Re: selective access to ftp

[Raja Subramanian <rsubr@xxxxxxxxxxxx>]

Dr. P. Sriram wrote (sriram@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx):

> using the standard linux distribution (or otherwise), is it possible to
> give controlled access to the ftp tree? 

Ofcourse you can! :)

If you want public access using ftp, youre looking for something more featured 
and robust than the basic ftpd that comes by default.

I recently installed proftpd and am very happy with the result. You can
control access (upload/download/file & dir creation, etc) based on accounts, 
hosts/domains etc. Setting up proftpd is simple and secure too... config files 
resemble apache config files. Most distros (esp debian) bundle a good dose of
documentation and example configurations with the proftpd package which makes 
it relatively easy to setup.

> solution for similar restriction when
> the ftp tree is accessible through http (apache) is also welcome. 
> 
You can restrict access to webspaces by using a .htaccess file.
If a .htaccess file is found in a directory, the webserver reads it for
access control instructions before it processes any request for files in that 
directory. I wrote a (very short but to the point) description on using this
mechanism to control web access... you can find it at -

http://www.cs.mu.oz.au/~rsubr/writings/htaccess_tute.txt
(Warning! This is very basic, but should get you started on
 domain/host/user+passwd access control very quickly.)

You will also need to tell your ftpd not to touch the .htaccess files.

If you decide to go with proftpd, email me offline about your setup if you
require more assistance.

-Raja
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