Setting up a FTP to be accessed from outside the network

[mjonesjr]

I am working on setting up a small server at my house. I want to be able to access the files when I am not on my network via a FTP service.

Anyone got any good info on how to setup the FTP service to access my info from outside my network.

 

[92 5 oh]

out of curiosity, what OS are you going to be running it on?

 

[92 5 oh]

Since most home users don't have some form of Windows Server OS, i'll guess you're going to run it on XP...
I've set some up on Server 2003 and one on XP. It's pretty straight forward; you can use IIS to create the FTP or you can use a third party application. i prefer to use IIS, only because it's easy to install (if it's not already), and some third party apps are trialware and i've never personally looked for a good program to create/host an FTP...

One thing to consider...is your IP at your house static or dynamic? If it's static that's perfect. If it's dynamic you might want to look in to setting up DynDNS. Which is also relatively easy to setup too. this way if your IP changes you don't have to try and figure it out or worry about the address; you can connect via name.

with that aside...If i were setting it up, i would either A) statically assign the 'FTP server' a IP address in your network or B) Set up a DHCP reservation for the 'FTP server' (some routers will not do DHCP reservations such as linksys wrt54 models)

then you'll need to set up some port forwarding to allow traffic from 'WAN' on port 21 to the address you assign to your FTP server.

As i mentioned, my experience is with IIS. If you go that route, you'll want to install IIS. this should install a folder on the C:\ called Inetpub\ftproot
you can move these folders to a different partition if you prefer. in IIS, you have FTP Virtual dirctory which you can right click on and go to the properties and set up some options...such as where you want to 'FTP Directory' to be. this is the folder(s) above. you can browse to [drive]\inetpub\ftproot

whatever files/folders you put in the ftproot you should have access to via your FTP client.

if your PC has multiple users, you'll want to assign the users permissions to this folder accordingly.

it's been a while since i've set one up from the beginning so i'm going off memory, but this might be a good start. below i've included a link how to set up an FTP; i glanced over it, seems pretty accurate and detailed.
http://www.pcstats.com/articleview.cfm?articleid=1491&page=1
hope this helps, let me know how it's going or if i can help...

steven

 

[Psychopete]

Be sure to keep passive mode in mind..

 

[mjonesjr]

I do have Windows Server, but this will be on XP Pro because the PC I am using won't handle Server.

My WAN IP is a static IP. Setting up the PC to have a static won't be a problem.

I will have to look through my router settings to make sure that I can port forward.

So everything I want to access via the FTP has to be in a certain folder? Can that folder have sub folders?

Would I use my Internet browser to assess the FTP or is there a special program?

 

[Psychopete]

Would I use my Internet browser to assess the FTP or is there a special program?

Use can use the internet browser if you accept more than one connection per ip address, but ftp client is always the better way to go.

 

[mjonesjr]

Use can use the internet browser if you accept more than one connection per ip address, but ftp client is always the better way to go.

Got one to recommend?

 

[Psychopete]

Got one to recommend?

Used this one (Filezilla) before, not bad and it's free:

http://filezilla-project.org/

 

[mjonesjr]

Cool, I will give it a try.

 

[Psychopete]

So everything I want to access via the FTP has to be in a certain folder? Can that folder have sub folders?

I used serv-u a long time ago, you could set up whatever directories you wanted to be on the FTP per user/group account. Sub folders are assumed, but I believe you can set permission to prevent access from some sub-folders depending on the server. And you can set read/write/append/mkdir/delete permissions also. I feel more comfortable setting these permission in the server more than I would through setting them in Windows. One being the config can be saved for later use, and usually dropping that in is easier than re-configuring everything and assuming that the permissions haven't changed for some reason on the folder and files.

Used something else a long time ago that would allow some sort of symlinking in Windows, basically short cuts to folders that could be accessed, but this was so long ago, my memory is murky.

 

[mjonesjr]

I have been thinking about trying Ubuntu Server, but I want to be able to back whatever I use up to a remote service like Mozzy or Carbonite and simply can't do that unless it is on a Windows or Mac platform (non-server software).

 

[dixie_boysles]

just use:

http://www.dropbox.com

 

[mjonesjr]

just use:

http://www.dropbox.com

Cost WAY too much for DropBox with the size total of all the files I have.

It would cost $240 a year for a 100GB with DropBox where Carbonite is $54 a year for unlimited amount of storage.

I have almost a 1TB drive full and am starting to work on a 500GB drive until I get this sorted out and can get this worked out.

 

[92 5 oh]

As mentioned above, you can use IE to view the FTP by putting in ftp://xxx.xxx.xxx.xxx
and then going to view->view as ftp site. i think ftp clients are easier to use. I have used filezilla before and it did what i needed.
what type of router are you using?
also, if you create sub folders inside the [inetpub/ftproot] folder you should be able to access those subfolders as well.
good luck