upload problem ...

hi, i have a site and need to write a script to upload / download files so the database can be updated / backed up. i've tried setting up an <input type=file ... and this works fine on my machine but php gives an eror onthe server saying that the /php/tmp dir cannot be written to by, i assume, the nobody account within whihc the web server runs. i need to be bale to write to the httpd dir using php and then i can get the db to import the files. i have an ftp username and password but don't know how to get php to pass the authorisation the server. the site is already password protected just using a table of username / passowrds. many thanks in advance Steve