Category: Geeks r Us
hey all,
i was thinking of maybe setting up a ftp server
my questions are,
first, what is the best program to maintain the files and accounts on a server?
second, what providers can offer space for me to post my files.
and last, if i had to run this off my machine, how would you structure the access. would it be best for me to make a folder and rescrict access to that, or should i maybe make a virtral drive for the files.
any advice would be greatly taken.
Rat, this question has been answered before but all of the nonsensical posts by people have burried it. here is the link. This link should be the end of this topic:
http://www.zonebbs.com/boards.php?t=16866Sp
in short, serve-u. all of what you want it subjective. Anyone with half a brain knows never to upload files to an external backup source. What stuff will you be hosting, will you have it up 24/7, who do you want access to it, what type of access do you want, etc. Answer all of these questions specifically and that will help me answer you more definly.
I'd either go with what cody says or u could go with quick 'n easy ftp. Its extremely easy to set up, and get running.
Quick 'n easy ftp is fine however it doesnt' allow you to make mroe than 5 user accounts unless you got the pro version or something. I would be extremely finiky about who uploads what to my server. I'd scan it with 50 virus programs before letting people download it. As it is, on my server, none of my shit is detected as viruses, except for the jokes dir, which some were detected, but don't actually do anything harmful. If you aren't serious, don't bother. For 24/7 up time, the necessary hardware is required, and you better not be doing anything else on that box that is cpu intensive or else it will slow thing down, and the end result is pissed off downloaders. If you don't have anything useful/rare on the server no one will want to get it from you. With dsl, that the rumor that goes around you have it, people won't be happy downloading anyway, unless it is something they can't get anywhere else, unless it is necessary. As for me, I have hard to find content, such as VST synths/audio software/linux software. Unless it is necessary for you to set a server up, do not do so. Chances are, you dont' have the hardware. A quad core is nothing without a good hard drive. The processor is as only as good as it can communicate with the hard drive so in most cases you aren't really getting the full effect of the processor.
As for me, I don't have it up all the time because I know my connection is sucky, I'll admit that, but right now it is all we can afford, and it is verizon, I am embarrassed to say it. I have the hardware to run it, however I don't put it to use for an ftp purpose since I have other issues with my equipment right now.
In short, you hardware may sound impressive, but the reason you have a quad is because vista requires it to run at least half decent, and actually running a server on it would be hard to do because of the 90% resource usage of vista. Doing so would use virtually all of your ram, and even a 7200 rpm drive isn't giving you the full effect of the processor. The only thing that can get you close to the full effect of the processor is an SSD. This is why a lot of server farms use SSD's
cody, you're wrong, again. vista does not use 90% of my resources. i rarely see my ram use over 40 percent, and my processor barely goes above 20. plus i know i have a good hard drive on this machine, i made sure of that when i got it.
Still, 40 percent of your ram to run vista smoothely, that's nearly half. I"m not gonna pretend that I know much about this, because i really don't, but if an OS is using 40 percent of your resources, that, to me, is a lot. I run a FTP and a stream off of 512 megs of ram, and I do alright. I too have verizon but I have fios. It realy doesn't matter what u have on your FTP cody. If what u said was true, and people would not want to get anything off of u if u don't have anything special, then I woldn't have nearly 400 megs downloaded off of me already. Granted, most of that is my music collection, but I also know that people have gotten some of my emmulators and roms.
to rat:
I will agree with Mike, 40% of ram used for Vista is too much.
On this machine, I rarely see it above 20-25% unless I'm doing something which is processor entensive.
In all seriousness, if you're gonna run a server that's gonna have 24 7 uptime on Windows, do.not.use.Vista!!!:)
Use iether XP Pro with as much shit taken off of it as possible, or Server 2003 either standard or Enterprise.
I'll explain why:
1, XP or Server 2003 use much less resources than Vista, and therefore are more stable.
2, tell me you've got external hard drives for this with at least Firewire 800 or ESATA?
3, do have a dedicated box for the damn thing, and put nothing else but:
Server OS or XP,
Antivirus and Antispyware software,
firewall that works, not Windows XP or Server 2003's, I suggest Sygate,
nothing else, but probably WinRar and QuickSFV
Any other suggestions from anyone else?.
Did I miss anything?
No, i think u covered it all their spike.
Rat, why do you think those numbers are fairly low. You have a quad core. We've told you this over and over and your skull is so thick it's a wonder you haven't gotten chair sores from playing games so much. I still haven't gotten an explanation why you think 40% of ram usage is acceptable with 70 processes. My cpu on this p3 running xp never has gone above 20%. I'm going to be getting a gaming laptop and putting xp on it is the first thing on my list, next to looking at it and drueling on it.
As for mike. You have a fast connection that people don't mind using, and if you have game/roms whatever that are hard to find then that is why people like to download off you. 400 megs is really not all that much that is not even one cd's worth.
Spike....yeah....you covered everything and more.
I just wish you and others would actually spend the time and dig through these bs posts on the boards because you would've found that link I posted in number 2. If you people make this mess, you should waid through it to find your answers. I just dont' get it. it is not fair to people like me and spike and SKPoet and whoever else I dont' know on here, that constantly bend over and feed answers to you. It took me over a year how to find out how to use NFS with linux. I finally found out and when I did I was so happy.
four words for those who obviously make uneducated questions: oogle, is, your, friend.
spike, thank you. that's something i wanted to know, not that vista is just bad. it would be hard for me to get another box here, which is why i was wondering of a limited server off this machine. cody, you make it look like i say i have a quad core, and you don't so screw you. i do not act that way. my ram use is higher due to my aircard software at the moment, it is really bad on vista and xp alike.
It took me over 3 months but I finally figured out how to put up an ftp server using filezilla. I personally don't have anything I'd call rare on it but I have a server for the sake of having one. I don't know how fast/slow it is but no one has complained personally to me. lol I wonder why there is so much griping on these ftp topics. People ask ignorent questions because they don't know things. I know there was only 2 people willing to take the time to explain what I was doing wrong when I know I asked a lot of people for help. Thanks again... You know who you are. I was greatful they never jumped down my throat even though I new I deserved it sometimes. Not everyone is going to like the stuff on your server. I am more of a hip hop and r&b person so have more of that which isn't too good for the rock lovers but that's why they should share what they have too. haha Good luck and when in doubt, ask google. I did that a lot too.
well, obviously if you can't find what you need on the program's documentation or forums, then comes the time to ask people. File zilla's server documentation i'll give you is obscure and sometimes things are not clear, but i found my answers on different internet boards; took me about less than half an hour to get it set it up the way i liked it.
spike, thank you. that's something i wanted to know, not that vista is just bad. Even though it is terrible. Where are you going to get server 2003 at? don't think about 2008. Unless you're going to pirate it.
it would be hard for me to get another box here, which is why i was wondering of a limited server off this machine.
wondering of a limited server? Whatever that means. older p3's=$50. If you have time and put in the effert for a 3 router setup with wifi access for 2 computers then you definitely have the time for buy another box.
cody, you make it look like i say i have a quad core, and you don't so screw you.
I make it look like you do? Is that a frickin question dude? You have a quad core, I am not making it look like you do.
i do not act that way. Nor do I.
my ram use is higher due to my aircard software at the moment, it is really bad on vista and xp alike.
Then how about using a different card if you know so much about it. Ram is still the issue and even more so if the air card is using even more ram. Servers were not intended for vista machines and even businesses know this.
To hisenthusiasticlova. 3 months? Hmmmm ok. filezilla is one of the hardest ones to get setup. Quick 'n easy ftp is one of the fastest easiest ways to get one up and running with hardly any customization. This is why so many people bitch at the ignorant. They need to learn. We who know better wont' bend over to be their old ladies, and they need to realize that. Or, we could just not post and have the questions go unanswered. But that might also explain why my posts that are actually inteligent go unanswered. There are too many ignorant fools on here and the ones who do know I've noticed that they dont' answer because they don't know which is kind of odd.
Do me a damned favor and please capitalize or I's. most professionals and business owner will not want an IT admin writing like that.
Rat, you really need work work on your technical skills and your personable skills. If most of us say vista blows there must be something that must click saying vista really does have some issues. Letting your ignorance show will not get you anywhere.
to cody:
I agree with you on Filezilla, its not easy to setup.
It took me a while to learn Serv-u, which I had help with.
What is a limited server, anyway?
You can buy XP Pro or Server 2003 off of newegg.
I don't run Filezilla, though I know that it uses up less ram then Serv-u.
I don't run it because there're certain Serv-u options that I like that Filezilla just doesn't have.
Not trying to say that it sucks, but for me, in my specific case, I don't wanna have to redo all of the accounts and dir permissions again.
Also it doesn't have easy to setup virtual links which Serv-u corporate does.
To those who use Filezilla and have used it for a long time, do you agree, if not,then why?
the only detail: You said you didn't wanna "redo" all the accounts and directory premissions? THere's a button on the account list labelled "copy". When you select an account or a group, you can click copy, and all of the settings pertinent to the accuont or groups are copied to the user name or group name you specify. For now I find web servers to be more convenient because of the easy access that they grant you.
The only reason I don't like those, is for the machine that I have as of now, I need apatchi, which takes up a lot of memmory.
cody. for one, i know vista has problems. i fight those problems all the time.
for another, you're making it look like i am flaunting my quad core over other computers. if i come across that way, i'm sorry, but i don't intend to be that way. my aircard is all i can do for net right now, and do you know what that is anyways?
as for what i mean by a limited server is one that wouldn't be up 24/7. maybe part of each day depending on my class schedule.
as for getting another box, they are not easy for me to get. sure i have an old xp box at home, but if i got it, i'd have to have the techs here run their all mighty virus checks, and that was bad enough with these two updated machines.
to rat:
Thanks for the answer on the limited server thing, that's what I thought it meant.
Just didn't want to say something that was gonna be taken the wrong way.
Air card is wireless, 802.11 G, i asume?
Which card is it, and what kind of issues are you having with it?
And you are aware that if at all possible, its a good idea to have a direct ethernet connection to either a switch or router, for a server.
Make your server program choice on what you need, take our advice, ask for help when you need it, and we'll be glad to do so.
Just try to read the docs and or google search, unless the question is extremely specific for lets say, dir permissions, and restrictions.
hth
no, what i mean by aircard is a device that uses cell service for internet coverage. i do know aircard is teh mac's wireless, i think.
i'm hoping to get on my college's network through ethernet within the next couple days, maybe later tonight if all goes well.
thank you a lot spike