Defining Users

This is the only part of the FTP Share package where a few explanations could be of some help…

The FTP Users Folder

The users you define through the FTP Share Users application are stored as files, and they must be kept in the same folder as the application if you want them to be recognized by the FTP server. This FTP Users folder can be stored anywhere on your hard disk. As for any other folder, you can have views by icons, small icons or sorted by name.

The following picture shows a convenient way to organize this folder :

 

The Entry Folders

You must define for each user an "Entry Folder" which is the folder that the user will first have access to when opening a session with the FTP server. A user has access to all the files and folders included in its Entry Folder. You can also define its access privilege to these items : Read-Only, Write-Only or Read-and-Write.

In the exemple above, the Entry Folder for the "anonymous" user is the "public" folder; "admin" and "arnold" have access to "superusers"; "arthur", "george" and "sam" to "users". An Entry Folder can contain files, folders or aliases. In this exemple, if the "anonymous" user asks to receive the "ideas alias" file, it will not receive the alias but the original file. Similarly, the "admin" user can send the Change Directory command specifying the "Server" AppleShare volume alias: in which case the volume is automatically mounted provided that the AppleShare File Server does not require a password.

Important : For security reasons, if the alias of a folder is not directly included in the Entry Folder, in the "FTP Users" folder or in one of their sub-directories, the user will not be allowed to enter in the original folder. Thus, in the exemple above, "admin" and "arnold" will not able to enter in the folders which have an alias stored in the "projects" folder.

The Users icons

When configuring a user profile, if you do not check "Allow user to connect" or "Allow guest to connect", an X appears through the user's icon. Note the difference between a user and a guest icon :