Access File on Server

Hi,
I've been reading some notes that says you must access a file over the
internet using the "file" command, and other books say that you can access a file
using the "http" as well below: I'm totally confused now. I thought you could only
access a file using the "file" format, but other books say different now based on whether you have a file server, or a dns server, or web server. I'm lost, can someone please explain this to me in simple terms, I know this will come up on the exam. When do I pick "file" and when do I choose "http" to access a file. thanks

file://computer1/ research /schedule.xls
http://computer1/research/schedule.xls

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Comments

skrpune

the file: url can only be used on an intranet...are you asking about using both file-vs-http on an intranet rather than over the internet?

RFC 1738 contains some info about how to use the file URL scheme (scroll down to section 3.10) - it's used for files accessible on local hosts, i.e. on your local intranet & files that are not accessible via the internet.

This link from TechNet might help clear things up as well. Here's a snippit from the section called "Identifying Information: URLs" that goes through the different URL schemes & syntax & what they can be used for:
•ftp://server1/share1/dir1/file1.txt
A text file named file2.txt located on an FTP server named server1, in the directory /share1/dir1
•file:\\server2\share2\dir2\file2.txt
A text file named file2.txt located on a server named server2, in the directory /share2/dir2
•http://website1/dir1/page1.htm
An HTML file located on the HTTP (Web) server named website1, in the directory /dir1

susuandme

Thankyou for the articles,

Yes I was asking where can you use the "file" and where can you use the "http"
to ACCESS A File.

I was under the impression that you can use the "file" url to access a file over the internet Also.

Can you explain then, if the rest of the url, has for example, "server1" or "computer1" that means it is an intranet, is this correct. If so, could you then only use the "file" url as you say.

But I read in one of the questions, someone was trying to access a file over the "Internet" by using the "http" url. I assume this is wrong, that you can only access "WEb pages" using the "http" url. Can you clarify this please. thanks.

royal

Works:http://www.shudnow.net/files/YouCanAccessAFileThroughHTTP.txt
Doesn't work: [url]file://www.shudnow.net/files/YouCanAccessAFileThroughHTTP.txt[/url]
See what I did there?

susuandme

I see what you did there,

In other words, the "file" url can only be used with the intranet, as mentioned,

but you can still access a "file" using the "Http" command its just that when
accessing a file on an intranet you must use the "file" url . I hope I have this right,
I tried your links., and was able to connect on one but no success on the other .

Ric

dynamik

The part before the

/ simply specifies the protocol to use. You can use ftp://, mms://, etc. As noted earlier, file is used to simply open a file on your machine or through a network share. Those aren't served up via a web server and HTTP.