Title: Plan an FTP Server
Course: CIS 208: Linux/UNIX III: Intermediate System Administration, Networking, and Security ~ For IGNITE Review > Section: Learning Modules

Plan an FTP Server

The File Transfer Protocol (FTP) is an old, insecure way to transfer files.  Not only is it possible for eavesdroppers to copy the data, but they can gather the username and password for the account, which has access to login and run programs.  From a security point of view, FTP is not a good choice for file transfers.  However some programs and services require FTP, and Very Safe FTP (vsftp) can provide limited access and encryption in these cases.

- Plan which server(s) will host ftp services and ensure that they have enough disk space.  If desired, create a new partition to ensure user uploads will not use 100% of a critical partition.
- Find out if unencrypted is required (FTP), since secure ftp (SFTP) is safer to use.
- Finally, create a list of user accounts which will be needed.  Normally a single account is assigned to a group or a project, allowing several people to have access to the share.  Unless specifically needed, avoid assigning accounts to individual users.