I setup an ftp server on my fedora 8 linux box. I'm using the proftpd daemon. Is there a way I can access this ftp server via windows xp? I tried using AceBit Wise-FTP to access my server but it wouldn't connect. It works if I tried lftp from another linux box so I know the server is up. Is it because windows uses ntfs file system? What does passive mode do? What are my options?

Also, is it possible to install an Operating System on a hard disk other than C:? Or does the operating system have to be on the same hard disk as the mbr?

FTP is a network protocol, the file systems used on the server and client are completely irrelevant. If you can't access your server from a Windows machine, check that there isn't a firewall blocking the connection somewhere.

I explain passive vs. active FTP in this thread (second post).

As for your second question, C: is a DOS/Windows-ism that means nothing in the Unix world. C: is just what Windows calls the first hard drive in the system (the primary master on IDE systems or the first SATA drive). It's certainly possible to install an OS on a hard drive other than the primary master ... you just have to tell GRUB/NTLDR or whatever you're using as your bootloader where it is.

You can connect to the FTP server from any operating system. Perhaps there is just an issue with that FTP client in particular. You can try connecting through just Internet Explorer.

As for the second question, I guess you are asking if you can have an OS installed on a secondary drive. In which case, yes, assuming the bootloader is smart enough to handle that.

Q1 No
Q3.-Firewall configuration?

Q4. You can install anywhere
Q5 No. For e.g you can install Fedora in /dev/sda6 and it's grub in /dev/sda6 and install Ubuntu in /dev/sda2 and its grub in /dev/sda (C: drive) and boot everything from grub in /dev/sda. For this you just need to follow the GUI install processes of the respective distros


Best

A. Mani

Linux can be on any partition on any hard drive. Unless it has been changed recently, BSD has to be on a primary partition on any hard drive. DOS has to be on the first primary partition on the boot hard drive. Windows has some restrictions on where it can be located but I don't know what they are.


Your options are passive or active mode:

In passive mode the client asks the server for a server IP and port address. The client then connects to the server IP and port.

In active mode the client sends the server a client IP and port address. The server then connects to the client.

--------------------
Steve Stites

Nice, yeah I got it to work. Now, another question.

Since I log into a user account, I'm limited to what's in the /home/user/ directory. Is there anyway I can access the /var/www/html/ directory from the /home/user/ directory?

Maybe I could mkdir html in the /home/user/ and then link /home/user/html/ to /var/www/html

would that work? How would I link them? What should the permissions be?

I would mainly log in via ftp as the user, never root?

Just curious but, when I use lftp from another linux box into this proftp server, I can just type su, and I become super user and have access to all the folders. In AceBit Wise FTP, you can inject custom commands. I tried logging in as user, then injected su as a custom command, but that didn't work. What kind of custom command would I have to type in to get super user privileges. I know it would be bad practice but I was just curious how.

Also, since the ftp server is on my linux box that has an ext3 file system. What happens when a winxp box using ntfs downloads files from that server. Do those files automatically become ntfs formatted when they get download onto the winxp box? Will this conversion change any of the files in any peculiar ways or have any side effects? Maybe, I should create a fat partition and make the ftp user log into there? What do you guys think?

You might want to look into how FTP actually works, since it seems you have the wrong idea here.

The files won't be "converted", the filesystem used on the two computers has nothing at all to do with the files they are transmitting between each other; it is a completely separate issue.

Any ideas on my link issue?

The configuration of your ftp-server determines, what directories you can or cannot access - and what rights you are given inside them (just read - or read-write...) when you log into that server.
If you are the admin of the ftp-server, you can give access to the filesystem there to anyone as you please.
You can (re)-configure it over the net too - if you have access via ssh for instance.
You cannot do this while beeing logged on via ftp.
(at least...the config should not allow any ftp-user to break out and manipulate the server...)
ftp is for file transfer - not for config-changes of the server.

Hope I did not get wrong what you wanted...

I solved the problem with accessing /var/www/html by creating a ln -s

However, when I log onto the proftp server via wise ftp in winxp the folders within top level folders can't be opened. Usually, you highlight a top level folder and then a + sign pops out to the left, that when clicked, drops down the folders within that top folder. That doesn't occur. The permissions on the folders within the top level folders are 777.

I just want a user to be able to access the folders within the top level folders. What needs to be changed? Is it because links only include files and not folders?

As I tried to say - this is most probably caused by the configuration of your ftp-server.
There you say what directories are accessible with what rights and to whom.
Just linking in another directory could work or result in permission problems - which seems to be the case.
The key will likely be the config-file of your ftp-server (not containing the directories you want to access ?).

Here is my proftpd.conf

Where can I edit which folders users can access?

I want them to access the /home/user/ folder and the /var/www/html/ folder

# This is the ProFTPD configuration file

ServerName "ProFTPD server"
ServerIdent on "FTP Server ready."
ServerAdmin root@localhost
ServerType standalone
#ServerType inetd
DefaultServer on
AccessGrantMsg "User %u logged in."
#DisplayConnect /etc/ftpissue
#DisplayLogin /etc/ftpmotd
#DisplayGoAway /etc/ftpgoaway
DeferWelcome off

# Use this to excude users from the chroot
DefaultRoot ~ !adm

# Use pam to authenticate (default) and be authoritative
AuthPAMConfig proftpd
AuthOrder mod_auth_pam.c* mod_auth_unix.c

# Do not perform ident nor DNS lookups (hangs when the port is filtered)
IdentLookups off
UseReverseDNS off

# Port 21 is the standard FTP port.
Port 21

# Umask 022 is a good standard umask to prevent new dirs and files
# from being group and world writable.
Umask 022

# Default to show dot files in directory listings
#ListOptions "-a"

# See Configuration.html for these (here are the default values)
#MultilineRFC2228 off
#RootLogin off
#LoginPasswordPrompt on
#MaxLoginAttempts 3
#MaxClientsPerHost none
AllowForeignAddress on # For FXP

# Allow to resume not only the downloads but the uploads too
AllowRetrieveRestart on
AllowStoreRestart on

# To prevent DoS attacks, set the maximum number of child processes
# to 30. If you need to allow more than 30 concurrent connections
# at once, simply increase this value. Note that this ONLY works
# in standalone mode, in inetd mode you should use an inetd server
# that allows you to limit maximum number of processes per service
# (such as xinetd)
MaxInstances 20

# Set the user and group that the server normally runs at.
User nobody
Group nobody

# Disable sendfile by default since it breaks displaying the download speeds in
# ftptop and ftpwho
UseSendfile no

# This is where we want to put the pid file
ScoreboardFile /var/run/proftpd.score

# Normally, we want users to do a few things.
<Global>
AllowOverwrite yes
<Limit ALL SITE_CHMOD>
AllowAll
</Limit>
</Global>

# Define the log formats
LogFormat default "%h %l %u %t \"%r\" %s %b"
LogFormat auth "%v [%P] %h %t \"%r\" %s"

# TLS
# Explained at http://www.castaglia.org/proftpd/modules/mod_tls.html
#TLSEngine on
#TLSRequired on
#TLSRSACertificateFile /etc/pki/tls/certs/proftpd.pem
#TLSRSACertificateKeyFile /etc/pki/tls/certs/proftpd.pem
#TLSCipherSuite ALL:!ADH:!DES
#TLSOptions NoCertRequest
#TLSVerifyClient off
##TLSRenegotiate ctrl 3600 data 512000 required off timeout 300
#TLSLog /var/log/proftpd/tls.log

# SQL authentication Dynamic Shared Object (DSO) loading
# See README.DSO and howto/DSO.html for more details.
#<IfModule mod_dso.c>
# LoadModule mod_sql.c
# LoadModule mod_sql_mysql.c
# LoadModule mod_sql_postgres.c
#</IfModule>

# A basic anonymous configuration, with an upload directory.
#<Anonymous ~ftp>
# User ftp
# Group ftp
# AccessGrantMsg "Anonymous login ok, restrictions apply."
#
# # We want clients to be able to login with "anonymous" as well as"ftp"
# UserAlias anonymous ftp
#
# # Limit the maximum number of anonymous logins
# MaxClients 10 "Sorry, max %m users -- try again later"
#
# # Put the user into /pub right after login
# #DefaultChdir /pub
#
# # We want 'welcome.msg' displayed at login, '.message' displayed in
# # each newly chdired directory and tell users to read README* files.
# DisplayLogin /welcome.msg
# DisplayFirstChdir .message
# DisplayReadme README*
#
# # Some more cosmetic and not vital stuff
# DirFakeUser on ftp
# DirFakeGroup on ftp
#
# # Limit WRITE everywhere in the anonymous chroot
# <Limit WRITE SITE_CHMOD>
# DenyAll
# </Limit>
#
# # An upload directory that allows storing files but not retrieving
# # or creating directories.
# <Directory uploads/*>
# AllowOverwrite no
# <Limit READ>
# DenyAll
# </Limit>
#
# <Limit STOR>
# AllowAll
# </Limit>
# </Directory>
#
# # Don't write anonymous accesses to the system wtmp file (good idea!)
# WtmpLog off
#
# # Logging for the anonymous transfers
# ExtendedLog /var/log/proftpd/access.log WRITE,READ default
# ExtendedLog /var/log/proftpd/auth.log AUTH auth
#
#</Anonymous>

What I found out but did not test - I have only once set up ftp and this was years ago...
It worked then - and now I checked this and you might want to read as well:

http://gentoo-wiki.com/HOWTO_ProFTPD...ies_with_mount
and this
http://www.gentoo.org/doc/en/securit...p=10#doc_chap6

-the umask setting should probably be better 077

-to include a directory it is suggested to bind-mount it to the ftp-users home directory instead of symlinking
for that: create a directory inside /home/ftp (I'll call it "stuff") - and mount your /var/www/html to it

mkdir /home/ftp/var
mount -o bind /var/www/html /home/ftp/stuff

after testing write that to /etc/fstab:

/var/www/html /home/ftp/stuff none bind 0 0

probably can't help further - good luck

Wow, yeah that's a great idea. Gonna try it out later today, I'll let you know if it works. Thanks alot man.