FileZilla FTP Server on WHS | Computing on Demand
URL: http://computingondemand.com/?p=961
Creating an FTP server on your Windows Home Server can prove to be very advantageous. There are many times when using the web interface just doesn’t seem practical. Also, you are no longer limited to how many people have the ability to upload and download from your WHS. Having an FTP server on WHS can also allow synchronization of files between off site computers and WHS while giving greater flexibility. I am personally displeased with the lack of a download monitor for WHS while using the web page and therefore the setup of an FTP was necessary for me. First, I chose FileZilla because it is simple to setup, easy to maintain, and FREE. There is also more security in FileZilla than the included (but not installed) IIS FTP server. FileZilla supports FTP as well as FTPS using Explicit SSL/TLS. I am not going to explain setting up the latter, but the simpler FTP. All work will be done from the WHS desktop. So initiate a Remote Desktop Connection to your server to being working. 1. Download FileZilla FTP Server: Click Here to Visit Download Page 2. Install with ALL of the Default Options 3. Create a directory in the root of your C drive called FTPUsers After the install has completed, the installation will execute the Connect to Server application. You have not currently set an administrative password so simply pressing OK will take you to the FileZilla Interface.
To start the process of configuring your FTP server click the Edit option on the upper menu and select Settings. In the tree on the left, select Passive Mode Settings 1. Select the Radio button for “Use the Following IP” and populate the field with your WHS given URL. (be sure not to include http or https in the url – xxxx.homeserver.com) 2. Check the box for “Use Custom Port Range” and use the following port range 50000 – 50100 (ignore picture below) 3. Press OK and the settings will be applied
After applying the simple settings for getting your FTP up and running it is time to create a group to add your FTP users too. I usually create a group for family and a group for friends. The family group is allowed to write, create, delete, etc. and the friends group is simply allowed to read. To accomplish this, click on the Edit option in the main FileZilla Console and choose the option for groups. 1. Select General from the left side menu. 2. Press add on the right side to create a group and title it whatever you want.
Let’s migrate out of the FileZilla configuration for a moment. Open “My Computer” on your server and create a new directory under C:\called FTPUsers (in case you didn’t follow the directions above).
Back to Filezilla…… It is now time to create folders for your FTP users to have access to. Select the Shared Folders option on the left side menu. 1. Click Add to create the first folder for your users. This will also be your users Home Directory; or the directory they will land in when connecting to your FTP 2. Navigate to your FTPUsers directory and press OK
3. Once that directory option is created you will want to right click on it and select Rename. 4. Rename the entry to C:\FTPUsers\:u
5. Check the option for Autocreate After the Home directory is setup, you can now create access to your Home Server shared folders. The process is similar with a few exceptions. We will use the Music folder as our example. 1. Click Add and navigate to your first shared folder. 2. Browse to D:\shares\Music and press OK
3. Right click on the Folder you just added and select Edit Aliases
4. In the box that opens type /Music then press OK
5. You can repeat those steps for all the folders you want to give access to. 6. Press OK and return to the FileZilla Server interface Adding users to your FTP Server is a simple process and the use of Groups above makes adding more users later a breeze. From the main FileZilla Server Interface click Edit and select Users. 1. On the General Selection click Add on the right side to add your first user. 2. Type the name of the first user and then from the drop down select the Group you created. This will give the user access to all the folders in the Group. This is where grouping comes in very handy. 3. After pressing OK, create a password for the user by checking the Password box and fill in the field with the desired password. 4. Press OK
Before you test whether or not your FTP Server is functioning, you MUST add it to your firewall exceptions list and forward the ports (Default Ports = TCP/UDP- 21, 5000050100) in your router if you are using one. Adding the application to the windows firewall is extremely simple. You can access the firewall configuration by opening the Windows Firewall application in your control panel. 1. In the Exceptions tab, select add program 2. Navigate to c:\Program Files\FileZilla Server
3. Select FileZilla server.exe 4. Click OK a few times and you now have allowed FileZilla Server as an exception in your Windows Firewall.
You should now be able connect to your FTP server. You can setup an FTP client (FileZilla has a very good and Free FTP client as well) to connect to your server using the address: ftp://xxxxxx.homeserver.com and the username / password you created. Enjoy your FTP server. If you have any questions or comments, please visit our forums. You will be able to find help or offer suggestions. Also, the fine folks over at WeGotServed.co.uk are a great resource for help.