This tutorial outlines the process of creating an FTP directory on VISI's FTP server via the UNIX shell. It assumes some knowledge of the UNIX shell. If you have no experience with UNIX, the UNIXhelp web page is a good place to start learning about it.
Table of Contents
All user FTP directories reside in the /ftp/users directory on the FTP server. First, you must change directory to this directory using the "cd" command.
cd /ftp/users
Next, create a directory using the "mkdir" command. The directory must be named your username. Directories created under names other than your username will be deleted without notice.
mkdir username
UNIX file permissions control who can read, write, or execute a file. There are three groups of permissions: User, Group, and Other. User is the owner of the file, Group and Other are usually treated identically as everyone else. World is all three groups (everyone). A user needs read permission to read a file, and execute permission to run a script or enter a directory.
Your FTP directory must be at least world executable so that anyone can access files inside it. You may also want to make it world readable so that anyone can read the directory for a list of files. You can change file permissions using the "chmod" command.
chmod a+rX /ftp/users/username
Any file you want anyone to be able to access must be world readable. Any subdirectory you want the server to be able to access must be at least world executable, you may also want to make it world readable. You can set correct file permissions for your entire FTP directory (including files and subdirectories) with the following command...
chmod -R a+rX /ftp/users/username
To create a directory where others can upload files to you, change directory to your FTP directory and create a directory using the "mkdir" command. The directory should be named incoming.
mkdir incoming
Your incoming directory must be at least world executable so that anyone can access files inside it, and world writable so that anyone can upload a file to it. You may not want to make it world readable, so that only you can read the directory for a list of files. This blocks others from using your incoming directory as an anonymous distribution for pirated software, etc. You can change file permissions using the "chmod" command.
chmod a+wX,go-r incoming
You can set correct file permissions for your entire incoming directory (including files and subdirectories) with the following command...
chmod -R a+wX,go-r /ftp/users/username/incoming
To access your FTP directory as yourself, run an FTP program and open a new connection to ftp.visi.com. Login using your username and password. If your FTP program allows you to specify an initial or starting directory, set it to /ftp/users/username, where username is your username. Otherwise, you must change directory to this directory after logging on.
For others to access your FTP directory, they must run an FTP program and open a new connection to "ftp.visi.com". They should login by specifying their login name as "anonymous" or "ftp" and their password as their email address. If their FTP program allows them to specify an initial or starting directory, they should set it to "/users/username", where username is your username. Otherwise, they must change directory to this directory after logging on.
For others accessing your FTP directory using a web browser, the URL address of your FTP directory is...
ftp://ftp.visi.com/users/username/
Where username is your username.
The full URL address of any given file is...
ftp://ftp.visi.com/users/username/path/file.ext
Where username is your username, path/ is the path of subdirectories (if any, relative to your FTP directory), and file.ext is the full filename.