However, FTP clients shouldn’t rely on the default values, as this is unsecure. If the client fails to issue a PASV command, the Data Connection defaults to port 20. In the Passive Mode, the client issues a PASV command to indicate that it will wait “passively” for the server to supply an IP and port number, after which the client will create a Data Connection to the server. In passive mode FTP, the client initiates both connections to the server, solving the problem of firewalls filtering the incoming data port connection to the client from the server. Once the FTP client receives a port, it starts the second connection and sends data. Here, the client connects and sends the PASV command, which functions as a request for a port number to connect to.
Passive FTP: This is also referred to as passive mode or PASV and it was developed to resolve the issue of servers initiating the connection to the client. In an Active Mode FTP, the client issues a PORT command to the server signaling that it will “actively” provide an IP and port number to open the Data Connection back to the client. In an active mode connection, when the client makes the initial connection and sends PORT, the server will then connect back to the client’s specified data port from its local data port, which is port 20. That is, when a client and server intend to transfer data, they usually start a control connection first in order to negotiate the details of the Data Connection prior to opening it and transferring data. In this mode, the FTP client connects from a random port (n-1023) to the FTP server’s command port (21). You may also want to see this guide: Warning: FTP over TLS is not enabled, users cannot securely log in: You appear to be behind a NAT Router, please configure the passive mode settings and forward a range of ports in your router.Īctive FTP: This was originally the only method of FTP and is therefore often the default mode for FTP.
Again, you can Google on how to use the FTP commands from the command prompt if you want to transfer files, etc.Before proceed with the steps on how to install and connect to an FTP Server, I will like to briefly describe the difference between active and passive FTP as this is a prevalent question when dealing with Firewall configuration to support the deployment.
I typed in my username and password and was connected! I then used the ls command to list out the contents of the directory that I gave myself access to. However, once I opened the firewall ports, I was able to connect easily using the command prompt from another local computer on my network as you can see below: I suggest Googling a bit to understand what options to use here as they will vary depending on your setup. If you’re setting this up at home, you’ll need to enable Passive mode settings also. It’s quite pointless to setup an FTP server if only people on your network can connect to it. You’ll also need to learn a little bit about port forwarding, so that users can connect from outside just your local LAN network. If you installed FileZilla to the default location, you need to allow C:\Program Files(x86)\FileZilla Server\FileZilla Server.exe to the exceptions list. Read my post on how to allow an app through the firewall in Windows. You won’t be able to connect to it until you add an exception to your firewall to allow connections for FileZilla. Turn on IP filtering to prevent IP addresses from connecting to your server. This is ideal if you want to control the amount of usable bandwidth:
You may set the download speed limits if you feel your Internet connection will be affected by your clients. Set the permission for the users, make sure to uncheck write and delete if you don’t want other users to modify your files and directories. Now to share a directory click “ Shared folders” then browse for the folders that you want to share: To assign a password, check the Password box and then type in a password for the user. On the General page, go ahead and click on the Add button at the far right. The first thing that you will need to do is create an FTP user account. It’ll give you some basic info about the server and also auto-detect if you are behind a NAT router. Once connected to the server, you’ll get a screen like below. At the end, it’ll automatically fill in the details to connect to the server, which should be localhost and the port number for the admin interface.