Anonymous FTP Servers

Computer History Notes - Herong's Tutorial Notes

∟1971 - FTP Protocol Created by Abhay Bhushan

∟Anonymous FTP Servers

This section provides a quick description of anonymous FTP servers.

Anonymous FTP is a special service provided a FTP server that allows users to access the server with a special account without any password validation.

Anonymous FTP service is usually provided with a read-only permission to download publicly documents or programs.

Here a sample session of using the anonymous FTP service provided by the ftp.kernel.org server. At the "User" prompt, you must enter "anonymous". At the "Password" prompt, you should enter an email address.

>ftp ftp.kernel.org
Connected to pub.us.kernel.org.
220 Welcome to ftp.kernel.org.
User (pub.us.kernel.org:(none)): anonymous
331 Please specify the password.
Password:
230-                        Welcome to the
230-
230-                    LINUX KERNEL ARCHIVES
230-                        ftp.kernel.org
230-
230-                "Much more than just kernels"
230-
...
230 Login successful.
ftp> dir
200 PORT command successful. Consider using PASV.
150 Here comes the directory listing.
drwxrwxrwx    3 0     0     109 Jul 07 05:28 bin
dr-xr-xr-x    2 0     0      28 Aug 29  1997 dev
d--x--x--x    2 0     0      49 May 20  1998 etc
drwxrwx---    2 536   528   124 May 21  2001 for mirrors only
drwxr-xr-x    2 0     0    4096 May 20  1998 lib
drwx------    2 0     0       6 Oct 02  2005 lost+found
drwxrwsr-x   10 536   536  4096 Apr 30 22:31 pub
lrwxrwxrwx    1 0     0       1 Apr 18  2007 usr -> .
lrwxrwxrwx    1 0     0      10 Apr 18  2007 welcome.msg -> pub/README
226 Directory send OK.
ftp: 596 bytes received in 0.00Seconds 596000.00Kbytes/sec.
ftp> cd pub
250 Directory successfully changed.
ftp> dir
200 PORT command successful. Consider using PASV.
150 Here comes the directory listing.
drwxrws---    2 536   536     71 Apr 30 22:31 RCS
-r--r--r--    1 536   536   1912 Aug 05  2007 README
-r--r--r--    1 536   536    578 Mar 18  2003 README ABOUT BZ2 FILES
drwxrwsr-x    7 536   536     93 Jul 22  2005 dist
-r--r--r--    1 536   536   2176 Apr 30 22:31 index.html
drwxrwsr-x    9 536   536    106 Jun 25 00:37 linux
drwxr-x---    2 536   536      6 Oct 27  1998 lost+found
drwxrwsr-x   19 536   536   4096 Jun 02 18:27 scm
drwxrwsr-x    3 536   536     59 Nov 05  2003 site
drwxrwsr-x   12 536   536    132 Apr 17  2005 software
drwxr-sr-x    3 536   536     22 Apr 30 22:31 tools
226 Directory send OK.
ftp: 718 bytes received in 0.00Seconds 718000.00Kbytes/sec.
ftp> cd software
250 Directory successfully changed.
ftp> dir
200 PORT command successful. Consider using PASV.
150 Here comes the directory listing.
drwxrwsr-x    7 536      536            80 Jul 18  2002 admin
drwxrwsr-x    3 536      536            20 Nov 19  2003 benchmark
drwxrwsr-x    4 536      536            30 Jun 08 06:56 devel
drwxrwsr-x    3 536      536            19 May 27  1999 editors
drwxrwsr-x    3 536      536            21 Jan 01  2002 graphics
drwxrwsr-x    4 536      536            31 Dec 08  2005 libs
drwxrwsr-x    5 536      536            44 Apr 16 18:57 network
drwxrwsr-x    6 536      536            68 Sep 21  2005 scm
drwxrwsr-x    9 536      536            99 Feb 11 18:36 utils
drwxrwsr-x    5 536      536            49 Dec 13  2005 web
226 Directory send OK.
ftp: 636 bytes received in 0.00Seconds 636000.00Kbytes/sec.
ftp> cd editors
250 Directory successfully changed.
ftp> dir
200 PORT command successful. Consider using PASV.
150 Here comes the directory listing.
drwxrwsr-x    3 536      536          4096 Sep 30  2005 uemacs
226 Directory send OK.
ftp: 64 bytes received in 0.00Seconds 64000.00Kbytes/sec.
ftp> cd uemacs
250 Directory successfully changed.
ftp> dir
200 PORT command successful. Consider using PASV.
150 Here comes the directory listing.
-rw-r--r--  1 536  536  165601 May 22  1999 em-4.0.15-lt.tar.bz2
-rw-r--r--  1 536  536     248 May 22  1999 em-4.0.15-lt.tar.bz2.sign
-rw-r--r--  1 536  536  209681 May 22  1999 em-4.0.15-lt.tar.gz
-rw-r--r--  1 536  536     248 May 22  1999 em-4.0.15-lt.tar.gz.sign
-rw-r--r--  1 536  536     248 May 22  1999 em-4.0.15-lt.tar.sign
drwxrwsr-x  8 536  536     112 Sep 30  2005 uemacs.git
226 Directory send OK.
ftp: 467 bytes received in 0.00Seconds 467000.00Kbytes/sec.
ftp> type binary
200 Switching to Binary mode.
ftp> get em-4.0.15-lt.tar.gz
200 PORT command successful. Consider using PASV.
150 Opening BINARY mode data connection for em-4.0.15-lt.tar.gz ...
226 File send OK.
ftp: 209681 bytes received in 1.72Seconds 122.05Kbytes/sec.
ftp> quit
221 Goodbye.