Command Line (Linux, Mac OS)

  1. Bring up a command prompt
    1. On MacOS - use the Terminal application in Applications - Utilities
    2. On CNF Thin - use XTerm in Applications - CNF Applications

  2. Type in:

    sftp remote_username@remote_host

    substituting in your username on the remote computer and the hostname of the remote computer in the above command, as appropriate.

    For connecting to the CNF AWS cloud, use a slightly modified version of the above sftp command:

    sftp -o "IdentityFile=/path/to/keyfile.pem" username@ip_address
  3. You will get an sftp> prompt on the remote computer.
  4. Use standard UNIX file and directory commands to change directories, create directories, and create folders.
    1. Precede the command with an exclamation mark and a space to execute the command on the local computer filesystem instead of the remote computer filesystem.
CommandDescription
pwdShow current directory on the remote computer
! pwdShow current directory on the local computer
cd dirname

Change directory to a subfolder named dirname on the remote computer

! cd dirnameChange directory to a subfolder name dirname on the local computer
cd ..Go up a directory on the remote computer
! cd ..Go up a directory on the local computer
mkdir dirnameMake a new subfolder named dirname on the remote computer
! mkdir dirnameMake a new subfolder name dirname on the local computer
get filenameCopy filename from the remote computer to the local computer
put filenameCopy filename from the local computer to the remote computer
rm filenameDelete filename from the remote computer


Fetch (Mac OS X)

Fetch is an excellent paid GUI file transfer program for Macintosh. Cornell no longer maintains a site license for Fetch.

And Fetch licenses are free for the following:

  • students and employees of a public or accredited private school, college, university, or academy
  • students and parents engaged in home schooling
  • volunteers and employees of tax exempty charities, whereas the use of Fetch is to further the work of that charity

FileZilla (Windows, Mac, Linux)

FileZilla is a GUI file transfer client supporting FTP, FTPS, and SFTP and can be downloaded from the FileZilla Project website.

Please see the IT@Cornell "Transfer Files Using FileZilla" webpage for instructions on using FileZilla.

Note: The default connection timeout of 20 seconds may not be long enough. You can change this timeout to something longer (recommended at least several minutes) in the Settings - Connection dialogue window.

WinSCP (CNF Windows)

WinSCP is a gui SFTP client installed on the CNF CAD and Cleanroom general use Windows computers. For your own system, For your own Windows system, WinSCP can be downloaded from the WinSCP web site.

Please see the WinSCP website documentation pages for instructions on using WinSCP.

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