anonymous FTP

The easy way: just email support@Vex.Net and let us set it up for you.

For do-it-yourselfers:

Part of the Virtual Server/Domain packages is the ability to host an anonymous FTP server. It is not obvious how to set up this server, however.

There are two steps you need to take. First you need to email support@Vex.Net to have the anonymous FTP service for your account activated. Second you must set up the physical directories and files which make up an ftp server.

In a nutshell, to set up the ftp directories and files, you must log in to the shell prompt, and execute the following commands (you can copy/paste them):

mkdir /u/$LOGNAME/public_ftp
mkdir /u/$LOGNAME/public_ftp/bin
mkdir /u/$LOGNAME/public_ftp/etc
mkdir /u/$LOGNAME/public_ftp/incoming

cp /bin/ls /u/$LOGNAME/public_ftp/bin
cp /bin/date /u/$LOGNAME/public_ftp/bin
grep "^$LOGNAME:" /etc/passwd> /u/$LOGNAME/public_ftp/etc/passwd
grep "^$LOGNAME:" /etc/group> /u/$LOGNAME/public_ftp/etc/group

chmod a+rx /u/$LOGNAME/public_ftp/*
chmod a+rx /u/$LOGNAME/public_ftp/etc/*
chmod a+x /u/$LOGNAME/public_ftp/bin/*
chmod a+w /u/$LOGNAME/public_ftp/incoming

Please be aware that there are certain security issues associated with a public FTP site. People may upload undesirably large files, or undesirable files in general. You may want to remove "x" (execute, or list) permission from your incoming directory, or even "r" (read) permission, and allow uploads only. Or disable "w" (write) permissions and only allow downloads. Experiment with different permissions on your directories to determine the exact results.

![ corrections, and explanation to be written later ]