# Which ftp server??

## dpetka2001

i would like some recommendations on which ftp server to install in my computer...this is the first time i am doing this but i am also interested in security so if there is one that might have a lot of customizing to do but is more secure among others then i would prefer this one...i don't mind reading and trying to set it up even if it takes more time than other ftp servers with more user-friendly customizations...thanks in advance...

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## think4urs11

if you are looking for security you're looking for net-ftp/vsftpd

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## Crisis

If you are interested in security, I would highly reccomend looking into SFTP rather then regular FTP.  If you still need FTP, vsftpd (very secure ftpd) is also a very good option.

Everyone has their own opinion, and I'm sure you will hear many others voiced as well.

In general, security comes down to how you implement and maintain your installation.Last edited by Crisis on Wed May 03, 2006 9:31 pm; edited 1 time in total

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## asterix404

you may also want to try running an ssh server on your computer. Check out openssh for more on that. vsftpd is very very very good though, It prevented several atacks on my comptuer, just set it up correctly.

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## kill[h]er

anybody got a howto for sftp that will explain how to let authenticated users share upload/download directories and subdirectories?  All I can find are ways to keep people chrooted into their own home directories (scponly).

if this isn't possible with sftp (prefer without ssh access), then same question but substitute vsftpd for sftp.

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## Crisis

You could jail them all to one common directory if that is what you are looking for... Just set all their home directories to the same dir and their shell to scponly and they will all log in to the same jail.

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## dpetka2001

 *Crisis wrote:*   

> If you are interested in securuty, I would highly reccomend looking into SFTP rather then regular FTP.  If you still need FTP, vsftpd (very secure ftpd) is also a very good option.
> 
> Everyone has their own opinion, and I'm sure you will hear many others voiced as well.
> 
> In general, security comes down to how you implement and maintain your installation.

 what is the difference between SFTP and simple ftp?? i guess "S" stands for security...but vsftpd is also for security?? so what is the real difference?? i also have an ssh server already running...how could i implement something using the ssh server?? thanks for any recommendations...

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## think4urs11

 *dpetka2001 wrote:*   

> what is the difference between SFTP and simple ftp?? i guess "S" stands for security...but vsftpd is also for security?? so what is the real difference?? i also have an ssh server already running...how could i implement something using the ssh server?? thanks for any recommendations...

 

SFTP is a totally different story to FTP or FTPS.

sftp uses the ssh protocol to transfer data; an sftp-server is part of openssh. So if you have openssh installed you also have an sftp server.

It doesn't really need much configuration - if you can ssh to the box you can by default sftp to it as well with all access rights your userid has.

ftp and ftps use the ftp protocol, the later one with ssl encryption.

In Windows world ftp/ftps seems to be more common, in unix world nowadays sftp is.

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## dpetka2001

does sftp affect the overall transfer speed at all comparing to ftp?? is it maybe slower or should i go with it?? thanks...

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## think4urs11

 *dpetka2001 wrote:*   

> does sftp affect the overall transfer speed at all comparing to ftp?? is it maybe slower or should i go with it?? thanks...

 

Depends on your processor mainly (both server AND client); in most cases it is quite a bit slower than ftp; e.g. i've an little box here which can (via sftp) transfer about 3-3.5MB/s, via ftp i can get ~8MB/s.

Encryption needs time but thats true for both sftp and ftps.

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## Extintor

If you want something quick and easy. Pure-FTPd is an excellent choice.

Be sure to read through the .conf file and your all set.

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## RushPL

ftps has an advantage over sftp because it allows to require SSL/TLS only for control channel(that is password and commands) and the data can be sent unencrypted. And besides I always felt that sftp is slow, however I do not think it is because of encryption(encrypted filessystems are reported to work fast!), I'm pretty sure it's because ssh was never meant to be a file server ... sftp uses normal shell commands to send/recieve files. Today I've been setting a proftpd+mod_tls(in full TLS mode) server on my remote Slackware box, and later I was searching for a good ftps client on my Gentoo Desktop ... well, I was pretty disappointed to find only lftp to work with my server. I only hope that this protocol will spread and more and more clients and servers will support it. Cheers.

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## WladyX

 *Extintor wrote:*   

> If you want something quick and easy. Pure-FTPd is an excellent choice.
> 
> Be sure to read through the .conf file and your all set.

 

I also use pure-ftpd and i like it very much because it has a very simple configuration and user management.

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## vandalman

I use net-ftp/pure-ftpd it's quick and easy to setup. It does what I need right away. If I want more out of my ftp I use net-ftp/proftpd

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## krolden

Duplicate

https://forums.gentoo.org/viewtopic-t-457214-highlight-.html

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## Crisis

 *Quote:*   

> and the data can be sent unencrypted

 

If you care about security you are going to want the data encrypted as well.  The speed difference is not even worth noting for most uses.

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## RushPL

 *Crisis wrote:*   

>  *Quote:*   and the data can be sent unencrypted 
> 
> If you care about security you are going to want the data encrypted as well.  The speed difference is not even worth noting for most uses.

 

Anyway, I just wanted to prove that ftps is more flexible, and not only more flexible in a matter of security, it's more flexible in any way. For example sometimes one may want to give a user only an ftp account, without a shell, with sftp it's not possible, at least not without any special shells that allow only few commands ....

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## Crisis

True, but using a shell like scponly is a great solution, and one I would recommend looking into.

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