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I'm a newbie to Linux and looking for some friendly advice.
I would like to setup FTP on Linux. (FEDORA)

My question is how can i set up FTP with just virtual users instead of
creating system users for everybody that I want to have FTP in?

Also is there any recommended software that can do what I describe and
is very easy to use for a newbie?

Does it have a GUI?

I would also like the virtual users that log in via FTP to only have
access to 1 directory that I specify. Nothing else. They should not
be able to browse outside their directory, but can have read + write
to their own.

Help!

clark <clark@ynot.net> wrote:
> I would like to setup FTP on Linux. (FEDORA)

Well, install an ftpd (ftp server) and read its instructions.

> My question is how can i set up FTP with just virtual users instead of
> creating system users for everybody that I want to have FTP in?

Depends on your ftp server. Install one that does that. I must say that
I don't know taht wu-ftpd does that!

But why would you care, anyway? What's wrng with creating users only
for ftp? They don't need to have a working shell (but it must be
listed) so they won't be able tolg in therwise.


> Also is there any recommended software that can do what I describe and
> is very easy to use for a newbie?

How would I know?

> Does it have a GUI?

What would one want one for?

> I would also like the virtual users that log in via FTP to only have
> access to 1 directory that I specify

That's the normal situation. See your server's docs.

Peter

In comp.os.linux.setup clark <clark@ynot.net>:
> I'm a newbie to Linux and looking for some friendly advice.
> I would like to setup FTP on Linux. (FEDORA)

Hopefully a recent version with all patches applied
(yum/up2date)?

> My question is how can i set up FTP with just virtual users instead of
> creating system users for everybody that I want to have FTP in?

> Also is there any recommended software that can do what I describe and
> is very easy to use for a newbie?

Try a search (www.freshmeat.net) for "ftpd" and you should find
some with the capabilities needed. Vsftpd rocks and scales pretty
good, but dunno if it has all those features.

http://www.pureftpd.org/ haven't used it, but from a short look
it sounds like something in the lines you want.

> Does it have a GUI?

Perhaps, don't care. Some people like webmin (www.webmin.com), to
manage their system through some browser. Other use distro
provided click tools. I'd suggest getting comfortable with bash,
in the long run it beats the hell out of any GUI, allowing to do
what you want without restricting you to whatever people making
the GUI thought you'd wanted to do. All this while your GUI
hasn't even come up completely.

Good luck

[..]

--
Michael Heiming (X-PGP-Sig > GPG-Key ID: EDD27B94)
mail: echo zvpunry@urvzvat.qr | perl -pe 'y/a-z/n-za-m/'
#bofh excuse 464: last entry

clark wrote:
> I'm a newbie to Linux and looking for some friendly advice.
> I would like to setup FTP on Linux. (FEDORA)
>
> My question is how can i set up FTP with just virtual users instead of
> creating system users for everybody that I want to have FTP in?

If you want simplicity you don't do that, you just create accounts and
set the shell to /bin/true to prevent login. You DO reject remote login
in your firewall, right?

Since ftp is insecure by virtue of being unencrypted data, you might
just put everything up for anonymous access and not have other users.

If you want people to upload TO your server, you want them to have real
login UIDs, even if you don't allow login. Then you can track who does what.
>
> Also is there any recommended software that can do what I describe and
> is very easy to use for a newbie?

Most distributions come with a server, often wu-ftpd, which is easy to
config after you read the docs.
>
> Does it have a GUI?

There are ftp clients with a GUI. Don't use or want, but they exist.
>
> I would also like the virtual users that log in via FTP to only have
> access to 1 directory that I specify. Nothing else. They should not
> be able to browse outside their directory, but can have read + write
> to their own.

This virtual user thing gets complicated fast, because the application
needs to have all the tools that the O/S provides for user management.
Feel free to dig yourself into a hold, but I will skip handing you a
shovel, and advise using real users with no login allowed.

If you just want to allow download, set up a minimal web page and let
people use http, less work and as much security.

--
bill davidsen
SBC/Prodigy Yorktown Heights NY data center
http://newsgroups.news.prodigy.com

"Michael Heiming" <michael+USENET@www.heiming.de> wrote in message
news:54e7s2-hts.ln1@news.heiming.de...
> In comp.os.linux.setup clark <clark@ynot.net>:
>> I'm a newbie to Linux and looking for some friendly advice.
>> I would like to setup FTP on Linux. (FEDORA)
>
> Hopefully a recent version with all patches applied
> (yum/up2date)?

vsftpd which comes with Fedora Core 4 is pretty good. Read the manual pages
on it, which are pretty complete, and it'll explain exactly how to create
custom accounts and password files to go with them.

>> Does it have a GUI?
>
> Perhaps, don't care. Some people like webmin (www.webmin.com), to
> manage their system through some browser. Other use distro
> provided click tools. I'd suggest getting comfortable with bash,
> in the long run it beats the hell out of any GUI, allowing to do
> what you want without restricting you to whatever people making
> the GUI thought you'd wanted to do. All this while your GUI
> hasn't even come up completely.

I like webmin: it is my friend.

But if you want password secured accounts where the logins and passwords
cannot be sniffed in the intervening network, I highly recommend WebDAV over
HTTPS, all of which is built into recent Apache and many web clients and
works quite well.