Company wants to use a FTP Server

My boss comes to me today with a thought on using a FTP server for the company to download files from server and upload files to the server. So far we are currently using "you send it" but its been nothing but a constant hassle. He's been looking at "Serv-U" program but isnt sure yet. We have Windows 2003 Server to use for this project. Any of you guys have any suggestions on this topic id appreciate the input.

Thanks Guys

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it_consultant

This should go into off topic.

Server 2003 has a perfectly functional FTP server in IIS. Microsoft Corporation

zFTP is great - free or paid versions zFTPServer Suite - the best replacement for the built-in Windows FTP-Server

Asif Dasl

FileZilla Server, small, simple, works perfect and free.

vCole

I've used Serv-U - and it's AWFUL.

Use Filezilla or the Windows built in FTP service.

Zartanasaurus

Another vote for FileZilla.

geeksquad09

If you guys had to compare and contrast Filezilla vs zFTP Server Suite, what would be better for a business that contains let say 100 people

Bl8ckr0uter

vCole wrote: »

I've used Serv-U - and it's AWFUL.

Use Filezilla or the Windows built in FTP service.

The only thing I will say about IIS FTP (on windows 2003) is that each user has to be a local (or domain) windows user. I'll let you think about that (yes I know that this can be heavily controlled with permissions and such).

Any chance you could go *nix?

vsftpd - Secure, fast FTP server for UNIX-like systems

I am building one this week.

geeksquad09

Bl8ckr0uter wrote: »

The only thing I will say about IIS FTP (on windows 2003) is that each user has to be a local (or domain) windows user. I'll let you think about that (yes I know that this can be heavily controlled with permissions and such).

Any chance you could go *nix?

vsftpd - Secure, fast FTP server for UNIX-like systems

I am building one this week.

Its interesting you speak of domain users, every employee at my job is on 1 domain.

Bl8ckr0uter

geeksquad09 wrote: »

Its interesting you speak of domain users, every employee at my job is on 1 domain.

It is common to stick you FTP server in your DMZ and OFF of your domain (unless you have a domain just for your DMZ and you are doing some sort of one way trust jazz). I was just saying that because your ftp users will be "real" windows accounts. There is an ftp server called Gene6 that we evauled that solves that problem.

geeksquad09

Bl8ckr0uter wrote: »

It is common to stick you FTP server in your DMZ and OFF of your domain (unless you have a domain just for your DMZ and you are doing some sort of one way trust jazz). I was just saying that because your ftp users will be "real" windows accounts. There is an ftp server called Gene6 that we evauled that solves that problem.

Gene6, havent heard of it
will look into it. how does it come to the other FTP server types listed in the above posts?

Bl8ckr0uter

geeksquad09 wrote: »

Gene6, havent heard of it
will look into it. how does it come to the other FTP server types listed in the above posts?

I liked it. We would be running it right now but there was a non related issue which forces us to use a linux box (*cough cough external connector wtf bs *cough).

geeksquad09

would it be feasible and durable enough for a business downloading and sending files within the sizes of 5 megs to 20GB's..or larger depending

Chivalry1

I vote for linux Fedora Core vsftp. Although a vote for Windows 2008 with FTP is not bad. I would save the cost of a windows license for the purpose of only transferring files.

At one company we setup a old Apple Mac for ftp purpose. Worked great!!

Bl8ckr0uter

geeksquad09 wrote: »

would it be feasible and durable enough for a business downloading and sending files within the sizes of 5 megs to 20GB's..or larger depending

I think so. You just need to make sure you have everything set up correctly. The admin guide is pretty straight forward. Google Gene6

On the other hand, vsftp is free (as in beer).

instant000

geeksquad09 wrote: »

would it be feasible and durable enough for a business downloading and sending files within the sizes of 5 megs to 20GB's..or larger depending

This question was touched on earlier:

Are all of these users internal, or are some of them external?

If all internal, you could use a regular old file server.
If external, then an FTP server would be recommended.

Yousendit is convenient, from the point of view that you upload the file, and the recipient can download the file, all without getting your IT department involved in the process.

If you're managing the FTP server yourself, there will be some management involved with that, and there will be additional workload placed on the IT department because of it. Storage is finite, and the idea of tossing around 20 GB files will lead to issues, sooner or later.

If it is for some sort of security/control reasons, then that is perfectly understandable. Doing it yourself does give you a certain degree of control, just know that it will cause trouble tickets from time to time, when you need to assist a user with their FTP client setup (if you can centrally deploy and manage your workstation images, this is less of an issue, but not an end-all to issues)

I know that at my last job, we would use secure FTP for special business-sensitive document sharing with business partners, and would use yousendit when sending large files that were public.

Bl8ckr0uter

instant000 wrote: »

T

I know that at my last job, we would use secure FTP for special business-sensitive document sharing with business partners...

FTPS or SFTP?

instant000

Bl8ckr0uter wrote: »

FTPS or SFTP?

Wow, I mis-spoke. It was definitely NOT Secure FTP

Hah, I just had to google around to try to remember what FTP product we were using.

The product used was most likely Serv-U FTP, and from my recollection, it was definitely NOT using a secure protocol like FTPS or SFTP.

Hrm, I need to email those guys, and tell them that Serv-U does support secure protocols (according to their website) so they can repair that issue readily.

I'm so glad you posted that, Bl8ckr0uter, made me think twice about that one.

EDIT: Just e-mailed a guy I know who works there about that one, so he can take care of that.

Bl8ckr0uter

NP. I was just curious because I have gotten some...pushback about moving all of our clients to using ftps.

blargoe

Bl8ckr0uter wrote: »

The only thing I will say about IIS FTP (on windows 2003) is that each user has to be a local (or domain) windows user. I'll let you think about that (yes I know that this can be heavily controlled with permissions and such).

This is no longer the case with IIS 7.0 and above (Windows 2008 & 2008R2). You can create user identities in the IIS Metabase that are totally separate from the operating system and have no association with Windows accounts. FTPS is also supported. There are still some areas for improvement but it's 10x better than what was offered in 2003.

BradleyHU

lolz @ using a public web filesharing for corporate stuff. ya'll are a crazy bunch...and who still uses yousendit anyways? megaupload, fileshare, filesonic all allow larger size files for free, & have faster download speeds, but thats not important....yeah, get an ftp ASAP. i dont know who my company has their ftp thru, but its on a unix server & obviously requires login credentials...the unix team handles all that here

lolz @ yousendit...thats epic....

it_consultant

geeksquad09 wrote: »

If you guys had to compare and contrast Filezilla vs zFTP Server Suite, what would be better for a business that contains let say 100 people

zFTP wins hands down. As people have pointed out though, you still have to pay for Windows licensing with either of those solutions if you intend on using an MS server. It is certainly very easy to use FTP in Server 2003 / 2008 and keeps things simple if you are already a Microsoft shop. Very simple hardening procedures will make your Windows FTP server just as secure as Linux and you will be able to manage it using similar tools that you use with all your other servers.

ChooseLife

I'm not sure whether this is already assumed, but unless you have a very strong business requirement to use plain FTP, go with SFTP or FTPS.

NinjaBoy

Just throwing it out there, why not use the free version of Sharepoint (Sharepoint Services or Sharepoint foundation, depending on which free version you go for)?

-Ken

al1955

For as long as you have firewall in place and take care of your security FTP(build in with Windows 2003) is a great tools for sharing files with someone outside of your location.
I would suggest to have good AV program installed on that server and set to scan files on upload/download.
For security reason I would change default port on FTP server from 21 to something else and open that port on firewall (do not forget to close port 21 there if you do that!!).
Depend on your speed from ISP you can download/upload files wirh pretty good sped.
Recently for example my boss recorded on his camera entire conference abroad and sent it to us via FTP.
It was like we were on that conference within less then an 1 hour of him getting to hotel.

geeksquad09

al1955 wrote: »

For as long as you have firewall in place and take care of your security FTP(build in with Windows 2003) is a great tools for sharing files with someone outside of your location.
I would suggest to have good AV program installed on that server and set to scan files on upload/download.
For security reason I would change default port on FTP server from 21 to something else and open that port on firewall (do not forget to close port 21 there if you do that!!).
Depend on your speed from ISP you can download/upload files wirh pretty good sped.
Recently for example my boss recorded on his camera entire conference abroad and sent it to us via FTP.
It was like we were on that conference within less then an 1 hour of him getting to hotel.

Thanks alot guys i will run this by my superiors and we'll see where they take it from here

al1955

Bl8ckr0uter wrote: »

The only thing I will say about IIS FTP (on windows 2003) is that each user has to be a local (or domain) windows user. I'll let you think about that (yes I know that this can be heavily controlled with permissions and such).

Which is not entirely correct.
On FTP config - security you can assign user name for specific account/user name and allow only that account to be used for FTP connection.

On server(windows) side you can safely set permission for that single specific user.
So it is completely up to you how you use FTP server: free for all or just for one

Bl8ckr0uter

al1955 wrote: »

Which is not entirely correct.
On FTP config - security you can assign user name for specific account/user name and allow only that account to be used for FTP connection.
On server(windows) side you can safely set permission for that single specific user.
So it is completely up to you how you use FTP server: free for all or just for one

On server 2003? Where?

RobertKaucher

NinjaBoy wrote: »

Just throwing it out there, why not use the free version of Sharepoint (Sharepoint Services or Sharepoint foundation, depending on which free version you go for)?

-Ken

This would not work if they are exchanging files in an extranet sort of topology. They woul need a different licensing model, which would be expensive. If all the people doing the uploads were employees and had AD accounts, then yes. It would technically work. But SharePoint is still not designed for this sort of scenario. A file of 20 GB in size being uploaded would cause the entire content DB to be locked for the duration of the upload if the content DB were already of a decent size (say over 50 GB). SharePoint was not designed for sharing large binary objects. SQL Server does not like.

geeksquad09

He wants to use Microsoft Exchange, Ive read using FTP through Microsoft Exhcange is good only if you upload and download files every once in a while

instant000

geeksquad09 wrote: »

He wants to use Microsoft Exchange, Ive read using FTP through Microsoft Exhcange is good only if you upload and download files every once in a while

WARNING: Do not use your mail platform for file storage.

Also, I have no idea on this FTP through Exchange, the closest I can find to this idea is Public Folders, is that what you're referring to?

geeksquad09

instant000 wrote: »

WARNING: Do not use your mail platform for file storage.

Also, I have no idea on this FTP through Exchange, the closest I can find to this idea is Public Folders, is that what you're referring to?

Sorry i wrote thta wrong, Were gonna use te FTP service through Server 2003, Ive set it up and what not the only problem im having is he wants me to do the followingm and im catching hell doing it

-Save a file and make it public.
-Give me instruction on how to get it off site
-Some kind of authentication will be needed after the test phase.