Reference sheet prepared by Jolene M. Morris, District Technology Director, Grand Co. School District
Archie is client/server software which allows you to find a file on the Internet if you know its name or a portion of its name. Those hosts which act as archie servers daily poll all ftp sites in their domain and compile lists of the files available for download. Archie servers in the world share lists with each other so users only need to call one archie server to locate a file.
If you find a file in the master list, you will be told its size and where it's located. You must then use ftp or ncftp to obtain that file.
Archie Servers
Since all archie servers have the same information, it doesn't matter which one you use to locate a file. However, to reduce traffic on the Internet, it is common courtesy to use the archie server nearest you -or- use one on the exact opposite side of the globe (where people in that country are sleeping when you're using the Internet). Here is a list of some of the archie servers:
Address Location
archie.ans.net New York
archie.internic.net New York
archie.rutgers.edu New Jersey
archie.sura.net Maryland
archie.unl.edu Nebraska
archie.au Austrailia
archie.univie.ac.at Austria
archie.uqam.ca Canada
archie.funet.fi Finland
archie.th-darmstadt.de Germany
archie.ac.il Israel
archie.unipi.it Italy
archie.wide.ad.jp Japan
archie.kr Korea
archie.sogang.ac.kr Korea
archie.nz New Zealand
archie.rediris.es Spain
archie.luth.se Sweden
archie.switch.ch Switzerland
archie.ncu.edu.tw Taiwan
archie.doc.ic.ac.uk United Kingdom
Locating a File
You can locate a file in one of three ways:
1. allow the archie software to search
2. send an e-mail message
3. telnet to the archie host
To allow the archie client to perform the search, you must have the archie software available on your network.
Let's assume you want to find a file called harvard.zip. From your UNIX prompt, you would type:
This would search the closest archie server for that file. It will locate only files which have the exact filename of harvard.zip. If you know the filename is harv-something but you aren't sure about the rest of the filename, type:
This would search for any filename
containing harv. Instead of using the -s, you
can use a -c. The -c searches for any filename
containing harv, while the -s searches for any
filename containing harv but disregards capital
letters.
If your resulting list is long, it will rapidly scroll off your screen. Use Ctrl + S to pause the scrolling, limit your search (be more specific), or use e-mail to search this particular item.
Specify the Archie Host
If your closest archie server is busy, you can specify the archie host you want to call by adding an -h switch. You would type:
Obtain Results by Mail
Instead of doing the search with an archie client, you can have the archie server send you the results in a mail message. Unless you are in a hurry, this is usually the best way to use archie, expecially if your resulting list is going to be long. E-mail is the only way to use archie if you do not have archie software on your network.
The archie server can automatically read a mail message, do a search, and generate a return mail message. No human intervention is needed. You will often receive a response to your search request within minutes of sending your initial mail message.
To send a request, send a mail message addressed to archie at the archie host of your choice (from the list above). Leave the subject of the mail message blank. In the body of the mail message, you can type several commands. The most common command is prog. Prog means to search for a filename. You should end your mail message with the word quit on a line by itself (although the quit command is technically optional if you don't use an e-mail signature).
Here is a sample of a mail message to search the archie for five separate files. The names of the first two files are known: harvard and colorm3. File number three we know it has the characters wordp someplace in the filename. For files four and five, we are just fishing for any files about music and guitars.
Use Telnet to Search Online
Most archie servers also allow you to connect to them using telnet. This is the slowest way to obtain your information and it makes the archie server busy to other users. It is best not to use telnet to search an archie database.
If you decide to telnet to an archie server regardless of its inadvisability, use the login name of archie. Use your Internet address if you are prompted for a password. Then use the command prog as you did in a mail message. You can also type about to read about more archie commands available. To disconnect from an archie server, type quit or exit or bye.
