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Letting Other Users Access Files on Your Workstation

You can use the FTP Server to make files on your workstation available to other users. If you run the FTP Server on your workstation, other users can use their FTP client to copy files to their system. You can also allow other users to put files on your workstation.

This section includes:

Starting and Stopping the FTP Server

To start the FTP Server application on Windows 95, choose it from the Cisco Suite 100 group on the Start menu. On Windows 3.x, double-click the FTP Server icon in the Cisco Suite 100 group.

While the FTP Server application is running and started, authorized users can access files on your system. If the FTP Server is not running or is stopped, other users cannot access files on your system using FTP even if they are authorized.

Once the FTP Server application is running, start the FTP Server by clicking the Start button or choosing Start Server from the Configure menu.

To stop the FTP Server, click the Stop button in the toolbar or choose Stop Server from the Configure menu. Exit the application by clicking the Exit button or choosing Exit from the File menu.

Authorizing Users to Connect to Your Workstation

Before users can access files on your system using FTP, you must authorize them. Authorizing users includes defining user names and passwords, identifying the directories they can access, and setting access privileges for files.

This section includes these topics:

Adding New Users

To authorize users so that they can access files on your workstation using FTP:

  1. In the FTP Server application window, click the Users button or choose Users... from the Configure menu. The Configure Users dialog box appears.
  2. Click the Add... button.

    The Add User dialog box appears.

  3. In the User Name field, enter the user's login name.
  4. In the Password field, enter the user's password.

    If you do not enter a password, FTP Server asks you to confirm that you do not want to require a password for this user.

  5. Add each directory the user should be able to access by clicking the Add button and selecting the directory. Users can access any subdirectories to the directories you add.
  6. Select one directory as the user's home directory and click the Set As Home Directory button. This is the directory that first appears when the user connects to your FTP Server.
  7. In the Privileges group, check and clear the check boxes as desired for each directory (select the directory before changing the privileges):
  8. Click OK.

    The user appears in the Users list in the Configure Users dialog box.

Modifying User Information

To modify passwords or privilege information for existing users:

  1. Click the Users button on the toolbar or choose Users... from the Configure menu. The Configure Users dialog box appears.
  2. In the Users list, double-click the name whose access you want to change, or select the name and click the Modify... button. The Modify User dialog box appears.
  3. Change the information as desired.
  4. Click OK.

    The changes take effect the next time the user logs in.

Deleting Users

To remove a user who no longer needs access to your system:

  1. Click the Users button on the toolbar or choose Users... from the Configure menu. The Configure Users dialog box appears.
  2. Select the user you want to remove from the list of users who can access your system.
  3. Click the Delete button.

    FTP Server asks you to confirm the deletion.

  4. Click Yes to delete the selected user.

    FTP Server removes the user from the Users list.

Setting Up an Anonymous FTP Server

Setting up an anonymous FTP server is similar to setting up an FTP server that has specific user names and passwords. The only difference is that, when authorizing users, you also authorize the user name anonymous and leave the password field blank.

Anonymous FTP servers usually only allow list and read access to the server. You might also want to limit anonymous access to a special subdirectory that only contains the files you are willing to share with any user that finds out about your anonymous FTP server.

See "Adding New Users" on page 80 for information on authorizing users to access your FTP server.

Limiting User Access to Specific Directories

To protect the security of your workstation, ensure that you appropriately limit a user's access to the directories on your system.

When you add or modify user access, you can set the directories to which the user has access. Because you can give a single user access to more than one directory, you can limit the user to only those directories that contain files you want to make available.

This way you can ensure that your private files remain private, while you share the files you want to share.


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