Moving to Sonic.net

This document is intended to facilitate the transfer of existing web content from elsewhere to Sonic.net. All section headings are applicable to any webpage transfer situation. The specific instructions are for an example case of transferring from a fictitious ISP to Sonic.net, using WS_FTP on a Windows system.

In order to do this, you will need to do the following:

1. Get an FTP program
2. Get a copy of your files
3. Create your Sonic.net web directory
4. Transfer your files to Sonic.net

1. Get an FTP Program

   • What Is FTP?

     FTP stands for File Transfer Protocol. FTP programs allow you to copy files between your computer and others on the internet. For the purposes of web publishing, this is how you move the files you have created onto a web server. This makes your files available to the world as web pages.

     For more information regarding FTP, please see our FTP FAQ at http://www.sonic.net/faq/advanced/ftpindex.shtml

     There are a variety of FTP programs available for every platform, be it Microsoft Windows, Macintosh, a Unix variant, or otherwise. For the purposes of this tutorial, we will be assuming the use of WS_FTP light for Windows95/98/ME/2000/XP

     Screenshots for WS_FTP can be found at http://www.sonic.net/support/ss/windows/ws_ftp

2. Get a copy of your files

   If you have created your own website, you should have a copy of it on your own computer. Locate the directory in which you keep your website files, and make note of it for later use. For the purpose of this tutorial, we will be assuming that the files are located in the "My Documents" directory on a Windows98 machine, in a subdirectory named "website."

   If you do not have a copy of your website on your computer, but already have your website published in another location, you will need to retrieve your files using your FTP program. For the purpose of this tutorial, we will use the file and server structure of Example.com.

   1. Connect to your prior webserver

      1. Open WS_FTP
      2. enter "ftp.example.com" for the Host Name
      3. enter your example.com user ID and password
      4. click "OK"

      This will establish an FTP connection to example.com

   2. Select a target directory on your computer

      1. Click the up arrow in the left collumn until the "Local System" field (#1 on the WS_FTP screenshots) displays "C:\"
      2. Select "My Documents" from the listing of files and folders in the left column.
      3. Select the subfolder, if any, that you wish to keep your website files in.

   3. Select your web directory

      Use the "change directory" command in your FTP client to open your web directory. This should be the same directory that you originally published to.

   4. Select files to transfer

      Using your mouse, select the first file you wish to copy to your computer. You may select multiple files by holding down the "shift" key on your keyboard, and clicking on more than one file.

   5. Transfer the selected files

      To move the files you have selected to your computer, click the arrow that points left (#5 on the WS_FTP screenshots)

      You will be notified when the transfer is complete.

3. Create your Sonic.net web directory

   Using your web browser, go to https://sonic.sonic.net/cgi-bin/membertools/server_dirs.cgi

   This is where you can create directories on our server for FTP, CGI, Realmedia, and Web. For the purposes of this tutorial, we will only concern ourselves with the Web. Click the button labeled "Create" for the web. This will immediately create your web directory, and the "Create" button will be replaced by one labeled "Remove." There is no need to click "Remove" unless you wish to completely destroy your webpage.

   Note that your web directory is /home/WWW_pages/login (where login is your Sonic.net account name).

4. Transfer your files to Sonic.net

   1. Connect to ftp.sonic.net

      enter "ftp.sonic.net" for the Host Name
      enter your sonic.net.net user ID and password
      click "OK"

      This will establish an FTP connection to sonic.net

   2. Select the source directory on your computer

      1. Click the up arrow in the left column until the "Local System" field (#1 on the WS_FTP screenshots) displays "C:\"
      2. Select "My Documents" from the listing of files and folders in the left column.
      3. Select the subfolder, if any, that you keep your website files in.

   3. Select your web directory

      1. On the right column, select the "ChgDir" button. You will be prompted to enter a directory name. This will be the web directory you noted earlier: "/home/WWW_pages/login"

         Please be sure to put all of the '/' characters in. Without them, you will end up in the wrong directory.

         The contents of this directory constitute your web site, and will be immediately accessible at http://login.users.sonic.net/ on the web.

   4. Select files to transfer

      1. Using your mouse, select the first file you wish to copy to your computer. You may select multiple files by holding down the "shift" key on your keyboard, and clicking on more than one file.
      2. To move the files you have selected to your computer, click the arrow that points right (#6 on the WS_FTP screenshots)
      3. You will be notified when the transfer is complete.
      4. Once your files have been transferred, you can view your website by opening your web browser and going to http://login.users.sonic.net/

If you encounter any difficulty with placing your website onto Sonic.net, please request assistance at news://news.sonic.net/sonic.help.www