FTP server in the Cloud

Parent page: CC-Cloud

Better alternatives to FTP

If you have the freedom to choose an alternative to FTP, consider the following options.

• If you are considering anonymous FTP...
  • ...for read-only access : Use HTTP. See Creating a web server on a cloud
  • ...for read/write access: The security risks of accepting anonymous incoming file transfers are very great. Please contact us and describe your use case so we can help you find a secure solution.
• If you plan to authenticate FTP users (that is, require usernames and passwords)...
  • ...a safer and easier alternative is SFTP.
  • Another alternative is FTPS, which is an extension of FTP which uses TLS to encrypt data sent and received.

When authenticating users via passwords the transmitted data should be encrypted or else an eavesdropper could discover the password. We strongly recommend that you not allow password logins to your VM, as automated brute-force attempts to crack passwords can be expected on any machine connected to the internet. Instead, use ssh-key authentication (see SSH Keys). SFTP can be configured to use ssh-key authentication.

Setting up FTP

If you do not have freedom to choose an alternative to FTP, see the guide below which best matches your operating system

• Ubuntu guide
• CentOS 6 guide

The ports that FTP uses must be open on your VM; see this page for information about opening ports. FTP uses port 21 to initiate file transfer requests, but the actual transfer can take place on a randomly chosen port above port 1025, though the details of this can vary depending on the mode with which FTP operates in. For example, port 20 can also be involved. This means that to allow FTP access on your VM you must open port 21, possibly port 20, and probably ports 1025 and above. Every open port represents a security risk, which is why other protocols are preferred to FTP. See this article for more details on ports used by FTP.

File Transfer Protocol

HyperText Transfer Protocol