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Anonymous FTP Services

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Almost all accounts at Pair Networks are eligible to serve files through anonymous FTP, as well as the Web. Only WP Enthusiast and WP Professional accounts do not have access to to anonymous FTP or virtual FTP.

To request an anonymous FTP directory for your account, please use Account Control Center (ACC).

There is no cost for adding this service to your account. Please note that your domain name must use Dedicated IP domain hosting to use Virtual FTP, which is needed for anonymous FTP services. The steps to enable Virtual FTP are:

  1. Log in to the Account Control Center
  2. Select Domains
  3. Select Manage Your Domain Names
  4. Select the domain name for which you want to set up Virtual FTP
  5. Select Modify Virtual FTP Settings
  6. Select Enable Virtual FTP

Where will I place the files I want to be FTP-accessible?

A "public_ftp" link will be placed in your account's home directory once you enable Virtual FTP. You can use that to access your ftp directory (direct path: /usr/public_ftp/USERNAME). Replace "USERNAME" with your Pair Networks USERNAME.

How to Access FTP from the Browser

To access your files from your browser, use the URL:

ftp.example.com

Change the example in the URL to match the domain name that has FTP. This will allow you to access the files from your browser.

How many domains can I add FTP to?

You can add anonymous FTP to any (or every) domain name on your account. Those domain names, however, must use Dedicated IP domain hosting.

Where will files be mapped to if I add FTP to more than one domain?

Starting with your second domain name signed up for anonymous FTP, each will be mapped to a subdirectory of the main FTP directory noted in the first question. (e.g. if your second domain name was example.org, it might be mapped to /usr/public_ftp/USERNAME/example.org). Replace "USERNAME" with your Pair Networks USERNAME.

What name will people use to access my FTP tree?

Individuals should access your FTP tree by logging into the account using the word "anonymous" as the username and by entering whatever password you wish. It is standard practice, however, for the person accessing your FTP tree to use their email address as the password so that the administrator of your hosting account can see who is using the service.

How can users upload files through my FTP site?

If you would like people to be able to upload files to your FTP site, create a subdirectory named "incoming" under your FTP directory, and set the subdirectory's file permissions to be "world-writable" (chmod 733) using a terminal window. The "incoming" directory has special meaning to our FTP software (NcFTPd), and people will be able to upload files into the "incoming" subdirectory.

The "incoming" directory will have "write-only" permissions, which means people will not be able to download the files that have already been uploaded into it. Such permission settings are a security precaution. A directory that can be both "written to" and "read from" is an open invitation for software pirates to traffic software through your site.

How can I get logs of my FTP traffic?

In your home directory, create a directory named "ftp_logs" (with no quotes) -- for security reasons, you'll probably want to keep set the directory permissions to 700 using the "chmod" command on a terminal window. Starting with that night, you'll receive a report of your FTP traffic on a nightly basis. The data is formatted in such a way that Web log analyzers such as Analog or Webalizer may be used to generate statistics.

Updated on February 28, 2022

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