What is anonymous FTP?
Normal FTP involves connecting to a server which you already have an account (username and password) on. For example, if you register on our new general Unix machine GUM you might use FTP to download datafiles created by your use of one of GUM's packages. But FTP is also a simple way of making files available to a wide range of people. For example, the Computing Centre has licensed certain packages for College use: the cheapest and most efficient way of making this available is via our own anonymous FTP server, so we do this whenever license conditions permit. College members can log on to the server and quickly and easily retrieve the package, effectively at no cost. This saves on administration, the cost of copying software to floppy disks and distributing the disks and so on.
Anonymous FTP servers can be accessed without having an account. Instead of a username, you will normally login under the username ftp or anonymous - all anonymous servers will accept one or both of these usernames. And instead of a password you should type your full e-mail address, e.g.
nigel.curson@kcl.ac.uk.
Anonymous login names and passwords can be preset in WS_FTP and Fetch to save you typing them in every time.
Access to our anonymous FTP server is limited to computers directly attached to the King's network (this includes computers which access the network via the Remote Access Modem Service or RAMS).
