Cloud Services » FTP proxy

FTP is a protocol that allows a user to upload files to a server, without having to provide full access to it (SSH or remote desktop). It is important to remember that FTP is an old and insecure protocol, so if you are concerned about password and data security, we recommend using modern protocols like SCP, sFTP or Remote Desktop for file transfer.

The tool "FTP proxy" on Cloud-Bricks, allows a virtual machine without a public IP address to operate as a public FTP server on the Internet.

To do so, the VM must have either a Private IP or an IPv4 NAT address, (see types of IP addresses) and must be configured with proper FTP management software.

Create a virtual machine with FTP Service

These are basic instructions about how to install FTP management software on both Linux and Windows.

For more detailed information please refer to your OS documentation.

Linux FTP server

For this example we will use CentOS 7.

Install the vsftpd package with the command.

#yum -y install vsftpd

Edit the configuration file /etc/vsftpd/vsftpd.conf .

#vi /etc/vsftpd/vsftpd.conf

Modify the following parameters:

local_enable=YES      #allows you to use local system accounts
write_enable=YES      #It allows users to write or modify files
chroot_local_user=YES #It prevents users from changing directory may only access itself.

Save the file and restart the service:

#systemctl restart vsftpd

Enable the service at boot time:

#systemctl enable vsftpd

FTP server on Windows

On Windows servers, FTP service is installed as a Role. Go to Server Manager> Add Role and Features. Select FTP Server.

Click Next, Next and Install.

Create FTP Proxy

Now you need to create the FTP proxy object in the Cloud, so the service can be available on the Internet.

Navigate to Cloud Services > FTP Proxy  on the left menu.

• Click on the "New FTP Server..." button
• Choose here the previously installed FTP virtual machine.
• You may customize which networks are allowed to connect to the FTP service.
  
• If you want to configure public access choose "ANY".
  
• You can manage the list of Networks using the Firewall Host and networks tool.
  

Click on the "OK" button. Then click on the "Commit Changes" button to finish the configuration.

FTP Client Connection

The FTP service in Cloud-Bricks is a proxy like system because it redirects external FTP traffic to the internal virtual server.

To connect to the FTP service you will use an special host name of the form:
<VMname>.<CustomerName>.vnat.net

And the user name will be like <login_name>@<VMname> where login_name is a user name of your VM FTP server and VMname is of course the name of your Virtual Machine.

Example: assuming that our virtual machine "beta" has a user named "administrator"

• Host: beta.pruebas.vnat.net
• User: adminstrator@beta
  
• Password: <administrator's password>