FTP

Written by Richard Lowe


Believe it or not, browsingrepparttar web with Internet Explorer or Netscape is relatively new. It wasn't that long ago (ten to fifteen years) whenrepparttar 133595 tools you would use onrepparttar 133596 internet (not repparttar 133597 web) were email, gopher (a menu based browser), archie (a file and directory locator) and FTP.

The letters FTP stand for File Transfer Protocol, and that's exactly what FTP allows you to do - transfer files from place to place. In fact, FTP is by farrepparttar 133598 most efficient (the fastest) way to copy large files acrossrepparttar 133599 internet.

Today many people use a sophisticated FTP client to get files to and from their web sites. This has several advantages overrepparttar 133600 method commonly used by amateurs on free web sites. Many newbies who don't know any better userepparttar 133601 gadgets provided by their free host to edit their sites. The problems with this are many and varied.

First,repparttar 133602 gadgets are not very impressive as editors. Most users who want to create a web site of any size and complexity will find themselves constrained horribly by these tools. Probablyrepparttar 133603 only good thing about these editing tools is they give people a nice, easy way to start creating web sites without a huge learning curve. But take my word for it, you will outgrow them soon enough.

In addition, a major problem isrepparttar 133604 editing is generally done directly onrepparttar 133605 host site. This means you do not have a back up of your site on your own hard drive. If your host decides to close your account, goes bankrupt or just plain is unavailable, you lose your site. If you ever want to have a frustrating experience, just try and call your host and ask them to restore your site from one of their backups!

Other people use products such as Dreamweaver or FrontPage, which include site updating capabilities. These are often very convenient until they don't work or perform unexpected actions. For example, I spent several days trying to figure out why my CGI routines were not working, until I realized that FrontPage was uploadingrepparttar 133606 files incorrectly. From that moment forward, I used an FTP package to upload my files.

Most ofrepparttar 133607 modern FTP clients are very simple to use. You just launchrepparttar 133608 program, enter some basic information (such asrepparttar 133609 site address, account name and password) and connect. Once connected, you can usually just drag and drop files from your own hard drive torepparttar 133610 site.

Precisely why is it a good idea to use an FTP client over, say, FrontPage (or Dreamweaver) or direct editing on a hosts web site?

FTP is fast and efficient - As it turns out, FTP is actually one of repparttar 133611 most efficient ways to transfer large amounts of data onrepparttar 133612 entire internet. Don't believe me? Try transferring a very large file, say a megabyte, using FTP. It really moves, doesn't it?

Turn About On Certification

Written by Richard Lowe


On October 11th I was reading my email as usual when I opened one which stated something so unbelievable that I had to read it three times. I will admitrepparttar news was nothing compared torepparttar 133594 events going on inrepparttar 133595 rest ofrepparttar 133596 world (the September 11th terrorist attack and aftermath). However, it was very welcome nonetheless.

Microsoft has changed their policy on retiring certifications.

If you will remember, over a year ago Microsoft had announced thatrepparttar 133597 Windows NT 4.0 certifications were being retired on December 31st, 2001. This meant that everyone who had slaved for months or even years to pass their exams had to rush to takerepparttar 133598 new exams forrepparttar 133599 newest operating system (Windows 2000).

Needless to say, this announcement caused quite a stir in much ofrepparttar 133600 computer industry. There were hundreds of thousands of MCSE's, and all of them were effected by this decision. What made it even worse wasrepparttar 133601 fact that most of us were not even upgrading to Windows 2000 anytime inrepparttar 133602 near future. Thus, we had to get certified yet we didn't really need to get certified to do our jobs.

There were quite a few annoucements. The two regarding MCSE's state exactly what I had suggested in a previous article "Microsoft's ^@&^#&@ W2K MCSE Policy", so I was very happy indeed.

http://www.internet-tips.net/Microsoft/W2KMCSEcertification.htm

...on Windows NT 4.0, which designatesrepparttar 133603 related certification as based on Windows NT 4.0. This designation applies torepparttar 133604 following certifications: MCP, MCSE, MCSE+I, MCP+I, and MCP+Site Building. Thus, this MCSE would formally be called "MCSE on Windows NT 4.0."

...on Microsoft Windows 2000, which designatesrepparttar 133605 related certification as based on Windows 2000, Windows XP Professional, or Windows Server .NET. This designation applies torepparttar 133606 following certifications: MCP, MCSE, MCSA, and MCDBA (except forrepparttar 133607 latter, it's called "MCDBA on SQL Server 2000" instead). Here, this MCSE would formally be called "MCSE on Microsoft Windows 2000."

The bottom line is simple. Those of us who haverepparttar 133608 MCSE certification do not need to worry about losing it atrepparttar 133609 end ofrepparttar 133610 year. It also makes things much easier for me as an employer - now I will be able to look at a certification and get a little more information. Instead of just finding out someone is an expert on Microsoft operating systems, I will now find out exactly which operating system.

Microsoft also added a new certification, called MCSA, or Microsoft Certified Systems Administrator. This certification is great news, as it provides something between MCP and MCSE. Why is this necessary? The new MCSE for Windows 2000 is a very tough exam and it might take someone (especially those of us who work for a living) quite some time to get it done.

Cont'd on page 2 ==>
 
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