FTP for clients to log in to upload files

[William Wilson]

I need some help in setting this up, I'm using cPanel and can create a new FTP account but the folder is created in the /home/../public_html area I thought it would have been /home/../public_ftp anyway any help would be appreciated just a simple log on and drag and drop will suffice.

[Coding Monkey]

I need some help in setting this up, I'm using cPanel and can create a new FTP account but the folder is created in the /home/../public_html area I thought it would have been /home/../public_ftp anyway any help would be appreciated just a simple log on and drag and drop will suffice.

It's in public_html because it refers to the fact that it's a PUBLIC domain. You'll see folders in there that refer to your websites.

If you require some fotware, you might want to try WSFTP (http://www.ipswitch.com/) or Cute FTP (http://www.cuteftp.com/)

[TWD-Tony]

By Default cPanel asks for a folder inside the public_html folder, the simple answer would be to create a folder inside public_html called "/FTP" or something similar and then use that?

Or you can set your FTP client to connect to the /public_ftp folder by default?

[Rob Holmes]

William - we don't use cpanel but I had a quick look at it and I can't see that you can create special areas for individuals to ftp into. Sorry if I've missed the feature - here are a couple of other options..

Maybe use a file upload manager script (free) or create a sub-domain and get them to ftp into there?

Rob

[William Wilson]

The ftp is not for me to upload with I already have and use that, it's to create a customer upload folder that they can send their photos to me.

[confused]

I've never used cpanel, but, when you create a new account, surely you are able to determine what the users home folder is, whether they are allowed to go outside of it, what permissions they have? Once you figure that out, then your problem is solved!
BE SURE to create a few test users and TEST the security.

[William Wilson]

I created this folder www.williamwilsonfineart.com/ftp_upload it has user and password set but you cannot upload to it, if anyone wants to try it out feel free.

It should be easy but then again.....

[confused]

ok,

Thats not an FTP server, its part of your website, you can have an ftp server running as well as your site (of course) it needs to run on port 21.

if I click that link I get a directory listing, I can also go to parent directory which is a few images
If I connect with my ftp client (cuteftp) I get the following:

STATUS:> Receiving reply...
HTTP/1.1 405 Method Not Allowed
Date: Thu, 08 Dec 2005 19:13:44 GMT
Server: Apache/1.3.34 (Unix) mod_fastcgi/2.4.2 mod_gzip/1.3.26.1a mod_auth_passthrough/1.8 mod_log_bytes/1.2 mod_bwlimited/1.4 PHP/4.4.0 FrontPage/5.0.2.2635 mod_ssl/2.8.25 OpenSSL/0.9.7a
Allow: GET, HEAD, OPTIONS, TRACE
Connection: close
Transfer-Encoding: chunked
Content-Type: text/html; charset=iso-8859-1

which basically says I have no write access to it, which of course since its a web server not an FTP, I'm not supposed to be able to !

by the way, in my previous post I mentioned security? I can see your assets folder, commerca/fineart/printing and some slow loading counter.

[William Wilson]

Exactly why does cPanel create the ftp in the public_html area instead of the ftp server area?

Thanks confused I will set the permissions on the assets folder

[confused]

Exactly why does cPanel create the ftp in the public_html area instead of the ftp server area
No idea I'm afraid, never used it.

BTW I just connected on port21 now ! I dont know if you changed anything or maybe it was the fact I had a browser open with your above link and cuteftp picked it up and used port80

[William Wilson]

Thanks confused, that's just a test folder I will keep on reading and asking thanks again.

Did you get port21 through the ftp logon?

[TWD-Tony]

cPanel creates FTP accounts with the default public_html folder because it assumes you want to create a folder for bob called /bob and folder for john called /john etc.
If bob logs-in (via FTP) using his details then he will automatically go to the /bob folder and only have access to the files & folders within it.
You can also switch off the directory listing via cPanel so that people cannot see the files within by visiting the link...

Are you trying to create a generic log-in for clients or multi-user access?

If you want something simple for clients to upload to then you should use a upload script as mentioned above :wink:

[confused]

ok heres whats happening

If I go to the above link, it begins with www so immediatly it sends me to the web page mentioned above.

if I use my ftp client and connect to williamwilsonfineart.com/ftp_upload port 21 then I now get an empty directory whos name I cant see (which is I assume what you want) however it wont let me upload anything (I tried to upload a txt doc to test it), but also it wont let be go outside of this folder now (good)

[TWD-Tony]

ok heres whats happening

If I go to the above link, it begins with www so immediatly it sends me to the web page mentioned above.

if I use my ftp client and connect to williamwilsonfineart.com/ftp_upload port 21 then I now get an empty directory whos name I cant see (which is I assume what you want) however it wont let me upload anything (I tried to upload a txt doc to test it), but also it wont let be go outside of this folder now (good)

How are you logging in? what username & password? or is it annonymous...?

[William Wilson]

I see where you are coming from but surely thefacility should work straight from the browser without having to use a dedicated ftp uploader. My customers wouldn't have a clue.

http://www.visn.co.uk/cpanel-docs/adding-ftp-account.html

[TWD-Tony]

Well, if you want anonymous FTP access to your site with the ability for anyone to upload anything to the server then you are asking for BIG BIG trouble and probably being booted by your host...

The security implications are massive, imagine if a spammer uploaded a CGI script and the whole server got blacklisted! Your host would be less than impressed!

You need a simple upload script that will only allow files with a certain extension(s) - .gif & .jpg for images etc... and the ability to block anything with other extensions :wink:

[William Wilson]

I don't want anonymous it's for customers they will be given a user name and password.

This is only the documentation example.

[TWD-Tony]

I don't want anonymous it's for customers they will be given a user name and password.

This is only the documentation example.

Okay - sorry for the confusion, I still think something that you can create "accounts" for that will only allow certain files to be uploaded would be better than FTP though... It's obvious that the system needs to be simple - something like when you attach a file to a forum post... Just click, browse to the file and click.... Job Done :D

What type of files are we talking about here? and how many clients (are they regular clients etc...)

[William Wilson]

Photo images - JPEGS, TIFFs, PSD are the commonest types. A scrpit may be the best route these files can be 32M for a 16bit PSD.

[confused]

I dont knw how well up you are on website programming, theres a few asp scripts on the net that do uploads, might be worth a google?

[William Wilson]

Just a dabbler, it’s just a little area I need solving asap. I will look for scripts first port of call was to ask.

[confused]

http://www.freeaspupload.net/
is a starting point, I cant find the one I had in mind, a google for asp upload should hopefully get you going, I dont know if this is the best way, but once implemented its pretty easy for users to use. Bear in mind the size of the files you mention, I wouldnt like to upload 12 meg on a 56k !

[William Wilson]

Neither would I some just send CD's but most have broadband.

Thanks for the link.

[TWD-Tony]

A good source for scripts is www.hotscripts.com ;)