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This is the second part of a series of articles about easy-to-use and secure alternatives to FTP for uploading files to webservers. Previously, I reviewed Secure iXplorer 0.8 for Windows. This article reviews a full-featured and great replacement for FTP. It is also for Windows platforms, so it it may be good choice for some of your web hosting customers. WinSCP 1.0WinSCP is graphical interface for scp and it is useful for securely transferring files to remote servers running SSH. It is also usable for basic file maintenance tasks. WinSCP runs under Windows 95, 98, 2000 and NT. It is freely available via http://winscp.vse.cz/eng/. WinSCP is also available for Czech users. The source is available.InstallationA version of WinSCP is available with an installer. The setup utility, by default, installs WinSCP to "C:\Program Files\WinSCP\" and adds a menu entry to the Start menu. Because it takes at least ten steps just to use the installer, I believe it is just easier to download and simply run the stand-alone version.I first used WinSCP by downloading the ready-to-use, 384 KB executable. I simply double-clicked it and it ran -- no installation required. Using WinSCPFirst it opened a "Login Dialog" window. So I entered my remote host name, username and password to connect. I received a "Confirm" window asking if I wanted to add the host key to a cache in the registry and I chose OK.The main window shows two panes: one on the left showing the local files and the other showing the currently-logged-on remote host. The left (the Windows) side shows the type of file (or folder); the right side shows Unix rights (permissions or modes) and owner and group. You can switch back-and-forth between these panels with the Tab key. The file lists look like Windows' Explorer's detailed view. (The WinSCP webpage says the interface is based on Norton Commander.) Hidden files are displayed in gray color.
The menu options are Left, Files, Command, Right and Help. Left's choices are for changing the drive, going to the parent directory (or up a directory) or root directory, or to refresh. The Right's choices are basically the same, but it lets you change the folder instead of the drive and adds an option to jump to the home directory. The Files menu has options to rename, copy, move and delete. If a file (or directory) is highlighted on the right (remote) side, then two more capabilities are available for changing permissions and changing group ownership. (Plus, these two features include an option to recurse directories.) The Command menu can be used to exit WinSCP. And it has a "Create Directory" function which creates a directory on the currently selected host (local or remote). Some of the commonly-used options are also available at the bottom of the window: Rename, Copy, Move, Create Directory, Delete, Permissions, and Exit. Plus most tasks can be done by pressing the corresponding function keys. You can select a file or directory by clicking on it, and select multiple files by holding down the Control key. The WinSCP window shares some useful information below the file listings; for example: "1587 of 5500 KB in 2 of 11 files selected." When you choose "Copy" to transfer a file, a confirmation window pops up; then you can click "Copy". Or you can choose "Move" for further functionality, such as changing the case of the filename and setting permissions. I was not able to drag a file to transfer it.
If you simply click on a file, it isn't highlighted and the status will say "0 files selected". But when you press Copy (or another task), it will still use that file. If you select some files by pressing Shift or Control and clicking with the left mouse button, then the files are highlighted in blue. But when you click another file (without pressing Shift or Control), that file is not selected. Also, a cancel button is available -- but it doesn't work to stop the current transfer in progress. For setting the permissions, you can enter the octal mode or you can use checkboxes for read, write and execute for the user, group and other. You can also choose to keep these configured settings for future tasks. (This is useful, for example, if you want to have all your transfers done so that the world or group can't read the files.) There is no option to logout and to connect to a new host. So to exit, simply close the application. Also, if you have a problem (like a wrong password) and receive a "Access Denied" message, WinSCP will quit and you'll need to start it again. When you start WinSCP again, it will have a drop-down list of previous remote hosts. (It doesn't save your username or password.) ConclusionWinSCP is a very useful tool. It has a variety of features that make it a drop-in -- and secure -- replacement for FTP. It is easy-to-use and, even with its few quirks, WinSCP appears usable for Windows-based webmasters for uploading and doing basic file maintenance for their websites.(If you know of any good scp clients for Macintosh OS, please . Soon, I'll be able to turn FTP off on all of my webservers.) |
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