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Simple ftp with Gftp

Jack Wallen — Wed, 05 Aug 2009 10:56:18 +0000

Whenever I need to use the ftp protocol to transfer files in Linux I always turn to one application: Gftp. Gftp is a GTK+ application that makes ftp as simple as it gets. Released under the GPL, Gftp has a lot of features (for an ftp client) and installs on most *NIX machines. The only requirements for installation are GTK+ 1.2.3 or higher, the pthreads library, and (of course) X Windows.

Gftp has a very user-friendly interface that any user can understand without having to look at much documentation at all. The only downfall to Gftp is that it hasn’t been updated since 1/11/2008. Let’s take a look at this single-minded application.

Features

Gftp offers the user the following features:

Supports FTP, FTPS (Control Connection), HTTP, HTTPS, SSH, and FSH protocols.
Supports FTP and HTTP proxy servers.
Supports FXP.
Bookmarks allow quick access to remote connections.
Logging.
Cache clearing.
Remote chmod tool.
Remote directory creation.
Internationalization (numerous translations available).

Getting and installing

Installing Gftp is simple if you follow these steps:

Open your Add/Remove Software tool.
Search for “gftp” (no quotes).
Mark the Gftp entry for installation.
Click Apply to install.

You can also install Gftp from the command line by issuing a command similar to:

sudo apt-get install gftp

Once installed you will find the Gftp entry in the Internet sub-menu of your Applications menu.

The interface

Figure 1

The interface for Gftp is as simple as it gets. As you can see (in Figure 1) the interface is a dual pane window that allows easy dragging and dropping of files from the local machine to the remote machine.

As you can see I have connected to an FTP server on my local LAN. To make the connection you simply enter the following information:

Host: The address of the FTP server.
Port: The port used for FTP on the host (if it is a standard port leave it blank).
User: The username you need to connect.
Password: The password used for the remote machine.

Once you have entered the information, click the Enter key to connect.

To move a file from one site to another you can do one of four things:

Drag and drop the file or directory you want to transfer.
Double click the file or directory you want to transfer.
Select the file or directory and click the arrow button that points to the machine you want to transfer to.
Select the file or directory and click Control-P.

Quick compare

Figure 2

One of the features I often use with Gftp is the Compare Windows tool. What this tool does is quickly compare the file listing on both the remote and the local sites and highlight all the files on the directory that are similar. This is a quick and easy way to know what you have already transferred to keep you from accidentally overwriting files.

To use this tool make sure you are connected to the remote site of your choice and then click on the Tools menu and select “Compare Windows”. After you click the tool you will instantly see the files that are similar are Not selected on both panes (see Figure 2). Say you need to send all the files on your current working local directory that have not already been copied to the remote site. To do this click Compare Windows and then just click right facing arrow to copy all files not already on the remote site. Easy file transfer.

Final thoughts

Gftp makes transferring files as simple as it gets in Linux. Of course you could always opt to use the the ftp command line to for a more bare-bones simplicity. But when you have an easy to user GUI interface, why bother with the command line. Right?

Tags: file transfer, ftp, gftp

Set up a reliable ftp server with proftpd

Jack Wallen — Thu, 23 Apr 2009 17:42:18 +0000

If you have a need for an ftp server, and you have a Linux machine on your network, then you need look no further than proftpd. The proftpd project came about to fill the need for a secure and reliable ftp server for the Linux operating system. Proftpd uses a single configuration file, so it’s simple to set up. This ftp server was also based on an admiration for Apache, so there are many similarities between the two. For instance, where Apache uses .htaccess, proftpd uses .ftpaccess for per-directory configuration.Proftpd also support anonymous ftp access and can be run as a stand alone server or using inetd control.

The aim of this article is to show you how to quickly set up an ftp server for user access and anonymous access on your Linux server.

Installing

Installing proftpd is simple. If you are in a gui environment, open up your Add/Remove Software utility, do a search for proftpd, select the resulting proftpd entry, and apply the changes. If you are not in a gui environment you can issue a command similar to:

sudo apt-get install proftpd

yum install proftpd

To install the tool.

Configuration

The configuration file for proftpd is /etc/proftpd.conf. The first portion of the configuration file is dedicated to the main configuration options. If you are setting up a basic ftp server the only thing you may want to edit in this section is the ServerAdmin email address. In this same section you can switch the server from a stand-alone server (default) to an inetd-based by uncommenting the type you want and commenting out the type you don’t want.

Interestingly enough, once installed, by default you will have user-level ftp access by just starting the proftpd daemon. To do this issue the command:

/etc/rc.d/init.d/proftpd start

/etc/init.d/proftpd start

depending upon your distribution.

When your users log into their ftp account they will default to their home directory and can not navigate above their ~/ directory.

Anonymous access

Now if you want to add anonymous ftp access you have to visit another section of the /etc/proftpd.conf file. If you scroll down to around line 104 of this file you will see the opening anonymous tag “”. Everything between this tag and the closing tag, “” refers to anonymous configuration.

By default all of the anonymous configuration is commented out. To create a simple anonymous ftp server setup you will want to uncomment out the following lines:

< Anonymous > User ftp Group ftp AccessGrantMsg "Anonymous login ok, restrictions apply." UserAlias anonymous ftp MaxClients 10 "Sorry, max %m users -- try again later" DefaultChdir /pub < /Anonymous >

NOTE: There will be no spaces in the opening and closing tags.

Once you uncomment out them, restart the proftpd server and anonymous access will have been granted to users. When anonymous users log in to the server they will be confined to the /var/ftp directory (although to the user it will appear as “/”). Anonymous users will have access to two directories: pub and uploads. The pub directory is where anonymous users can download files and the uploads directory is where anonymous users can upload files.

Final Thoughts

Proftpd is one of the easiest ftp servers to get up and running. It is safe, reliable, and allows simple configuration for anonymous access. If you are looking for an ftp server that requires little hardware, can be deployed quickly, and will “just work” then proftpd is the logical choice.

Tags: anonymous ftp, ftp, Linux, linux server, proftpd

Home FTP Server

Martin — Thu, 26 Mar 2009 09:54:27 +0000

FTP is one of those protocols that is largely ignored by the majority of today’s Internet users. Back in the early days of the Internet it was common to download drivers, patches and all sorts of files from ftp servers directly. Home FTP Server is a lightweight application for the Windows operating system that installs a ftp server on the computer system. The question for some readers might be about the use of a ftp server: You can use it to easily share files with friends in a private environment as it can be configured to only allow specific users to access the files on the computer system.

Home FTP Server is just one of many ftp server applications (read FTP Server Setup). It does come with a full set of features but it takes only a few clicks to have a basic ftp server up and running. The ftp server program uses a tabbed interface at the bottom for configuration and monitoring of the ftp server. The most important tab setup wise is the FTP Server tab which offers possibilities to add user accounts, specify directories, change settings of the ftp server and activate it in the end.

There are basically two ways users can connect to a ftp server by default. The first is an anonymous connection. This can be used by anyone and security minded administrators should disable that feature. The accessible directories and file rights can be defined for anonymous users in the settings. More important than anonymous users are member accounts. Each member account can be added for a single user or group of users who all share the same starting directory, access rights and restrictions on the ftp server.

It is for example possible to only allow the users to download files from the ftp server. The most secure setting is to create one user account for every user that should be able to connect to the ftp server. This can be problematic if you want to install an ftp server for dozens of users.

The settings manage every aspect of the ftp server from server and data port to Open SSL support, domain aliases and a web interface. The options of the Home Ftp Server application are quite extensive. Users can be banned from accessing the ftp server and the tool provides the ftp server administrator with the means to monitor files and users easily.

Home FTP Server is an easy to install and administrate ftp server for private usage. The administrative interface is a bit dusty but that’s not as important as the amount of options and settings available to the user. The ftp server application has a size of only 1 Megabyte and uses another two of computer memory while running minimized in the Windows System Tray.

Tags: ftp, ftp server, ftp server setup, home ftp, home ftp server, secure ftp, server software, sftp, windows software

Secure FTP Client Online

Martin — Mon, 23 Mar 2009 09:33:28 +0000

Back in the days when I worked part time for a big financial company and ran Ghacks the rest of the time I sometimes had to access Ghacks while I was at work. The worst case scenario was that the web servers were down but it could also have been because of time critical security updates or simple maintenance of the website. The problem was that there was no local ftp client installed which meant the only way to access the website was by using a secure ftp client online.

Any Client is one of those secure ftp clients that supports the ftp, sftp, webdav and ftps protocol. It runs remotely using Java and webmasters can use it to connect to their web servers to perform all the operations a ftp client offers them including file transfers and manipulations. The use of protocols that use encryption such as sftp or ftps ensure data safety during transfer. All settings and parameters are stored on the local computer system.

Cautious users might want to consider installing a secure ftp server directly on their web server that can be accessed using a web browser to avoid any security risks or complications that exist while trusting third party websites with your ftp data.

Any Client will load the Java Applet in the web browser and display the contents of the local computer system on the left. A click on the Connect button will open a new smaller window allowing the user to configure and add ftp servers. The ftp client configuration menu contains similar options than local ftp clients offer. Users can add and store multiple ftp servers, select the protocol, add sftp / ssh authentication and specify a starting local and remote directory.

The only difference is the absence of options that configure the ftp client itself, for example the number of simultaneous connections or file transfer limitations.

Once the ftp server has been added the ftp client can be used to connect to it. Users can now download, edit, rename or delete files while connected to the ftp server. A feature that is missing is chmod which can be used to configure access rights for files.

Any Client offers a quick and easy way to connect to ftp servers. It provides access to the basic feature set of ftp clients but lacks several advanced features that webmasters might need every now and then. Security sensitive users and those with important data on their servers might want to consider using a self hosted ftp server script instead of a third party service to reduce the security risks.

Tags: ftp, ftp client, ftp client online, ftp server, ftp transfer, ftps, secure file transfer, secure ftp client, server, sftp, webdav, website

Mount Remote FTP And Webdav Servers

Martin — Thu, 08 Jan 2009 20:34:09 +0000

NetDrive is a software to mount remote ftp and webdav servers that somehow has never been mentioned at Ghacks before. That’s a rare occurrence especially if the software is well designed and free. A large portion of webmasters have to connect to remote ftp servers regularly to update files on the website. There are obviously other ways to update files like an admin interface that allows the direct manipulation of files on the server.

An alternative to connecting to remote ftp servers with ftp programs is to mount the ftp server as a local drive on the computer system. NetDrive provides the means to do that.

The software comes with a clean interface that has several popular ftp servers preinstalled. New servers can be added by providing the IP, port, username, password and drive letter for that connection. There is also a setting to define when the ftp server or webdav server should be added as a drive letter. The options are to do that when the system starts or when NetDrive starts.

Once the remote ftp has been mounted it is possible to access the ftp like any other drive letter in Windows. It essentially means that no ftp software is needed to connect to the ftp server and that programs like Windows Explorer or equivalents can be used instead.

Tags: ftp, ftp server, mount ftp, mount webdav, netdrive, remote ftp, remote ftp server, webdav, Windows, windows software

FTP Server Setup

Martin — Sat, 04 Oct 2008 08:58:27 +0000

Being able to activate a ftp server when needed can be an efficient way of providing file access and file upload capabilities to customers, coworkers and friends. Most users shy away from setting up an ftp server fearing that the setup is complicated and that they might overlook an important setting that will give the connected users access to their whole system and not on the selected virtual directories.

Setting up an ftp server is actually not complicated at all. The process can be broken down in the following parts: Downloading the ftp server software, installing the software, configuring the ftp server and starting it. The biggest part will be the ftp server configuration where the ftp server admin has to share directories and add user accounts to the system.

Filezilla Server is an Open Source ftp server that can be used to setup a ftp server in Windows. A good advise would be to use the default parameters that are shown during ftp server setup. If you have followed the advice you should see a small window after installation that’s called Connect To Server. A click on OK should connect to the ftp server interface as an administrator.

FileZilla uses User Accounts and Groups to determine access rights of the ftp server. Groups can be used to configure settings for multiple users which are simply assigned to a group. The only thing that has to be done to get the ftp server up and running is to add at least one user account to the server.

This is done by clicking on Edit > Users in the top menu.

The first step is to click on the Add button on the right beneath users. Pick any username and leave the group setting as is.

The new user should now appear in the Users pane on the right side. Now check the Password box and enter a password for that user. You cannot leave that box empty unless you set the username to anonymous.

Now that we have created a first user and assigned a password to that user we need to setup the access rights for that user. A click on Shared Folders loads the menu where the ftp server administrator can enable access to local drives for the selected user.

A click on the Add button beneath Shared Folders will open the file browser in Windows. The first directory will be the Home directory of the user. The access rights are displayed on the right. The user can by default only download (read) files and list directories. If you want to enable file uploads you should create a specific directory for that purpose and set the access flags accordingly (write and create).

If you want to provide access to different hard drives you need to enable so called aliases. The ftp server will always display the home directory to the connected user with no option to switch to another drive.

The only way to provide access to multiple partitions and drives on the ftp server is to create aliases. They basically tell the ftp server to create an alias directory in the home directory that will point to the other partition or drive.

This can be done by right-clicking a folder that has been added to the shared folder list and selecting Edit Aliases from the menu. Now enter the full path of the alias directory. If your home ftp directory is located in d:\ and you want to add f:\ as another shared folder you need to pick an alias that uses the path d:\aliasfolder, for example d:\fshare. When a user connects to the ftp he will see the contents of drive d and the alias folder fshare in the directory structure that will display the contents of the f drive.

And that’s it. Congratulations, you setup an ftp server in a few minutes. The settings can be used to change various aspects of the server, including:

Banning IP addresses
Enabling logging
Setting global speed limits
Enabling compression
Enabling SSL
Setting a welcome message

Setting up a ftp server is not complicated. The most important security aspect is to always update the ftp server to the latest version and only enable the ftp server when needed.

Tags: filezilla, filezilla server, ftp, ftp server, ftp server setup, server, windows software

A Host of Tips – Week 1

joshua — Mon, 14 Jul 2008 06:43:57 +0000

As I read my feeds each day I see a whole lot of great little tech tips coming through, and often I want to share them, but that would mean either stretching a whole post out for just one little tip and that’s pretty lame.

So I decided something along the lines of what Martin does each week with his Software Updates, a compilation of the best tips I see around the blogosphere and some links to the original sources.

Make SP1 Permanent

I never knew of this till I found out on Life Rocks! 2.0 that there’s a file which you can use to make the Vista Service Pack 1 permanent. It’s useful once you’re confident everything it working fine as it cleans up the installation folders and files.

Restore ‘Search’ to Folder Context Menus

Thanks to some badgering from Google Microsoft removed the direct access to Search from the start menu and context menus. If you used these then the How-to Geek provides a registry hack to get it back.

5 Google Reader tips for Bloggers

gHacks author Daniel’s personal productivity blog, Hack Your Day, had a great article on how to use Google Reader efficiently. Always interesting and useful I recommend giving him a read.

FireFTP

As I have just re-installed Vista and my net is crippled to less then dial-up speed at the moment I haven’t been able to download FileZilla. After seeing it featured on the FF extensions page I decided to give FireFTP a try and have been impressed so far.

Tags: ftp, gmail, service pack 1, tips

Capivara Java File Manager

Martin — Sat, 24 May 2008 07:30:48 +0000

Capivara is a Java Open Source file manager that supports the FTP and SFTP protocol plus file synchronization. It does not have the massive functionality of a software like WinSCP, which by the way supports file synchronization as well. One advantage of Capivara is that it was programmed in Java which means that it can be run on different operating systems such as Linux, Windows and Apple Macintosh.

The main features that make it stand out are tabbed browsing, synchronization and the duplicate finder. Tabbed browsing is definitely the easiest to explain. Two panes are by default displayed like in any other file manager. If I wanted to open another local or remote directory I would have to open a new WinSCP instance. Capivara makes use of tabs to avoid that several instances of the same application have to be opened.

A right-click on a tab opens a menu with the option to add another tab to that pane which can connect to local or remote servers. Synchronization is the next feature. As I said earlier this is also supported by WinSCP and many other clients but Capivara supports four different modes including SHA-1 and MD5 sync.

Before files are copied and deleted they are shown in a preview pane which displays all file operations. The last feature is the duplicate finder. It compares the files and folders that reside in two root directories giving the user the options to move or delete duplicate files.

Capivara has some shortcomings though. The local file system will only be displayed if the user presses the connect button and selects it from the menu. That’s a bit complicated in my opinion. The right-click menu is not working everywhere. A user has to press a button to create a new directory while most are probably used to right-click the mouse to do so.

Tags: capivara, file manager, ftp, java, server, sftp, synchronize

Any Client a Web Based FTP Client

Martin — Sun, 09 Mar 2008 10:03:01 +0000

When I was working back then for a big company I had to use a computer that they provided with no options to install new software on that computer. I still did update my websites frequently in my spare time but always struggled when I had to install new scripts or upload files to the website because I did not have access to an ftp client nor something like WinSCP.

An online ftp client like Any Client would have come in handy at that time. It completely loads in the browser – providing that Java is installed – and offers a basic ftp interface and connection options. Any Client has the typical ftp client layout, the left side is showing your files while the right one loads the remote directory of the ftp that you connect to.

Speaking of connecting to the ftp. It is naturally inevitable that you have to add the IP, username and password to the client which could be a security concern. SFTP and SSH are supported as well. The sites that you add are saved locally on your computer.

Resuming uploads and downloads is supported as well as creating directories and renaming files and folders. Editing files however is not possible which means that you have to download a file first, edit it and upload it again if you want to make changes to your website.

Navigating the client feels a bit sluggish as well. The thing that’s missing the most at the moment is the missing feature to edit common file types.

Tags: any client, ftp, ftp client, web ftp

Add FTP Upload to Right-click menu

Martin — Tue, 16 Oct 2007 16:34:55 +0000

RightLoad adds the ability to upload selected files to a ftp directly which removes the step to start the ftp client, choose the ftp server, browse the local hard drives and the possible location on the ftp server. All this can be set in RightLoad which should be a really useful software for most webmasters who regularly upload files to their ftps.

RightLoad has several features with which it conquered a solid place in the applications that I use daily. Besides being able to set predefined directories on multiple ftps it can save the login information for those ftp sites which in turn can be protected by a master password to enhance security.

It is also possible to auto-create thumbnails if you do upload images. The user can set the maximum width and heights of the thumbnail and choose if he wants to be asked whenever an image is uploaded or if thumbnails should be generated automatically.

Links can be automatically generated if so desired, most of the time they are needed anyway when writing the article. Seems to have some problems with Windows Vista but should run fine in Windows XP and Windows 2000.

Read More:

RightLoad
via Freeware Genius

Tags: auto ftp, ftp, images, server, upload, webmaster

Filezilla FTP Client

Martin — Mon, 03 Sep 2007 11:22:32 +0000

I have been working with the ftp client Filezilla for some time now and switched to release candidate three of the new and upcoming Filezilla 3 just recently. I have to use ftp clients on a daily basis to upload files to my websites and edit php and html files that are already on them. They are indeed useful for webmasters but on a decline when you take a look at all Internet users – my opinion but supported by the fact that most modern browsers support ftp downloads as well.

Filezilla comes with all the options and settings that one would expect from ftp software: It supports ssl and sftp connections, offers proxy support, upload and download queues, a comfortable site manager with import and export function, resume feature, keep alive system and custom commands.

It is furthermore possible to export and import sites which is a great feature if you have to use the ftp client on more than one computers. I was not able to spot any difficulties with this release candidate; If you want to be on the same side download Filezilla 2 instead.

Tags: filezilla, ftp, ftp client, internet

Use WinSCP to securely copy files between two computers

Martin — Mon, 09 Apr 2007 15:00:12 +0000

A reader of my site asked which program I was using to transfer files between my local computer and my dedicated server. The question looks easy to answer at first glance but actually it is not that easy. I’m actually using two ways to connect to my dedicated server depending on the tasks at hand. I use Putty to connect to my dedicated server when I want to administrate it: create new virtual hosts, ftp accounts and the like. I do use WinSCP for all other tasks, mainly for opening a secure connection to my dedicated server which uses SSH.

I can then copy files from and to my dedicated server using this secure connection. I upload new websites this way or download mysql backups or other files that i want to store locally. Well, today version 4 of WinSCP was released as a beta. The main additions are ftp support (remember it supported SFTP before only) and SSH tunnel support. The later feature is not that important for me but the first is really nice.

The changelog for WinSCP 4.0 beta lists a lot of bug fixes and changes that would be to much to list here at my site. Just take a look at the changelog at the official site if this is really interesting for you.

What do you use to connect to a dedicated server ? Remember that I’m still using Windows mainly which limits the choice of programs that I could use.

Tags: ftp, remote computer, secure connection, secure ftp, secure tunnel, sftp, ssh, winscp

Share Files with HTTP File Server

Martin — Sat, 30 Dec 2006 08:16:46 +0000

You have some friends or business partners that you want to share data with but have no website with enough space and don’t want to use p2p as well ? One simple way to share files of any size is to use the HTTP File Server which emulates a basic file server on your home computer. The server can be run in public or private mode and it is normally a very good idea to run it in private mode.

Private mode means that only trusted users that have been added by you can access the file server. You will have to change the settings from easy mode to expert to be able to create accounts for those users. Once that is done you access the user management by clicking on Menu -> Other Options -> User Accounts. Once you have created at least one user account you right click on files or folders that you have added to your file server and select restrict access and choose the username(s) that you have just created.

Another possibility would be to protect the folders and files directly without using user accounts. You have to assign a username and password to the file or folder and every user that tries to access it will be asked for this data.

HTTP File Server is highly configurable: You can set connection limits, speed limits and ban IPs from accessing your server.

This tool is great if you need to exchange files fast and have no time to setup something else. Alternatives would be to use an ftp client like FileZilla or a local Apache server with htaccess. Another option that I personally do not like that much is use file hosts to share files. I never liked the idea to send my sensible files to a third party. It does not really matter if it is encrypted or password protected or not, call me paranoid, hehe.

Tags: exchange, file, file-server, files, freeware, ftp, http-file-server, Open Source, P2p, swap, trade

Howto Setup a Ftp Server in 5 Minutes

Martin — Sun, 07 May 2006 07:54:37 +0000

How do you normally send files to a friend ? By email ? What if the file is rather big but you want to send it anyway ? You could setup a ftp server and give your friend access to it. The speed that your friend can download with depends of course on your upload speed. Still, ftp servers are the number one method to swap large files. The best thing, it´s not complicated to setup your own ftp server, just follow these easy steps:

download filezilla server, install and run it.
create a folder on your hard drive, e.g. /ftp/
move the files you want to trade into it
you need to setup a user account so your friend may connect to the server, to do so select edit / users

click on add, enter a name for the user, click ok
enable password and enter one that your friend will be using
click on shared folders, add and select the folder on your hard drive that you created
default settings allow your friend to read (download) files and list directories and subdirectories.
if you want him to upload files as well you have to give im write permission as well. You could setup a /ftp/upload/ dir for write and delete permission and all others only for read permission
that´s it. To test if it´s working fire up your ftp client and connect using the settings you entered at the ftp server. All you need to do is send your friend the login information and your current IP.

You could tighten security by adding your friends IP to the allowed IP addresses and make the connection process more comfortable by using a dynamic dns service which would mean you would not have to broadcast your IP to your friend everytime it changes.

Tags: ftp, ftp server, ftp tips

Smart Ftp 2.0

Martin — Thu, 26 Jan 2006 11:21:36 +0000

The free ftp software Smart Ftp 2.0 has been released and is available for download at the developers website. Changes include a new graphical user interface with tabs, a new local and remote browser and support for 64 bit windows operating systems. If you are looking for a free ftp program give it a try, it might be exactly what you are looking for.

via connectedinternet

Tags: ftp, ftp client, smart ftp, software, Windows

gHacks technology news » ftp

Simple ftp with Gftp

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