Troubleshooting the remote folder setup

A web server can be configured in a wide variety of ways. The following list provides information on some common issues you may encounter in setting up a remote folder (see Setting up a remote folder), and how to resolve them:

• The Dreamweaver FTP implementation may not work properly with certain proxy servers, multilevel firewalls, and other forms of indirect server access.

  If you encounter problems with FTP access, ask your local system administrator for help.

• For the Dreamweaver FTP implementation, you must connect to the remote system’s root folder. (In many applications, you can connect to any remote directory, then navigate through the remote file system to find the directory you want.)

  Be sure that you indicate the remote system’s root folder as the host directory.

  If you have problems connecting, and you’ve specified the host directory using a single slash (/), you might need to specify a relative path from the directory you are connecting to and the remote root folder.

  For example, if the remote root folder is a higher level directory, you may need to specify a ../../ for the host directory.

• File and folder names that contain spaces and special characters often cause problems when transferred to a remote site.

  Use underscores in place of spaces, and avoid special characters in file and folder names wherever possible. In particular, colons, slashes, periods, and apostrophes in file or folder names can cause problems. Special characters in file or folder names may also sometimes prevent Dreamweaver from creating a site map.

• If you encounter problems with long filenames, rename them with shorter names. On Macintosh, filenames cannot be more than 31 characters long.
• Note that many servers use symbolic links (UNIX), shortcuts (Windows), or aliases (Macintosh) to connect a folder on one part of the server’s disk with another folder elsewhere.

  For example, the public_html subdirectory of your home directory on the server may really be a link to another part of the server entirely. In most cases, such aliases have no effect on your ability to connect to the appropriate folder or directory; however, if you can connect to one part of the server but not another, there may be an alias discrepancy.

• If you encounter an error message such as "cannot put file," your remote folder may be out of space. For more detailed information, look at the FTP log.

  NOTE

  In general, when you encounter a problem with an FTP transfer, examine the FTP log by selecting Window > Results (Windows) or Site > FTP Log (Macintosh), then clicking the FTP Log tag.