FTP: who is hosting their own? What software to use?

[Dub]

We currently have an offsite ISP hosting our website as well as basically a password protected folder on the back end that we use for a FTP site. Who is hosting their own and what is the best software to use? I would like to find something that also has some sort of notification when files are uploaded if there is such an ability so I don't have to check it all the time. Easy account management would also be great.

thanks in advnace for any info or help...

Dub

Mac OS X Server. That's what I use.
Good luck.
Vee

[fuzorsilverbolt]

For the best reliability and easiest setup you should use Fedora Linux (Redhat's Free OS) and use VsFTPD as your FTP daemon. http://fedoraproject.org/wiki/. Feodra has come a really really really long way from what it was when I last used it back as redhat 9. The screenshot of the GUI looks awesome on their website and the last time I installed fedora core 2, it was really easy. The installation is much better than windows because it doesn't treat you like you are stupid and gives you lots of options during install unlike (vista/xp). You can choose to install the graphical desktop or not to install the graphical desktop in the installer.

If you need more reliability and don't want to deal with the sometimes annoying redhat/fedora RPM packaging system, don't want a gui desktop (out-of-the-box) and would like to compile your own binaries you can grab a copy of FreeBSD 6.2 www.freebsd.org and be able to choose a whole bunch of FTP daemons to fit your liking, of course VsFTPD, WUFTPD, and proFTPD are available options in the ports collection that compile right out of the box and are rock solid. proFTPD even has a MySQL backend option that you could use for large FTP sites.

We use FreeBSD 6.2 running WUFTPD. No downtime whatsoever. No GUI overhead. No Mac crap. No Windows crap. No graphical user interface crap. Perfect server environment.

IMHO, Mac OS X has it's place in the desktop environment but will NEVER be an option on any of my servers. Espcially since it doesn't like to compile PERL DBI driver DBD::mysql, it will never be considered a server of any kind in my book. Server incompatible with "standard/mature" PERL CPAN libraries = TRASH!

To each his own.
My XServe does everything I need it to. Period.
FTP, Web, Email, Users/Groups, File server, etc.
Good price point. Never breaks. Mac ease of use.
Works here.... with NO down time, ever - in 5 + years. :wink:
Again, good luck...

[mattbeals]

If you're just looking for a simple to manage FTP server then there are two for Mac OS X to try out.

Pure FTPD is an open source FTP server that has a very simple yet functional admin interface called Pure FTPd Manager. It will run on most any OS X desktop that can run Mac OS X 10.2. Until my G3 died that's what I was using. It was really simple. Running it on a Mini or a G3 is perfect since it doesn't take much overhead for RAM or CPU power. A lot of ISP's use it, that's probably it's biggest claim to fame. If you want to hook it up to SQL database for authentication you can do that too. Besides, it's free and it runs native on OSX. So chances are you've already got the hardware and knowledge of the OS.

The other one is Rumpus. It's relatively in expensive depending on the number of concurrent users you have. It has email notifications for uploads, groupings to organize users, and upload notifications. It even has a built in web interface for those that are scared by "FTP". You can skin the web interface to look like your existing site. Users and the server can be managed over https. It runs as an application last time I used it. It may run as a daemon now. I think you can even upload a CSV or a text file through the GUI to add in your user information. And again, it runs on hardware you already have and an OS you're already familiar with.

If you have someone familiar with Linux, BSD, etc then Fedora is a great way to go. If you don't, stick with what you know; Mac OS X.

[Jalan]

OSX Server here. We use it to control emails, ftp and our website. Works well and it's an interface I'm familiar with.

[afrazier]

Gene6 Server on Windows 2003. Has a plugin for email on upload.

[SlaveToTheMan]

On a somewhat related note, is anybody using an automated system for their clients? We're trying to distribute something like iDropper mentioned in the PPF PPF Front Page recently but that app has some shortcomings right now. Anything similar that can be configured & sent to clients on both platforms that would enable them to upload with actually running an FTP application?

[BigD]

We hare running 3 ftp sites using Windows 2000 server running IIS.

We are upgrading to a Windows 2003 server running Serv-U - three sites merged together on the one box.

[frailer]

By mattbeals...Pure FTPD is an open source FTP server that has a very simple yet functional admin interface called Pure FTPd Manager. It will run on most any OS X desktop that can run Mac OS X 10.2

Great thread. Been at the back of my mind for a while. What sort of SysAdmin skills are we talking to download Pure FTPD and get it running? Do you have to notify your ISP? Sorry the questions are basic, but would love to have a stab at it