Control Panel - User Guide.

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Managing FTP/Virtual FTP Accounts
For more information contact us at techsupport@hostingsolutions.com

FTP (File Transfer Protocol) is an Internet tool which allows a user on one host to access and transfer files to and from another host over the network. Control Panel uses FTP for two different purposes:

To access the FTP User or Virtual FTP Server pages, open FTP/User Account menu:

 

Transferring files from your local computer to your user directory on the hosting server (FTP User)

General

The FTP User page shows your general FTP User information:

where:

  • Login: your FTP username. WebShell and HTAccess are file management and authentication management tools (see below for details).
  • Password: click the CHANGE icon to change your FTP User password.
  • Quota: the disk space allocated for all your sites. Click the CHANGE icon to increase or decrease your quota. When you set your quota to exceed the default free amount, you are charged for this difference.
  • Transfer FTP: set the monthly traffic for your host name FTP access. This traffic is generated if you use shared IP to administrate your account. If you administrate your account through dedicated IP, you will run up virtual FTP traffic.
  • Group: the group your account belongs to. It is used for hosting administration purposes.
  • Home directory: the path to the directory on the server where your site is located. It is used for hosting administration purposes.
  • Host name: the back door address. Use it to manage files in your directory on the server through FTP . One for all sites. To manage files in your directory on the server through HTTP, use WebShell.
  • Domain name: the front door address used by visitors to enter your site. Click the domain name to go to the Domain Info page.
  • Crontab : the module that allows you to clock and run your own Unix shell scripts automatically. It is available only in Unix-based plans and requires the knowledge of Unix shell commands. The e-mail address is where the system will direct reports if errors occur.
  • Shell Access : this feature allows you to access and operate your system through Shell. As Shell provides more extensive abilities than FTP (such as running scripts etc.) and requires the knowledge of Unix Shell commands which is not very common, it is disabled by default. To enable the Shell Access, you have to get the admin permission.
  • FTP sub-accounts : Internet users authorized to enter your home directory on the server. They have full FTP permissions to your home directory, but are not entitled to enter the control panel. No dedicated IP is required for FTP sub-accounts. Although each FTP sub-account has different from the original FTP 'account' login, both have the same ID. FTP subdomains traffic is included in the Total/Summary traffic, however, you can always see how much FTP traffic has been run up by your 'FTP sub-user'. Also, you can set the limit for his traffic. To view/change your FTP sub-account settings click the Edit icon next to his login.

WebShell

Webshell is a server-side application. If you are new to the Unix system, WebShell will simplify the daunting task of Unix file management. At the same time it will provide the more advanced users with a visual and easily accessible interface. Because it works through the your browser, WebShell lets you or your customers get at the needed files from virtually any computer in the world. And since it can be used with a secure web server, you do not have to sacrifice security for ease of use. You can access WebShell by clicking its link next to your login name.

HTAccess

HTAccess is another server-side application designed to simplify authentication management for Apache web server. It lets you to easily and quickly set or remove password protection and manage access privileges for selected web site directories. To enter HTAccess page, click its link next to your login name.

Also, please read the Uploading you site info to learn more on uploading your files to the hosting server.

 

Enabling Internet users to download, upload or view files in your FTP directories (Virtual FTP Server)

Virtual FTP Server allows other guest Internet users to download, upload or view files in your FTP directories on the hosting server

Enabling Virtual FTP Server

The FTP page, FTP/User Accountmenu, provides access to the Virtual FTP Server settings. By default, Virtual FTP Server is disabled:

It can be enabled only if you have a dedicated IP. Initially you have a shared IP. To obtain a dedicated IP address, go to the Domain Settings page and click the Change to Dedicated IP link. For more details on the difference between dedicated IP and shared IP, read here.

After you have obtained a dedicated IP, your FTP page will look as follows:

where:

    Domain name: the domain name used by guest users to connect to your Virtual FTP Server, alternatively to the IP address.

    FTP: the OFF button shows that your Virtual FTP Server is disabled. Read the next paragraph on the Virtual FTP Server.

    Anonymous FTP: the tool that allows guest users to connect to your Virtual FTP directories, view, download or upload files. By using the special user-id "anonymous", the guest user will bypass security checks and have access to files in your Virtual FTP directory. Read below on Anonymous FTP access.

Adding New Virtual FTP Host

Now that you have obtained a dedicated IP, click the FTP ON/OFF button to create a new Virtual FTP host:

This will open a new window:

where:

    Main Login Name: your login to connect to your Virtual FTP server. It's always the same as your FTP User login. You can get to your Virtual FTP server by the domain name or the dedicated IP it is mapped with.

    Home Directory: the directory on the server where all your files are located.

    Main Password: the password to access your Virtual FTP server. It's always the same as your FTP User password.

    Name of the Server: the name that will appear in the welcome message when guest users connect to your Virtual FTP server.

    E-mail of the Administrator: enter an e-mail by which guest users can reach you with their questions or comments.

Configuring FTP Virtual Host

Now Virtual FTP Server is installed and you can view or edit its configuration by clicking the Edit icon that has appeared next to the FTP ON/OFF button for the selected domain.

This will open the Virtual FTP host page:

where:

    Main Login Name: your login to connect to your Virtual FTP server. It's always the same as your FTP User login. You can get to your Virtual FTP server by the domain name or the dedicated IP it is mapped with.

    Home Directory: the directory on the server where all your files are located.

    Main Password: the password to access your Virtual FTP server. It's always the same as your FTP User password

    Name of the server: the name that will appear in the welcome message when guest users connect to your Virtual FTP server.

    E-mail of the administrator: your e-mail by which users can reach you with their questions or comments.

    IP Address of the FTP Server: the dedicated IP of your Virtual FTP server used by authorized or anonymous FTP users, alternatively to your domain name.

    Virtual FTP Traffic: This traffic is generated by all your anonymous/authorized FTP users. Click the limit value or the Edit icon next to the limit value to set the monthly Virtual FTP traffic you expect to run up using the FTP server IP address:



    The traffic that goes beyond this limit will be charged at a higher excess rate.

    Virtual FTP Users: guest users authorized to use your FTP directory. To add guest users who will be authorized to use your FTP directory click the Add icon. To change password for a specific guest user, click this user's name or the Change icon. The following window will appear:

    Virtual FTP Directories: click the Add icon to create a folder you can share with your guest Virtual FTP users. To edit the list of authorized users or permissions to this directory, click the directory name or the Edit icon (see more).

    Anonymous FTP: click the ON/OFF button to enable or disable anonymous FTP access to your Anonymous FTP directory which will be created automatically in your root. Anonymous FTP visitors will be able only to view and download the files from this directory.

    Anonymous FTP Upload Facilities: click the ON/OFF button to create/remove the directory within your Anonymous FTP directory (see above) to enable your anonymous FTP visitors to upload the files. After the upload, these files will be accessible only for you. Be aware that this directory can be created only when Anonymous FTP access is activated.

More on Virtual FTP Directory

To create a new virtual FTP directory, enter the directory name and set permissions:

Directory: The directory will be created relative to root, i.e. your home directory. For example, if you enter Dir1, this directory will be created right in the root. To modify this default, you should also include the path, for example UserDirs/Dir1.

Permissions:

Read: allow or forbid downloading files in the Virtual FTP directory.

Write: allow or forbid uploading files to the Virtual FTP directory.

List: allow or forbid viewing / browsing the contents of the directory. It is usually used jointly with Read.

Grant Permissions to all users:

    If you set this property as checked, all virtual FTP users will be granted the permissions you are setting.

    If you leave this property unchecked, you will have to define which of your FTP users will be granted these permissions. For instructions see the next paragraph.

Authorize Virtual FTP Users

To edit permissions to the directory, click the name of the directory or the Edit link. You will be taken to the Update Virtual FTP Directory page:



If you don't grant permissions for all users, you will have to authorize each user individually by clicking the Add icon in the Authorized users section. Here you can add and remove users authorized to work with this directory and change their passwords.

Enabling Anonymous FTP and Anonymous FTP Upload Facilities

When you enable the Anonymous FTP access, a special directory is automatically created in your root directory. This directory can be accessed by all Internet users to view and download its content by FTP.

Anonymous FTP becomes available only after you create a Virtual FTP server. You can enable or disable Anonymous FTP access either from the FTP page or from the Virtual FTP Host page by clicking the ON/OFF button in the Anonymous FTP section.

If you want anonymous FTP users to upload files, you have to enable Anonymous FTP Upload Facilities by clicking the ON/OFF button. NOTE: This section will appear on the Virtual FTP Host page only after you have activated Anonymous FTP. When you enable Anonymous FTP Upload Facilities, a special directory is automatically created in the Anonymous FTP directory.

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