FTP Setup questions from a complete newb

Ok, I’m looking for any advice on how to create a simple FTP site. I downloaded CoreFTP LE and Core FTP server and installed them both. What I’m looking to do is to create a folder on my F: drive so people can access it. However, when setting up Core FTP, it asks for a URL. Do I have to create a website from scratch where I can direct my users to go? For example, do I have to create an HTML file? Basically, I want to be able to say to someone, go to ftp:\mysite.com and they would see a folder labeled “Uploads” in their browser. Does the CoreFTP software automatically create an FTP site for you? I’m completely new at this so any help is appreciated!

Not clear - are you asking about the URL for the server or the client?

In (almost) any situation, the IP address will substitute for the site name.
Inside your router, you could use 192.168.0.100 (as an example) instead of a domain name URL.
Outside your router:
Google “what is my IP address?” This is your address on the real internet, may change from time to time, but not often - usually.
In your router, port forward FTP/port 21 to the internal IP address of your PC with the F: drive and coreFTP Server.
Outside users go to your IP address instead of a URL/Domain. (ie. in client, something like 44.9.146.22 - in your browser, ftp://44.9.146.22 )

the whole thing about URL/Domain for certificate for SSL, is to generate a simple self-signed certificate so that users are warned when they connect “this computer is claiming it is ‘ftp.mydomain.com’ but that claim is not commercially guaranteed by VeriSign/godaddy/Microsoft etc.” If that’s not important to you, ignore.

Warning - FTP is insecure. People out there scan for open FT ports. Don’t allow anonymous access unless you don’t mind the whole world reading your served files. Don’t allow anonymous upload, or someone may be kicking in your door for hosting illegal content. Don’t create user logons like “user” with “password”. Etc. When handing out user logons, make them disabled when that person has no reason to connect any more.

Your site has to be on the internet. In other words your own http. If you are a regular user (like the majority of users) you can only connect to the internet. Users must be able to connect to you in order to FTP.

You can for not much $$ rent space from a provider (or host) and use that as the FTP target. For around $100 bucks you can get a goodly supply of mega bytes with which you FTP from and to.

I’m a bit confused here. You say I need my own http. How do I use an http as an ftp site?

Lukeinva’s info is not accurate. Whether that’s lack of knowledge or failure to communicate clearly I can’t say.

http has exactly zero to do with ftp. You have no need for anything http-ish to create an ftp server.

You are right and it’s my bad explanation. What the OP has to be is addressable, www is an address (not http my bad).

You need to have an established file server on the Internet. You use FTP to transfer files to and from that server. By providing connection details to friends, all of you can upload/download files (via FTP) and share them. CoreFTP is just a tool that allows you to do that.

It’s possible to use your own computer to act as a file server so your friends can connect to it via your ISP connection using CoreFTP. However, your ISP may not allow for this. You also risk exposing your computer to others you will never know about who will gain access to your computer beyond what you think you have allowed.

However, based on your initial post, and second “I’m confused,” post, right now, until you get some basics well understood, use DropBox or similar. You can thank me later.

+1. FTP does have its uses, but they’re pretty specific these days. And it carries significant risks. It’s not something I’d recommend for anyone who doesn’t know exactly what they’re doing and why.

Thanks for all the good info. What I’m trying to do is setup an easy to use access point so clients can go to my ftp site, download a clientside executable (in this case VNC viewer) so I can log onto their computer remotely. VNC was free but it requires the client to download the executable and run it so I can gain access.

If you are doing this at home with a home internet connection you will need to use a DDNS service. The issue is your home IP address changes on a residential service. Dynamic DNS allows you to setup a host name (e.g. DarthHamsandwich.ddns.com) which will always point to your home machine. My Dyn Account is a good start but they are not free. That said they are pretty cheap (starts at $25/year and they have a trial so you can try it out). Not sure there are any free DDNS services but have a look. There are lots of other companies providing that service so worth shopping around.

Then you can use something like FileZilla (free, open source FTP software) to enable a connection.

Note you may have to open ports on your router/firewall (typically Port 21 I think). Some AV software may interfere too. They should allow a means to enable it though.

NOTE: This will almost certainly violate your TOS with your ISP. I have never seen a home connection from the major ISPs that allows you to setup a home server. That said they usually ignore it unless you are doing some serious traffic or something illegal (e.g. hosting torrents or something). Still, they could at any time come down on you for it so be aware of that.

One more thing (missed the edit window):

FTP will be SLOW as hell on a home ISP. Pretty much ALL home connections are really fast pipes down and slow up. More accurately they are fat pipes down and thin pipes up. When you see speeds advertised as 50/5 that is what is happening. 50 Mb/s down and 5 Mb/s up. Thing is when someone is accessing your FTP server there will always be that 5 Mb/s bottleneck.

There are symmetric packages available (e.g 50/50) but they are very expensive and frankly overkill in most cases. You’ll know if you need that. Most people don’t. For a bit of FTP here and there the limitations are doable.

Frankly you might be better off with a Cloud service (Amazon, ITunes, Dropbox, etc.). Worth checking out.

Is there a reason why the client needs to get the executable from your ftp? Is not putting it up on the cloud and then sharing it from there not feasible?

I’m not sure what VNC being free has to do with your clients being able to download and execute it…?

Also, you say that you want to gain access to the client’s computer but you’re going to have them download the viewer? I thought the viewer was used to gain access, and the target machine needed the VNC module.

So this is your real motivation? Get out of overkill mode and just get your clients to download/install Teamviewer. Then have then call you. You talk them through the install, the connection details and away you go.

I agree that you shouldn’t self-host this. It offers very little benefit over something like Dropbox or Google Sites or nearlyfreespeech.net. The first two are free and don’t actually use FTP; they just give your users a HTTP download page (which is probably better anyway, because you never know who is blocking FTP). The latter gives you an actual FTP and/or HTTP server for a few pennies a month.

FTP doesn’t require HTTP or a domain name (www. anything) or dynamic DNS. The people who said that are wrong. You just have to give your client a new FTP address every time your IP address changes (and that’s annoying – another reason to host it in the cloud, not off your computer).

If you’re primarily supporting Windows users, you can also use Window’s built in Remote Assistance feature, which is much faster than VNC-based programs. RDP knows how the Windows UI works and sends that information at a lower level rather than streaming a video of the whole desktop the way VNC does. It is much more bandwidth-efficient. The downside is that it doesn’t always play well with firewalls and port forwarding, but it’s still worth a try.

yes, it provides the directory tree you point it to. It does not require html files to be configured.
Seems pretty simple

  1. get it working in the LAN environment
  2. If your home Internet IP address changes , then you need to setup dynamic DNS
  3. You need to be able to test as if from outside the internet… It may not be able to test from your home , because some routers don’t let you talk to the routers outside ip address. VPN could allow this test. ( it bypasses the router, so the connection to the router is logically from the outside of it.)
  4. Some routers cause problems for FTP active mode , for the client end, and then the client (the people who use the upload directory ) can use passive mode.
    Passive mode then becomes a problem for you to configure…

a. You need to configure, or at least determine, passive mode ports for your ftp server
b. You then configure port forwards and other rules for tcp for 20,21 and the passive mode ports in your router/firewall…

you can just say passive mode is not allowed, but then the client may have issues. many routers do have internal smarts to fix up ftp active mode, so that is why it can be patchy, it can make it seem so simple for some, but then its complicated for others.
A possible alternative is SFTP protocol. This is more secure and simplifies config.

This is still incorrect, actually. It’s technically possible to configure www.mysite.com as an FTP server, but it wouldn’t make any sense unless it was just a secondary to accommodate people who type www reflexively. www is known worldwide to refer to the World Wide Web which uses http. An FTP server’s domain should be ftp.mysite.com or just mysite.com or even files.mysite.com would be fine as long as you tell everyone that’s for FTP. Pretty much any domain name in the universe would be more clear for an FTP site than www.mysite.com.

Whoa, was I ever in overkill mode! My thanks again for all the good advice, but TeamViewer seems the simplest way to go. Just tested it out now and was easily able to connect to a friends computer.