” storage media or cloud object storage. Our hard drives have high read-write performance. Our RAID arrays stripe and mirror (replicate) every byte across multiple drives within the array for reliability and for recovery from hard drive failures. We also have to keep “hot spares” in all our storage systems to automate recovery.

Third, we back up every file you put on the FTP site and we keep 5 days of backups. This means we maintain backups that take up several times the amount of storage you are paying for on the FTP server itself.

FTP Today is in the business of providing fast and secure file transfers, with “temporary” storage. Our service is designed for rapid turnover of files and we absorb all bandwidth costs associated with potentially heavy usage. We use storage quotas and limits to measure our customers against one another so we can maximize the performance on all servers for the equal benefit of all customers.

It is up to you whether you delete files soon after they are delivered to the intended party or whether you leave files on the FTP server long term. File Retention Controls can aid you in managing your FTP space to a minimum with auto-deleting of files by age.

Yes. We send out automatic email alerts to the primary site administrator whenever your FTP site hits 90% of it’s storage limit. This alert should prompt you to take action before you run out of space. You might just need to log in and delete some old files or you might want to consider an upgrade.

With plans supporting Email Notifications, you can configure this alert and a multitude of other email alerts, including additional disk storage alerts or notifications triggered by activity such as uploads or downloads (granular, by Workspace or by User).

Yes. Daily backups are run on all plans. In the event you accidentally delete something from your site we can check multiple recovery points, allowing us to go back in time and recover your accidentally deleted files from the nearest point in time before they were accidentally deleted. Learn more about Backup and Disaster Recovery

For direct communications with our support staff, we provide an online ticket system, knowledge base and a toll free phone number not only for you, but for all your end users!

We refuse to outsource our technical support to an overseas operation simply to say ‘we have a 24/7 staff’. Our knowledgeable support staff is available every work day during hours that adequately cover all U.S. time zones.

For after hours emergencies (proven server outages) we have a messaging system connected to our toll-free number that will contact a senior support technician 24/7/365.

Yes, but that privilege requires contracting for a Dedicated Server or paying an extra monthly fee on an Enterprise plan. Contact sales to learn more.

Otherwise, FTP Today’s Acceptable Use Policy expressly forbids the use of anonymous FTP or mass distribution of files of any kind. The anonymous FTP function on your FTP site is therefore disabled.

Yes. Secure FTP hosting is what FTP Today specializes in. All of our FTP hosting plans offer the protection of both encrypted login (usernames and passwords not sent as clear text) and encrypted data channels (files encrypted during transfer). This includes:

• FTPeS (Explicit SSL encryption),
• FTPS (Implicit SSL encryption),
• SFTP (SSH encryption),
• SCP (SSH encryption) and
• HTTPS (SSL encryption).

Yes, when the settings and configurations that we place in your control are properly addressed.

FTP Today serves many firms within the medical industry that fall under HIPAA regulations. We are sensitive to your HIPAA compliance needs and we provide a “HIPAA-ready” service that exceeds all compliance rules when used properly. More on HIPAA Readiness

Linux. FYI, there is no possibility of obtaining direct operating system access (such as SSH2) from any remote public IP address. Even FTP Today systems administrators must go through a VPN.

Remote site management is integrated into the FTP Today Web App (as used for file transfer). Simply log in to your secure FTP Today URL and you can add, change, delete users, and much more.

Yes.

1. You can have multiple site administrators with separate logins
2. You can also delegate sub-site administration to others. We call sub-site administrators Team Managers. They can create and manages users and workspaces, but only within their respective Team. Each Team Manager can only administer one team and has no visibility into other teams users or folders.

There are 3 main types of users:

1. Site Administrators,
2. Team Managers and
3. Standard Users.

Any user can be limited to a single private workspace or can be assigned granular access permissions to more than one workspace. Their visibility will be limited to those workspaces to which they have been granted access.

Not at this time, but we expect to add this feature in the future. In the meanwhile, there is a report on current user storage, so this data is readily accessible. Also, you can set up email notifications to trigger when a user or user uses up a specified amount of data.

Only if you want them to. Our Control Panel lets you organize your files in primary folders called Workspaces.

There can be Private Workspaces and Shared Workspaces. If you want every user to have a Private Workspace, no problem. If you also want to create some shared Workspaces, that is not a problem either.

If you want more than one user to be logged in automatically to the same Starting Workspace (home directory), that’s easy too! And each user can only “see” and access the folders you have assigned them to.

Yes. Every subscription plan includes a Dedicated IP address. Your DNS provider, usually your web and e-mail hosting company, will simply point the new host name to this IP address.

Please note that using your own domain name with an SSL connection in a web browser (HTTPS) will require a custom SSL certificate to avoid certificate mismatch warnings in web browsers. Custom SSL Certificates are provided FREE of charge with our Private Business plan or our Compliant Enterprise plan. Compare plans

Yes, but free trials are reserved for those that are ready to start a paid subscription within 30 days and this requires a promo code to get your first 30 days free. You will actually be placing an order for the subscription plan of your choice. Your subscription will then automatically renew at the end of your free month.

To request a free trial promo code contact sales.

Assuming you signed up for a Monthly service plan, you are only committing to one month at a time. However, all subscriptions will be automatically renewed until we receive notice of cancellation. Failure to pay an invoice or to keep an updated credit card on file for automated payments does not void or non-renew your account. See our Terms of Service.

FTP Today requires credit cards for all month-to-month accounts. Your credit card will be used for automatic renewal each month and you are obligated to keep a valid credit card on file with our secure online billing system at all times.

If you are prepaying annually, and therefore are committing to 12-months at a time, then we also accept payment by check with company purchase order. Wire transfer or ACH are also acceptable on annual accounts.

Yes. You will receive an email PDF invoice 15 days before your monthly renewal date. Annual renewals are invoiced 30 days before the renewal date (payment due date). You will also receive a payment confirmation email when a payment is captured.

You may login to our secure online billing system and view or print full page invoices, review billing history, update your credit card, and more.

Our billing system will automatically prorate the charges for the current month (at the time of your upgrade request) and your renewal date will remain the same day of the month. The same is true of when upgrading annual prepaid accounts.

That depends what you mean. There is nothing preventing you from using the service for only a month or two, but we will require you to contact us to cancel the service on or before the renewal date. Otherwise, all plans are automatically renewed.

No. All FTP Today charges are processed in U.S. dollars. Your credit card bank will receive charges in dollars and convert to other international currencies at prevailing conversion rates.

No. FTP Today does not refund or pro-rate any final charges upon termination. When you cancel, you will be given the option of keeping the site live until the final day of your last payment cycle. If you prefer, you can have the site deleted immediately.

FTP (File Transfer Protocol) is the simplest and most secure way to exchange files over the Internet. The most common use for FTP is to download files from the Internet, most typically software. FTP also allows uploads.

An FTP site is a place on the Internet to store files for delivery to other persons. One person uploads (copies) the files from their computer to the FTP site, then the other person downloads (copies) the files from the FTP site to their computer. Either person can then delete the files from the FTP site.

[Excerpted and edited from "The Answer Geek" (unfortunately no longer published)]

The Cadillac of File Transfers

FTP, unlike its distant cousin HTTP, is a protocol from “the old days” of the Internet, that has some snappy features under the hood worth investigating. FTP, originally written in 1971 and revised several times before its current incarnation, was designed for transferring files between computers over the Internet. FTP not only allows for file downloads, but also file uploads, deletions, file directory manipulations and more. It is much faster than asking someone to send the file as an e-mail attachment.

FTP was designed with security in mind and requires a password for access. However, it also allows for guest logins to public areas. These areas are set up by site administrators and generally contain software and other public information. This guest access is typically what you would use with your Web browser. Guest access is also called “Anonymous FTP” and is not permitted at FTP Today (see above). If you click on a hyperlink that begins with ‘FTP://’ you are most likely being directed to the guest area of an FTP server. FTP works great for this and provides nearly instant gratification.

Aside from the cool features of FTP, it is generally thought of as a more efficient protocol than HTTP. This means that larger files are transported more quickly with FTP—something all of us surfers really appreciate. This efficiency comes with a price (doesn’t this always happen?) because FTP servers are usually more difficult to set up correctly than HTTP servers.