Topic: SFTP access to i-bay - Not working....Need Help

[festus]

I have been using sme server, both 7.x as well as 8.x for a few years. But this is the first time, I am trying to configure SFTP access to ibays. I expected it to work without any issues. I seem to have done all the config right. But I am unable to access the server from a SFTP client.

I am using the latest beta version of SME 8 beta 6.

I have not enabled FTP access - I assume this is not necessary if I want a secure SFTP access. I do not want to open up FTP access to the ibays.

From the control panel, I have configured:

Secure shell access    = Allow public access (Entire Internet)
Allow administrative command line access over secure shell    = Yes
Allow secure shell access using standard passwords    = Yes
TCP Port for secure shell access = 22

FTP Access = No Access
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I have configured ibay after creating 'users' & 'groups' and assigned a group to the ibay.

Information bay name    cpv0001
Description    
Group    = cpv0001 group
User access via file sharing or user ftp    > write= Group, Read = Group
Public access via web or anonymous ftp    = No access
Execution of dynamic content (CGI, PHP, SSI) = Disabled.

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What else should I do ???

I have searched the Forums and cannot find any posting on this issue for sme 8.0

Please advise.

Festus

[cactus]

Did you read this? Are you using one off the clients mentioned there? What errors are you receiving. Keep in mind we do not know your situation, so please give us more detail to help you solve your problem.

[festus]

"Did you read this?"
I cannot see any link in your post..

However, I have been using SFTP clients like 'Bitkinex', 'Filezillah' etc for years with SME.
I do not get any error message. It simply does not login...just 'trying to connect' status..

I you are able to afford the time, I can also PM a root access account to login.
Or else, if you want me to run some commands at bash and post the result, I can do that as well
in order for you to have maximum visibility. Please advise.

Appreciate your assistance.

Best Regards,
Festus

[janet]

festus

Please search these forums on sftp and go back a few years, it has been well answered previously.
AFAIR you log in as a valid user and then cd to the ibay folder, using the commandline in the sftp client. You should also install the remoteuseaccess contrib to "jail" the user and limit their access to the ibay only.
 
I think you need to minimally enable FTP access, been a while since I used FTP or sftp.

ssh access settings have nothing to do with FTP or sftp.
    
Also I think you need to enable Public access via web or anonymous ftp

[cactus]

"Did you read this?"
I cannot see any link in your post..

Oops: http://wiki.contribs.org/SFTP

[festus]

Hello Cactus,

Before creating my post, I did look up the url hhtp://wiki.contribs.org/SFTP.
This wiki page only describes configuring the 'SFTP Clients'. I don't think I have any problem in configuring 'Filezillah'. I have been using it for many years to access & manage files in SME 7.x & 8.x in 'root' access. My need right now is to be able to create secure 'SFTP' access to i-bay and restrict a specific user to acces only that i-bay.

Hi Mary,
I would like to provide only SFTP access and not FTP access (not secure). Is this possible ??
The number of posting I came across are for older versions and not for 8.x versions.
I believe some of the contribs like 'remote access' are already integrated into 8.x
Therefore I am hesitant to follow some of the procedures applicable to older versions.
I may end up messing up my 8.x install!!

In any case, I am trying the plain FTP access to i-bay in my 8.x and then try to figure out how
to configure SFTP alone (assuming that would be possible).

I do not want to use contribs like 'webshare' since I need to be able to upload files of size >100mb
and I do not want to be limited by the php upload file size limitations. SFTP is the best option
for my application.

If anyone can provide additional guidance specifically for SFTP access to i-bay without opening
up the non secure FTP access.

Best Regards,
Festus

[janet]

festus

See
http://wiki.contribs.org/SME8.0_Contribs_QA#smeserver-remoteuseraccess

This contrib will control user access and is not part of SME8 by default. I suggest you install it and see. The developers work hard to deliberately exclude contribs to keep their maintenance seperate from the SME base/OS.

SME8 is functionally very similar to SME7 so most earlier advice will still apply (with minor modifications in a few cases).

I use webshare to upload huge files > 100Mb , just change the file size default upload limits (which you could say were arbitrary anyway ie for a common end user scenario)

You are choosing to ignore published information and earlier advice given, so why keep asking for more advice ?

I would personally steer clear of any form of FTP or sftp access.

Use a GUI ssh client and upload files that way if you are really concerned about security.

If you want ease of use and sharing, go with webshare and just tweak the default upload file size limits. Even email & webmail have preimposed default limits, which need to be tweaked to suit the end users needs.

[festus]

Mary,

Thanks for your kind advise from your experience. Appreciate that.
I will certainly go ahead to install the 'remote access contrib' as per your advise. Thanks

I have a need to run a client app that will access SME i-bay to download files and
i need to automate this so that the client app can login using a client as a php script
or C++ code and download the file. I am not sure if I can use 'webshare' with such
automated script.

in any case, I would like to successfully access using ftp & sftp as access options
and get these two options working, before I go on to configure 'webshare'

I have successfully configured the account to access i-bay using FTP, but experiencing
the following error:

"421 per host concurrency limit reached." and the transfer fails.

Is there a configure I need to set in the SME to address this problem ?
Hopefully my updates on the problem I have encountered and the steps I have taken
to resolve will be helpful to someone else who may have similar needs with SME 8.x

Thanks for taking time to advise.

Best Regards,
Festus
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Since posting this I managed to do further search and found the following related postings.

http://forums.contribs.org/index.php?topic=45855.0
http://forums.contribs.org/index.php?topic=31792.0

After some research and trial and error, managed to take the following steps to resolve the
FTP connection problem.

mkdir -p /etc/e-smith/templates-custom/var/service/ftp/peers/local
echo "C8" > /etc/e-smith/templates-custom/var/service/ftp/peers/local/ConcurrencyPerIP
nano /etc/e-smith/templates-custom/var/service/ftp/peers/local/ConcurrencyPerIP

expand-template /var/service/ftp/peers/local

sv t /service/ftp
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Hope others will find this useful