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Topic: FTP server Question? |
Nic du Toit
From:
Milnerton, Cape, South Africa
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Posted 12 Jul 2009 11:02 am |
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I believe there is a way for users to retrieve a file on my FTP server by using a normal browser.
I vaguely remember you type something like this in the address bar:
FTP://192.168.xx.xx:username:password:/c:\pathname\filename.zip
This is not the exact way to do this.
What is the EXACT way of doing this? 
Regards
Nic |
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Wiz Feinberg
From:
Mid-Michigan, USA
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Posted 12 Jul 2009 9:01 pm
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URLs beginning with 192, or 168, or 10, are not accessible from the Internet. Those are local area network IP ranges only. If you have an FTP server on your PC you will need to give the public IP of your modem to the people who are to access it. Then you must poke a hole in your router/firewall to allow incoming FTP connections on ports 20 and 21, to the IP address assigned to the PC running the server. You should assign that PC a static IP through your router's rules. If you are not using a router, but a mode to PC setup, see if the modem allows FTP ports passthrough.
Once you figure out your IP and router/mode setup, you would configure a link similar to this example:
ftp://{your public IP}/web/ftp-folder/
Then you would give them a user name and password if you have setup security on that folder.
FTP servers require a static IP address, or else a DNS forwarding service, like Open Dns, to manage dynamic IP customers running web servers.
PS: Don't publish that information in public. Hackers will have a field day with your computer and your ISP may terminate your account for running a server illegally (most ISPs forbid servers on client machines).
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"Wiz" Feinberg, Moderator SGF Computers Forum
Security Consultant
Twitter: @Wizcrafts
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John Cipriano
From:
San Francisco
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Posted 13 Jul 2009 12:36 pm
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Assuming you've done everything Wiz said (you need to know your external IP address and your firewall has to allow traffic to come through on port 21), the standard is this:
ftp://user:password@host:port/path
If your firewall directs traffic on port 21 (the default for FTP) to your FTP server then you will not need the :port part. host might be an IP address in your case, unless you have a domain name for that IP.
You might also not need path if your files are served in the root folder, which is called "/". Most FTP servers use Unix-style paths, so it's "/files" rather than "c:\files".
Check here if you need more details:
http://www.cs.tut.fi/~jkorpela/ftpurl.html
And I'll repeat what Wiz said about publishing the password on a website (not that you said you were going to). It's the same as having no password. At the very least disable upload and write access for the account if you for some reason need to publish the URL with the password. |
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Jeff Agnew
From:
Dallas, TX
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Posted 14 Jul 2009 5:10 am
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Running an FTP server on your own PC is a double-plus ungood idea.
All traffic, including the user name and password, if implemented, is sent in the clear (unencrypted) and there are myriad ways to sniff out the login info. An unsecured FTP server is pretty much an open invitation to compromise your PC. There are several secure methods for using FTP, such as SFTP or FTP over SSL, but they won't work within a browser and would require that each of your users download and install a client FTP application.
Your better solution would be to use a file hosting service, such as one available from your ISP or a commercial hosting service. Here are five free ones that might meet your needs. |
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Nic du Toit
From:
Milnerton, Cape, South Africa
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Posted 14 Jul 2009 6:05 am
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Thanks Guys
Your replies have been very helpful.
Regards
Nic |
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