How do I find out or set up an ftp address
I have inherited a WordPress website that is on a Linode server.
Currently the WordPress and many of the plugins need updating, but its asking for: Host Name, FTP Username: , FTP Password: and a choice between FTP or FTPS.
Have to admit, I've never seen that on a WordPress dashboard before, but then logging into the Linode Manager, I see no reference to FTP only SSH.
I have tried the SSH user names and passwords, but they don't seem to work. plus the SSH user name has a "space" in the name "ssh root@12.345.67.89" (sample) so that wouldn't work for ftp anyway.
Can anyone tell me what I should be using, or how to set up a regular FTP address in the Linode Manager?
Thank you.
1 Reply
asilverman
Linode Staff
I took a look at the WordPress help docs and see that they do not allow ftp access to WordPress blogs and for some file types. You will have to use sftp. Most experts do not recommend using ftp, even though it has been around for a long time. All information that is transferred across the internet is in plain text when using ftp. This is important because if someone is monitoring the data they can see your passwords, and usernames. The standard now is sftp which encrypts all data being sent across the internet.
Breaking down your sample "ssh root@12.345.67.89":
- "ssh" is the command to access your Linode in Secure Shell (so for ftp/sftp it is meaningless)
- "root" is your username
You'll still use your username and IP address to transfer files with sftp, as you'll see below.
FileZilla is a popular sftp agent to send your files to your WordPress site from your computer. You can follow these instructions to download it to your computer and use it to transfer data:
https://linode.com/docs/tools-reference/file-transfer/filezilla/