The FTP log can be very useful when you troubleshoot connectivity or other issues with your FTP account. It keeps track of each FTP command that you execute and the server response. Therefore, it is good to know where to locate the log for your FTP connection. Below you can find detailed information on how to access the FTP log on the most popular FTP clients.
Further reading:
Understanding FTP and How to Use it for File Transfer
Filezilla
You can display the FTP log by placing a check in the View -> Message Log menu. You will notice the log in the upper part of your screen. You can scroll and copy the part of it that you need.
If you right-click on the FTP log field, you can select the "Copy to clipboard" menu that will copy the entire log to the clipboard.
Cyberduck (for MAC users)
To enable the logging for Cyberduck select the View menu and click on the "Toggle Log Drawer" option. This will open a panel at the bottom of the application. Once you reconnect, you will be able to see the log for your FTP connection displayed in it.
CuteFTP
If you are using CuteFTP you will be able to access the FTP log if you click at the "Log Window" tab at the bottom of application window. When the log tab opens, you will be able to copy the lines from the log directly from there.
Ipswitch WS-FTP
This happens to be our favourite FTP spftware at Todhost. With Ipswitch, when an error occurs or you encounter unexpected behavior, you can use the log to track down the error and diagnose its cause. For more information, see Viewing the Log below.
WS_FTP Server can send log entries to a Log Server, a syslog server, or both.
If you have multiple file transfer servers, you can configure them all to write to the same log server. For more information, see Logging multiple servers to one log server.
Further reading:
Configuring log settings
You can set WS_FTP Server to write events (such as connections, transfers and errors) to the log server.
To set the logging options:
From the top menu, select Server > Server Settings > Log Settings. The Log Settings page opens.
Specify the level of detail the server provides to the log server in Logging level.
None. No data is captured or supplied to the log server.
Errors Only. Only events that register as errors are logged.
Normal (selected by default). In addition to errors, the following events are logged:
Uploading, downloading, deleting and renaming a file
Removing and creating a folder
User authentications
User issues a SITE command
Verbose. In addition to everything logged in Normal, the following events are logged:
Connections and disconnections
Changing working directory
SSL negotiations, including cipher, type and strength
SSH negotiations, including ciphers and MACs
Any other command sent to the server
Caution: Verbose mode produces a large quantity of log entries and should only be used for short periods for troubleshooting.
Select the types of log servers you want to write log entries to. You can enable the WS_FTP Server log server or a standard syslog server. For each enabled log server, enter the connections information for that server. If you are using the log server that was installed with WS_FTP Server, use the default selections.
Host name. Enter the host name or IP address of the log server.
Port. Enter the port over which the connection to the log server should be made.
Click Save.
Caution: If a user is logged into the WS_FTP Server Manager or the FTP or SSH server when a change to the log settings is made, the change does not affect the user until the user logs out and logs in again.
Further reading:
How to Fix FTP Connectivity Issues
Viewing the log
When you select a date range on the Log Viewer page and click View Logs, the Log Viewer opens.
The Log Viewer color codes log entries based on severity. Transfers are also color coded. By default, the log viewer color codes log entries using the following scheme:
Tip: You can customize the color coding by clicking on the color swatches in the Log Viewer Legend section at the bottom of the Log Viewer Details page.
To view the log:
Select the beginning and end dates and times for the log entries you want to view
Click View Logs. The Log Viewer page opens in a new browser window.
You can customize the log viewer using the Log Viewer Options settings at the bottom of this page.
Records per page. Select the number of log entries you want to see on a single page.
Show Server ID. Select to show the Server ID column, which is hidden by default.
You can also filter the log to show only entries that match certain criteria.
When you use multiple filters, the log viewer shows all entries that match all of the filter criteria (a boolean AND operation). If, however, you apply a filter multiple times (multiple user filters, for example), then the log viewer shows all entries that match all of the other filters (a boolean AND operation) and at least one of the filters that is used more than once (a boolean OR operation for the field for which multiple filters are used).
To filter the log:
Click Add filter. A new filter row is added to the page.
In the option list, select the column that you want to filter by.
In the text field, enter the exact value that you want to match. Partial or inexact search criteria CANNOT be used.
Repeat steps 1-3 to add as many filters as needed.
Click View Logs. The Log Viewer page opens in a new browser window with the logs filtered to match your criteria.
Note: Host administrators are limited to viewing log entries that pertain to their host, while system administrators can view all log entries.
Logging multiple servers to one log server
If you manage more than one WS_FTP Server, you can have all of your servers send log entries to one central log server.
To log multiple servers to a central log server:
Open the WS_FTP Server Manager of one of the servers you want to send log entries to the central log server.
From the top menu, select Server > Server Settings > Log Settings. The Log Settings page opens.
To log to a central Log Server, select Enable WS_FTP Logging and enter the IP address (or host name) and Port on which the log server is listening.
- OR -
To log to a central syslog server, select Enable Syslog and enter IP address (or host name) and Port on which the syslog server is listening.
Click Save.
Repeat these steps for each additional WS_FTP Server that you want to send log entries to the central log server.
Further reading:
How to Change File Permissions
More Information on FTP
What is FTP?
File Transfer Protocol (FTP) is a protocol that enables you to transfer files between your Todhost Hosting account and another computer. FTP establishes a connection between a server (in this case, your account on Todhost Hosting server) and a client (your local computer). To make your website files accessible to the public, you use an FTP client to upload them to your Hosting account on the server. You can also download files from your hosting account to your local computer.
The original FTP protocol does not encrypt data sent between the server and the client. A more secure way to transfer files over the internet is to use SFTP (Secure Shell File Transfer Protocol). When you use SFTP, all the data you send and receive is encrypted. Although you can use a regular unencrypted FTP connection to upload and download files, we strongly recommend you use SFTP whenever possible.
Using an FTP client
There are numerous FTP clients available, and many of them support SFTP as well. Todhost web hosting recommends FileZilla, a free program that you can download here. It supports FTP and SFTP, and runs on Microsoft Windows, Apple Mac OS X, and Linux. In this article, we show how to use FileZilla to connect to your account and transfer files.
If you want to use a different FTP client, you will need the following information to connect to your account:
Your web site's domain name.
The FTP account username:
For non-secure FTP connections, this can be either your cPanel username, or the username for an FTP user you have created in cPanel (for example, ftpuser@example.com).
For secure SFTP connections, you must use your cPanel username.
The password for the account you are using.
For SFTP connections, use port 7822 instead of the default port 22.
Connect to your account with FTP
To connect to your account using FileZilla, follow these steps:
Start FileZilla.
On the File menu, click Site Manager. The Site Manager dialog appears.
Click New Site, type a name for the site, and then press Enter.
In the Host text box, type your site's domain name.
If you want to connect using SFTP, type 7822 in the Port text box. Otherwise, leave the Port text box blank.
In the Protocol list box, select the protocol you want to use:
If you want to use SFTP, select SFTP - SSH File Transfer Protocol.
If you want to use regular FTP, select FTP - File Transfer Protocol, and then in the Encryption list box, select Only use plain FTP (insecure).
In the Logon Type list box, select Normal.
In the User text box, type the account username you want to use:
If you are using SFTP, you must use your cPanel username. Make sure you do not include your domain name. For example, type username, do not type username@example.com.
If you are using a regular FTP connection, you can use either your cPanel username, or the username for an FTP user you have created in cPanel (for example, ftpuser@example.com).
In the Password text box, type the password for the account you specified in step above.
Optionally, you can specify a default directory for FileZilla to open on the remote server after it connects. For example, many people prefer to have an FTP client access the public_html directory by default. To do this, follow these steps:
Click the Advanced tab.
In the Default remote directory text box, type the full path to the directory that you want FileZilla to open. For example, to open the public_html directory, type /home/username/public_html, where username represents your hosting account (cPanel) username.
Click Connect. After a few seconds, the connection is established.
Transfering files
After FileZilla establishes a connection between your local computer and the hosting server, you can transfer files. FileZilla has a Local site pane that displays files on your local computer, and a Remote site pane that displays files in your account on the hosting server.
To transfer files using FileZilla, follow these steps:
You can navigate through folders in the Local site and Remote site panes just as you would in Windows Explorer or the Mac OS X Finder. To open a folder, double-click it.
To upload a file to the server, drag the file from the Local site pane to the Remote site pane. After the file transfer is complete, the file appears in the Remote site pane.
To upload a file, you can also double-click it in the Local site pane.
To download a file to the local computer, drag the file from the Remote site pane to the Local site pane. After the file transfer is complete, the file appears in the Local site panel.
To download a file, you can also double-click it in the Remote site pane.
You can also transfer entire folders at once:
To upload a folder to the server, drag the folder from the Local site pane to the Remote site pane.
To download a folder to the local computer, drag the folder from the Remote site pane to the Local site panel.
