Web Hosting - How to use FileZilla

• The top connection bar allows you to log in to your hosting plan quickly, by entering its host name, user name, associated password and port number.
• Section 1: Displays details on the operation history, connection to the FTP space, file transfers, errors, etc. For more information, please refer to the official FileZilla documentation.
• Section 2: The directory tree of local files on your computer.
• Section 3: The directory tree of remote files when you are connected to your hosting.
• Section 4: The list of directories/files in the directory selected locally on your computer.
• Section 5: The list of remote directories/files in the selected directory on your hosting.
• Section 6: The list of pending transfer operations or transfers in error status between your computer and your hosting.

The SFTP uses, like SSH, port 22 by default instead of port 21. If you are using a Cloud Web hosting plan, you will need to use the port that appears in your OVHcloud Control Panel. Port 22 is disabled in SSH and SFTP for Cloud Web hosting.

Check SFTP protocol activation

To do this, go back to the FTP - SSH tab in your OVHcloud Control Panel, as detailed in the first part of this guide.

In the table at the bottom of the page, locate the SFTP column to check that the user (in the Login column of the table) concerned has active SFTP access. If this is not the case, Disabled will appear.

If the SFTP access of the user concerned is Disabled in the table, perform the following steps:

• For Personal offers, tick the box to the left of Disabled in the table.

• For Professional and Performance plans:

  • 1: Click the ... button to the right of the line corresponding to the user, then Edit.
  • 2: In the window that pops up, in the Connection protocols section, select the FTP and SFTP choice, then click Next.
  • 3: Check the summary of the requested modification, then click Confirm.

Log in via SFTP with FileZilla

Using the quick connection bar, enter the information using the table below:

Once you have entered everything correctly in the 1 box in the image below, click Quick Connect.

A dialog box will then open (see the image below) to certify the connection to the host you are about to connect to. By being logged in to an OVHcloud host, you can tick the Always trust this host, add this key to the cache box so that the software won't ask you again in the future.

Using the quick connection bar, enter the information using the table below:

Once you have entered everything correctly in the 1 box in the image below, click Quick Connect.

If the connection is successful, you will be informed via the status in the 2 box in the image above. You can then see your folders and files already on your hosting (box 3).

The message displayed below indicates an identification error when connecting to the shared hosting plan using FTP or SFTP:

This type of message is generated by an error in the Login/Password pair.

Check your login details to ensure that no errors are entered. If applicable, you can change the FTP access password of your web hosting plan directly in the OVHcloud Control Panel.

In the following case, the error is generated by an incorrect host name:

Check that it is linked to the host name declared in your OVHcloud Control Panel.

A view of the queue is available (section 6 described in this tutorial under Interface overview).

In this zone, you will find:

• Files that are waiting to be transferred to the remote server that are still in the queue.
• Files for which the transfer failed.
• Files that are successfully transferred to the remote hosting.

You can right-click on one of the files in section 5 (described in this tutorial under Interface overview).

A popup menu will appear, and you can choose from:

• Download: Downloads the file to the local open folder.
• Add files to queue: Adds the file to the queue, to delay the data upload for example.
• View/Edit: Allows you to view or edit directly a file on your hosting. However, you must have a software program installed on your device that can read the file.
• Create directory: Allows you to create a new folder directly on the remote hosting.
• Refresh: Refreshes the data display to provide an up-to-date view of the files.
• Delete: Allows you to delete the selected file.
• Rename: Allows you to rename the selected file.
• Copy URL(s) to clipboard: Allows you to automatically copy the direct link to the selected file. Example of a URL that can be generated: ftp://loginftp@ftp.clusterXXX.hosting.ovh.net/www/MY_FOLDER/my_file.jpg.
• File permissions...: Allows you to modify access permissions (chmod).

Right-click on one of the files on the server, then select File permissions....

You can modify the access rights (chmod) of your files and folders present on the hosting.

Generally, it is easier to manage chmod rights with the three-digit number format (composed of 3 digits from 0 to 7). The permissions can range from 000 (no rights) to 777 (all rights).

The first of the three chmod digits corresponds to the owner/administrator rights, the second to group rights (rarely used and generally set to 0) and the third to visitors to your website on your hosting.

By default, we recommend that you do not exceed "chmod 705" for folders and "chmod 604" for files.

The higher the number is, the more elevated are the permissions.

Enter the permissions you want to assign. The chmod value will be automatically updated.

You can select the “Recurse into subdirectories” option to not only change the rights of the folder in question but those of the folders and files located inside this folder as well.

Then click Server and select Enter custom command. (This option may also be called Enter FTP command).

Enter the following command:

SITE CHMOD 705 /

If you get the error 550 would not change perms on /. no such file or directory, use the following command:

SITE CHMOD 705 .

For binary type files, such as CGI files, it may be of interest to choose how the transfer will be done.

To change the transfer type, select Transfer from the main menu, then Transfer type.

The file comparison option displays colours in zones 4 and 5 (shown in this tutorial under Interface overview). Use this option to highlight the differences between local files and folders and those on the server.

By right-clicking on the icon, you can change the comparison mode. You have the choice to enable or disable the option, as well as:

• Compare the file size.
• Compare timestamps.
• Hide identical files.

Meaning of the colour coding:

• Yellow: The file exists only on one side.
• Green: The file is newer than the uncoloured file on the other side.
• Red: The file sizes are different.