If you are familiar with working with computers, then you should know about folders and the "cd" command and you can skip this section.
But nobody is born knowing about computers, so if you aren't familiar with using folders, here's a bit of an explanation.
A folder is the same thing as a directory. We use folders to organize the files on our hard drive. It's the same on your home computer or on a server. If we didn't have folders then all the files would be in the same area and it would be confusing. So, everything is divided into folders and subfolders and subsubfolders and every file must be in one or another of these folders.
If you are in Windows or Mac then you can click on a folder to see what is in it.
In Unix or in DOS we have to use text commands to navigate around the hard drive.
It's important to know where your files are. Uploading and downloading won't work if you don't know where the files are that you want to move or copy. It's really important.
After you have used Putty to connect to the server, or when you have connected via FTP, you can use the following commands to navigate the hard drive. These are Unix commands. The commands in Windows are almost the same.
pwd = show me where I am in the hard drive. Folders and subfolders are divided by the slash ("/"). For example, if you do this command after logging in as the user "lacc-student" then you will see /var/www/html/brandx.mnet/lacc/caot97/students because this is the home directory for the user lacc-student.
cd = change directory. The change is usually relative to where I currently am. For example "cd images" would put me in the subfolder "images" relative to the folder whwere I currently am.
cd ~ = Change directory to the directory that is my home directory. Every user on a Unix computer has a defined home directory. For the user "lacc-student" the home directory is /var/www/html/brandx.net/lacc/caot97/students.
cd .. = Navigate up on level in the folder heirarchy. For example, if you are in /var/www/html and you do "cd .." then you will be in /var/www.
cd desktop = If you are in Windows, and you are in the user home directory, this will take you to the desktop. This does not work on Unix.
mkdir = Create a folder.
rmdir = Remove a folder. This doesn't work unless the folder is empty.
ls = List the files in the current folder. In Windows this command is "dir". "Dir" does not work in Unix.
There are lots of other commands we can use, but this should be enough to get started.
On the Windows computer it's probably easiest to keep your files in a folder with your name, on the desktop. That way you won't have to look far to find your files. To get to the desktop from a DOS window do "cd desktop".
On the server you are probably using the user "lacc-student" which has home directory /var/www/html/brandx.net/lacc/caot97/students. So any navigation you do on the hard drive, will start at that point.
One last thing: If you are in FTP you also use "cd" and most of these other commands.
You should get into the right folder before you start FTP.
Then, after you are connected and logged in, use "cd" within the ftp program to switch to the right folder on the server. The other commands here also work.
The most confusing thing about using Unix commands in FTP is the nagging question:
"If I do cd in FTP does it change my location here on my computer, or on the server?"
The answer is, it changes your location on the server.
If you want to change your directory on your local computer, there is another command, "lcd", to do this, but it's kind of confusing and usually easier to just get in the right folder before you start ftp.