4.1 -
What is an FTP Server?
An FTP server is a computer program
that allows you to easily make files available to other people via the
Internet. Normally, the only people who run FTP servers are those who
have a very fast connection to the Internet (cable modem or better). If
you need help setting up a server, please read the "Site-Ops
Guide" and subscribe
to the etree.org discussion mailing list.
4.2 - Tools of the
Trade
Before you begin life as a siteop, you need to do
a little analysis to make sure that you have everything you need to
successfully host an FTP site. I am going to assume that you will have
read the etree.org Howto
by now. If you haven't, go back and do it now. I would summarize these
requirements as follows:
4.2.1
- Computer
You need a computer with
sufficient memory and hard drive space to serve out the shows. For memory,
probably 96 - 128 MB would be a good number. People have gotten by
with 64 MB, but you would probably notice a performance hit in other
applications. For hard disk, buy as much as you can. Some people
serve with as little as 4 or 5 GB. That is probably a good start. But it
will only hold 4 shows in Shorten format. Some of the larger etree.org
servers can hold over 50GB. I do not believe it is possible to have
too much disk space, but you can try.
4.2.2 -
Bandwidth
You need an upstream link of at
least 512 Kb/sec to be successful. This means cable modem, ADSL or
better. ISDN is way to small of a pipe, and even some cable modems and
ADSL links limit upstream bandwidth well below this number. Remember
that you will never reach the posted speed limit on your link, because of
the overhead that you have to deal with, and you also need to leave room on
your uplink for yourself to be on the 'net. Also make sure that
you correctly understand the terminology applied to bandwidth.
Kb stands for kilobits, KB stands for kilobytes. Kb usually talks
about bandwidth. KB talks about file size. KB is 8 times bigger
than Kb. At 512 Kb/sec it will take about 4 hours for one person to
download 1 show. The download time quadruples if you allow four users. It
really takes a bunch of bandwidth to host a site.
4.2.3
- FTP Software
Make sure you use good FTP Server
software and be sure you know how to correctly configure them. Below
are some recommendations:
Windows 95/98/2000/NT
Two good choices for FTP server programs for Windows 95/98/2000/NT is Serv-U
and WAR-FTP
Download: Serv-U
v2.5a (direct link - 1.38MB)
Download: WAR-FTP
(download locations)
Both websites contain documentation on how to configure. You have the
ability to limit the number of connections (both total and from IP) and
bandwidth throttling, meaning that you can cap out how much total bandwidth
the server will consume.
Linux
You wouldn't be running Linux unless you know a bit about what you're doing
(one would hope), so here are a few suggestions on what software to use.
Many of the etree.org FTP sites running Linux are
using proftpd. It has some
wonderful features like denying multiple logins and great user/group
permissions. You can even run a separate password file if need
be. The documentation for it is fantastic and it shows the percent
done on a users file with ftpwho.
There is also wu_ftpd. That comes out of the box with most current
Linux distributions. There are how-to's on the LDP.
Check out the etree.org
Linux .shn howto.
4.2.4
- ISP
Although some etree-ers have
successfully hidden an FTP site from an unfriendly ISP, having a good ISP
makes things go much smoother. It is even worse if you are
"borrowing" bandwidth from your school or company. You don't
want to lose your Internet link or your job just to host some files.
Ask politely before you throw up a site. If you aren't allowed to
host, there are other ways for you to contribute. Seed shows, offer
B&P's, spread the tunes. Don't get yourself in trouble just to
help the etree.
4.3 -
Configuring Your FTP Server
Now that you have decided to make
the leap and become a siteop, there are several configuration issues that will
either make your life very easy or very hard. Both of the FTP servers I
mentioned have pretty good online documentation, so read up on how to make
these changes.
4.3.1
- Server Port
The default FTP port is 21.
Many firewalls and proxies will not allow FTP traffic on other ports.
Every FTP client I know of defaults to this port. "Stupid"
users (not techno geeks) may not be able to figure out how to change the
port. Also, if you are using another port to hide your FTP site from
your ISP, it won't work. I have worked as a network administrator and
I can sniff out your FTP site no matter what port you use. You will
probably just get in more trouble since by changing the port to hide your
activities it tells your ISP that you knew what you were doing was wrong in
the first place. Unless you have a really good reason not to use the
default port, leave it set to 21.
4.3.2
- Timeout
You should set your to between 3
and 5 minutes. I think this is the best balance. It allows users
time to browse your site without being kicked off the server, and also to do
things like create or change directories before they do a download. It
is also short enough that if you run a popular site and someone does go to
sleep on you, the slot is opened up fairly quickly. It also clears out
interrupted connections so that machines can reconnect if their connecting
craps out and your server thinks that they are still attached, even if they
are not.
4.3.3
- Total Connections
You can usually set this per
account and per machine. This is how you limit the number of people
that get in to your machine. If you don't set this, the whole world
will log in and everyone will get shitty rates. A good safe number to
start out with is to allow 1 user connection per 100 Kb/sec of upload
bandwidth. You can then adjust this from there depending on how hard
people hit your machine.
4.3.4
- Connections per Machine
Set it to one. It keeps out
the selfish. Every site I know of limits people to one connection at a
time.
4.3.5
- Characters per Second / Bandwidth Throttling
This one is entirely up to you.
If you have a hugely fat pipe to the net, leave it turned off. If you
have a fairly restricted pipe, or you need to have some bandwidth left over
to do your job or cruise the net, turn it on. You will have to
set the values and play with them to strike the proper balance.
On War-FTPD the setting characters per second translates to bytes per
second. Watch your performance statistics. In NT I like to
look at network utilization. On an Ethernet segment you want to keep
it below 30% or you will start having problems with collisions. I am
not sure what a good indicator is on a cable modem or ADSL link is.
4.3.6
- Allow Connections by IP
In all honesty this is a bigger
headache than it is worth. If you turn it on you have to type in the
IP address of every machine you give an account to. Great security,
but your fingers will hurt from all of the damn typing. It is also
tough to account for DHCP, which most of your clients will use. When
their IP changes they may not be able to get in and they will send you mail
about it. Better just to keep their IP address in a log file and track
it that way.
4.3.7
- Disallow Access by IP
Much more useful. This is
how to ban people from your site. When someone is a dick, drop their
IP in this list and they don't get in.
Most of your other setting will remain at their default values, and are best
not messed with until you figure out what you are doing. It will take a
while to work out the bugs from your configuration. Talk to an
experienced site admin and get their help.
4.4 -
User Accounts / Permissions
Once you set up your server, you
will need to create accounts so that people can log on. These are
commonly referred to as L:P's (login : password). You will also need to
set permissions on your directories or virtual directories to control what
people can do.
A very few sites allow anonymous
connections. This sucks. You have no way of controlling who
logs in and you have no leverage to collect IP data so that we can track down
bad traders, profiteers, and other leaches that need to be banned. My
best advice is to turn off anonymous access.
Now on to "real" accounts.
For all of these you need to decide what you want the account to have access
to. You can control what people can get to by account. Here are
the different accounts, and who I suggest you give them to. I also talk
about what file permissions you should give each type of account so that these
people can do what they need to do to spread the tunes.
4.4.1
- General High Speed Users
Also known as the public account.
This is the one that you will give out the most. These are
people with high speed access. You can decide how you want to give
this one out, but I would NOT post it to any list. Too many
people who you don't know would get it. I prefer having them send in
an e-mail request with identifying information like e-mail address and IP
address so that I can get a hold of them if they are causing a problem on my
system, or track them down and ban them if they sell cd's or something.
These people need list access to your directories and read access on the
files to download them. I also like to turn on the recursive and free
switches so that I don't have to set permissions on subdirectories.
4.4.2
- Modem Users
This one is a tough call.
Modem users don't use much bandwidth, but they stay logged in forever.
Personally, I allow them but most people don't. I would definitely put
them in their own user account so that they don't take away a slot from a
high speed user. Since these people are always dynamic IP, it is
usually worthless to try and collect IP data from them. I did post
this l:p to the list. The permissions should be the same as your high
speed downloaders. Just a note: Modem users are usually very bitchy,
but are usually harmless. It takes so long to get a show by modem that
only the most dedicated modem users will ever get a complete show.
4.4.3 -
Uploaders
You want to create a special
account for people to upload stuff to your server. You want to create
a directory for uploads and in addition to read and list, these people need
permission to create directories and write files in that directory only.
Make sure no one else can read from this directory, otherwise you run the
risk of someone downloading an incomplete show, or one that fails MD5
checks. Bad shows in circulation is a bad thing. You also have
the option to allow your uploaders to delete files and directories.
This is a personal choice. If they can delete files, they can remove a file
that was interrupted in transfer without having to wait for you to do it,
which can make uploads go much faster over shaky connections. But they
can also delete files by accident that you may have in that directory from
someone else. Your call. This is an l:p that you definitely don't want
posted on a list.
4.4.4
- Mirror Site Operators
It is considered common courtesy
to give a preferred login to other site operators so that they can mirror
shows that get seeded to you without having to wait for one of your
"regular" slots to open up. It is common to combine this
account with your upload account. Make sure you have at least a few of
these available. It will make you a whole lot more popular with other
admins on the e-tree, and as a courtesy when you give yours out, you will
usually get their mirror login in return. For permissions I like to
give site-ops list and read access to everything, including the upload
directory. Most site-ops know to check the MD5 file on a show before
they host it, so you are fairly safe letting them download from your upload
directory. This login can be fairly safely posted to siteops@etree.org
without having to worry about them abusing it.
4.4.5
- Special Logins
Most people give out at least a
couple individual logins. These are for people that do something really cool
for you, like seed an ultra rare show to your site, or just regularly upload
cool new material to your machine. To give them back a little
something, you create a personal account for them so that they never get
closed out of your site. This is totally optional, but if you operate
a site for very long, you will probably give out a couple.
4.5 -
etree FTP Server Caveats
Being an etree.org
siteop is great fun. You will have virtually unlimited access to almost
any show that you care to find. You will get these shows first, since
these days we are the roots that most trees grow out of. All of this and
more can be yours, if only you want it. However, it takes a lot of time,
a lot of effort, and a lot of patience to be a good etree.org
siteop, but If you stick it out it is very rewarding. Below are a few
caveats you should be aware of:
You will get a whole bunch of email.
Seriously, a ton of email. There is nothing you can do
about this. This is just one of the hazards of hosting up shows that
everybody wants. I would suggest getting a good email client and getting
really good with filters to cut down on the mess.
There has been a raging debate on
whether it is OK to host a show without having listened to it first. I
don't think this one will ever be solved. I run dylan.etree.org and I
just get too many shows coming in to listen to them all before I host, so I
really can't. If you have a smaller site and you have the time to listen
first, by all means do so. If you can't, at the very least verify
md5sums before you make a show public. If any tracks fail don't post any
part of the show. It is just bad form to do so.
People will hammer your site, and
there isn't much you can do about this either. Unless you publicly
announced your l:p, you should be able to identify the offender and e-mail
them to get them to stop. You will probably have to ban a few people at
some point to get the point across. You should also ban anyone you see
added to our ban list, or anyone you find out something bad about (sold disks,
bad trader, or tried to distribute copyrighted material like released
CD's). We can have no tolerance for those people.
4.6 -
Tricks of the Trade
Now that you have a configured FTP server ready to go, there are only a couple
of things left to do. One of them is getting on the etree.org
as a siteop. Send an e-mail to: server@etree.org
to get on the site-ops discussion list. There we talk about siteop
stuff: seeds for shows, l:p's for mirrors, shows that are coming down the
pipe, bad traders or other leeches, and other stuff like that. You
can also get an etree.org domain name from server@etree.org
. This will also allow you to post to announce@etree.org,
where you tell the world about your site.
You should post the contents of you
site to announce@etree.org
at least once every couple weeks, this lets people know what you have
available, and how to get to your site. You should probably post
the announce message to the site-ops list a day or two before you post it to
the public, so that the other mirror operators can grab any new stuff you have
before the public makes their mad rush for it.
After doing all of the above stuff,
you are pretty much a full blown etree.org siteop.
4.7 -
Mirroring
The process of replicating a collection of files
from one FTP server to another is known as "mirroring." When
mirroring a show, please observe the following guidelines:
- Do not put anything less than a complete,
verified disc available for download.
- Download the files to a temporary area
outside of your 'normal' FTP space (such as an incoming directory), then
make the files public after you have downloaded the entire disc and
verified them against the md5 signatures.
If you cannot host all of the discs
for a show, indicate that there are missing discs by creating files where the
directories would be, but with the suffix '.absent'. For example,
'
