Topic: Ftp clarification

[Mike Coan]

I would like to allow someone I know to upload some files to our Mitel server (5.6 in server mode).  The language on the remote access screen of the SME server manager screen says

You can also control FTP write access for the admin and user accounts on this server. (Write access is never permitted via anonymous FTP or via the information bay accounts.) We strongly recommend leaving this parameter set to private unless you have a specific reason to do otherwise.

Does this mean that if I create an i-bay called "uploads" and give it a password, my friend will not be able to upload files because there is no write access to an information bay account.

If so, how can he upload files.  they are too large as an email attachment due ti ISP limits.  We do not host our own email

thanks

[Ray Mitchell]

Mike
You can create a user account for your friend and then get him/her to VPN into your server and upload the files that way, setup appropriate access rights to the ibay for the user account and it will work OK. Nice and secure too.

Alternatively the user can ftp to a user home folder and upload files, it could be the user account mentioned above or a user account called uploads, for which both you and your friend share the password. Not so secure.

You could also instal the webshare rpm and this will create a folder (or folders) that can be securely accessed from the web, and users who have the password for the webshare folder can upload and download files, it's useful for a number of users collaborating on a project. It worls quite nicely except the webshare folders are in /opt not in an ibay. Uses htaccess so its nice and secure also.

You could also use scp to securely connect to the server and copy files, (use a program called winscp2.exe or similar). Secure also.

A year or so ago, there were quite a few posts on enabling ftp uploads to ibays, do a search and a lot of reading and you'll find something. It did require some command line work to do, and keep in mind that ftp is inherently not secure.

Hope this helps and one of the methods suits your needs
Regards
Ray Mitchell

[Mike Coan]

Ray,

Thanks very much for your informative post.  This is a one time deal as far as letting my friend upload some files.  It would be open briefly and then shut down.  He probably can't handle a vpn connection at his end, so I will use one of the other methods you suggested.

Thanks so much

Mike

[Ray Mitchell]

> This is a one time deal as far as letting my friend upload some files.
>  It would be open briefly and then shut down.  

Just add a user account for your friend and then they can ftp to ftp://username@ftp.yourdomain.com
go to the home folder
upload files

when done, you can transfer the files from the user home folder to the ibay and then delete the account or even lock the account if it would possibly be used again

Ray