Initial working directory considerations at the z/OS FTP server

When you first log in to a z/OS® FTP server, the initial or default working directory at the server is determined by the following:

The value specified on the STARTDIRECTORY statement in the FTP.DATA file of the server
The user ID you used when you connected to the server
The prefix defined in the profile for the user ID

Note: To use FTP, your user ID must have an OMVS segment defined (or defaulted).

If STARTDIRECTORY HFS is defined at the server, the initial working directory is the home directory for the user ID. An example of an initial working directory for USER1 is the following:

/u/user1

If STARTDIRECTORY MVS™ is defined at the server and no prefix is defined for the user ID, the initial working directory is the user ID followed by a period. An example of an initial working directory for USER1 is the following:

USER1.

If your TSO user ID is defined through Resource Access Control Facility (RACF®) and a PREFIX is defined for the user ID, the PREFIX value is used as the initial working directory.

The PREFIX of a TSO user ID can be set or changed by using the TSO PROFILE command as follows:

Log in to TSO on the MVS system of the FTP server.
Set your new prefix using the TSO PROFILE command:
```
TSO PROFILE Prefix(prefix)
```
where prefix is any TSO prefix that you choose.
Notes:
1. You must enter both the opening and closing parentheses.
2. At this point, the TSO prefix is defined for your current TSO session but is not known to RACF or the FTP server until you log off and log on.
Log off to save the new default working directory name.

The TSO prefix should now be your default working directory whenever you log on to an FTP session on that FTP server. To verify that you set up the default working directory correctly, perform the following steps:

Establish an FTP session to the FTP server.
Issue a PWD command. This should show the TSO prefix as your new default working directory. For information on using the PWD command, see PWd subcommand—Display the current working directory.

Notes:

To use the TSO PREFIX as your default working directory, you must have installed RACF Version 1.9 and you must define your TSO user IDs through RACF.
When you log in to an FTP server from the z/OS UNIX shell, the default local working directory is the directory from which the FTP client was started.