GuildFTPd Getting Started - Path Setup

Let's set up some FTP server paths.

What are those?

FTP server paths are the directories and subdirectories that your users will see when they connect to your server. Remember the example from earlier that described how you see Windows or Program Files when you open your C: drive? Windows and Program Files are subdirectories of your root drive, C. We're going to set up a similiar set of directories for your FTP server.

Previously, we set up some local directories.
D: \FTPdir \root
D: \FTPdir \pub
D: \FTPdir \upload

Now, we're going to decide how our users can see and use those directories.

First, we're going to decide that we want D: \FTPdir \root to be our starting point. It's going to be our root FTP path.

We want all of our users to use this as the starting point. When ever we want a setting to affect all of our users, we want to make sure to set it up on the SYSTEM. Why? Changing a setting on the SYSTEM is like setting a default setting. Unless you change it for a specific USER or GROUP, it's the same for everybody. That makes it easier to work with global settings that affect all of your users.

Here we go....

STEPS		NOTES
Click on the SYSTEM in the left window to select it. Click on the ADD PATH button.	- ADD PATH	IMPORTANT NOTES: - If you want to use the root of a drive, like a spare D:\ drive or CD-ROM E:\ drive, you need to make sure that you add a period after the \. - You must have at least one path specified as a Virtual Path of / If you do not have either of these set correctly, users will not be able to connect to the server and see files.
Browse to the local folder you want as your server root. Set it to be a Virtual Path of  / Make sure the READ and LIST boxes are checked.		Using the folder examples I noted earlier when we set up our Local Directories, I'll be setting D: \FTPdir \root as my Virtual / or home directory. We're going to explain the READ and LIST check boxes later, so don't worry about why we checked them now.

Ok. We've got our starting folder set up for the FTP server. Right now, all users could see if they logged into the server is an empty directory. Since we want to define some specific directories for them to see and use, let's continue by setting up an additional path for our ANON, UPLOAD and ADMIN groups.

STEPS		NOTES
Click on the SYSTEM in the left window to select it. Click on the ADD PATH button.	- ADD PATH
Browse to the local folder you want as your server's PUB subdirectory. Set it to be a Virtual Path of  /pub Make sure the READ and LIST boxes are checked.		Using the folder examples I noted earlier when we set up our Local Directories, I'll be setting D: \FTPdir \pub as my Virtual /pub or home directory. This gives all of your users a path to download from. If you save files into this directory, everyone that connects to your server can download them.
Click on the UPLOAD group in the left window to select it. Click on the ADD PATH button.	- ADD PATH
Browse to the local folder you want as your server's UPLOAD subdirectory. Set it to be a Virtual Path of  /upload Make sure the READ, LIST, CREATE and WRITE boxes are checked.		Using the folder examples I noted earlier when we set up our Local Directories, I'll be setting D: \FTPdir \upload as my Virtual /upload or home directory.
Click on the ADMIN group in the left window to select it. Click on the PATHS tab in the lower right window. Double-Click on the path listed.	- EDIT PATH
Browse to the local folder you want as admin folder. Set it to a Virtual Path of /. Make sure that all boxes are checked.		Using the folder examples I noted at the top of this chart, I'll be setting D: \FTPdir as my Virtual / directory. Checking all of the boxes gives all file abilities to the ADMIN group.

Let's do a quick review. So far, we've set up some local directories, some groups and users and some FTP server paths.

What's left?

Now it's time to set up some server settings that control how users can log in, how long they can be using your server and what else can be done to control them while they are connected.

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