Re: setting up wuftpd and web hosting

> Two questions: One dumb, one not so dumb

As Mr. Garrison the teacher on South Park says:

        "There are no stupid questions, only stupid people."

;-)

> I want to set up my computer to do anonymous ftp. I can't find any
> documentation on setting it up, except for the man page for ftpd and it
> doesn't seem to answer my question. Does anyone know of good
> documentation on wuftpd?

If you run RedHat, there's a package you can install called "anonftp" or
something (I'm guessing Debian has something similar?). Installing this
package gives you a basic working ftp server. From there you may want to
tailor it for your exact needs, and you'll need to spend some quality time
reading the man pages.

>
> I looked at the LDP howto's and couldn't find anything.
>
> I know ftpd works on my computer. I need to know where and how do I
> define the location of files that I want to make accessable to anonymous
> ftp. Where do I put the pub dir on my computer and how do I point ftpd
> at it?

For anonymous users, ftpd does a chroot(2) to the ftp user's home
directory (e.g. /home/ftp). This means that it's impossible (in theory)
for an anonymous user to access anything above/outside this directory.
So you'll need to put files in /home/ftp/... if you want anonymous users
to have access to them.

> I have a friend who works for a small non-profit organization. They are
> buying a new computer for their office. I've almost convinced my friend
> to set the computer up as a dual boot linux windows computer. The big
> selling point being that they will have a reliable computer and access
> to much more software for the buck.

Cool - it's the duty of every proud Linux user to preach the Gospel. But
what's a religion without a spiritual leader. RMS has declared himself
"Saint iGNUcius of the Church of Emacs." Here's a photo of him blessing a
computer:

        http://www.gnu.org/people/saintignucius.jpg

RMS is the most religious free software guy you'll find. His
uncompromising "free software or death" attitude is excessive, but you
gotta admire a guy who has strong philosophical convictions and actually
lives by them. He's a visionary, a genius, and unfortunately a bit of a
nut.

Hmm.. you didn't ask about RMS did you? :)

> They are also considering setting up a web site. Would it be practical
> to run the site off their new computer with apache (and never switch to
> windows!)? I don't know what is involved in setting up an independent
> web site. What kind of connection is used, how much does it cost? Who
> sells it? How do you register the site?

Some concerns:

        1. can you keep the web server running 24/7?
        2. does your service contract with your ISP allow this?
        3. do you want/need to register a domain name? You'll pay
           US$70 for a .com or .org name, and there are some free
           DNS services out there as well if you don't mind a longer
           name. See http://www.register.com and http://www.dyndns.org
        4. do you have a static IP? If not, your site may be
           temporarily unavailable when your IP changes. Try to
           get a static IP if this is unacceptable (most ISPs
           offer a static IP for a fee...)
        5. how many hits do you expect? probably not that many, but
           make sure you have the network bandwidth you'll need to
           handle the expected load, and that your ISP won't freak out on
           you. ("unlimited" may not really mean *unlimited*)
        6. do you have the expertise on hand to set everything up?

If none of these poses a big problem, hosting your own site is nice. You
get total control over it (including its domain name), and have an easier
time updating it.

I think with Shaw you can get a commercial service, which includes some
static IPs, and *maybe* the right to run your own ftp/http/etc servers.
It's quite a bit more expensive than home service though (don't know the
price). The standard service includes 5MB or so of web space. This may
be the easiest/quickest/cheapest way to host your web site.

Another random rambling:

My new favourite experimental/research operating system is EROS:

        http://www.eros-os.org

I had multiple brain orgasms while reading though this site. It's a good
read especially for those who tend to think UNIX is just about perfect (as
I used to). UNIX is a pretty sane/coherent system (especially compared to
a certain *other* OS), but there are much better ideas out there. Maybe
this will whet your appetite: EROS has *no* filesystem. Sound crazy?
That's what I thought. Read the site and you'll see it's perfectly sane.

        -- Adam

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Received on Fri Jul 9 11:34:34 1999