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Power Mac G5 as in home FTP server

Hello! I was wondering if it would be possible to use my old Power Mac G5 as an FTP server for in my house. I might want to port forward later, but for now, let's just stick with it to be in home. How would I go about it? I have a Belkin router, and the G5 is running 10.4, but I'm working on getting it up to 10.5 Server.

Posted on Sep 12, 2015 11:42 AM

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3 replies

Sep 13, 2015 11:44 AM in response to DSMOS2112

Here is how I would go about setting up an in home ftp server. I've done it in the past on 10.4.


You need to change to static ip address on the g5. I used the numeric address to contact the ftp server.


I didn't have much luck with the built in ftp server.

I use pureFTP server. It comes as part of PureFTPd Manager software download at this site.

http://www.macupdate.com/info.php/id/12630


PureFTPd Manager is the gui program manager for the pureFTP server.


*Across the internet*

Try:

PureFTPd Manager. Free. Is the server. It runs on your home computer. I found PureFTP easier to use than the Apple solution in Tiger. The apple solution could have changed.


You would have to contend with these issues:

Enable your Mac firewall to pass ftp traffic.

Do you have a local router? Enable it's firewall. Tell it to pass ftp data to your home mac.

Verify that your isp lets you run an ftp server on your home mac.

Dynamic ip address. See

http://www.dyndns.com/services/dns/dyndns/ ( Free )

http://www.tzo.com/mainpagetext/DynamicDNSorStaticIP.html ( small fee )

Sep 13, 2015 2:43 PM in response to rccharles

Unless DynDNS has changed their policy recently, I think they switched to a for pay Dynamic DNS addresses, a few years ago.

I've been using NoIP.com free dynamic DNS names. I have to confirm I'm not a robot once a month, but otherwise they work fine.


Big note. If you open your ftp server to the internet, you had better have some very strong passwords, as port 21 is well known and bound to have script kiddies pounding on it. And you do NOT want to allow anonymous access, otherwise the same script kiddies will start chewing up your up-link bandwidth.


You might be smarter to use it as an sftp server (ssh's version of ftp) as it is more secure, passwords are not going over the net in clear text, you can use ssh-keygen keys for easier access from frequently used computers, you can easily use a different ssh port number instead of port 22 (another well known port). For example:

sftp -P 55522 username@dynamic.dns.name

While this is security through obscurity (which is not really security), it does cut down on well known port attacks. You still need good password protection.


Also ssh allows for the use of 'scp' which is more versatile, especially in a shell script situation (or even Applescript).


There are GUI based ftp clients that also work with sftp on both Mac and Windows (for all I know Linux as well).


You enable ssh via System Preferences -> Remote Access (again, if port forwarding to the internet, make sure all accounts on your system have good passwords).

Sep 22, 2015 5:20 PM in response to DSMOS2112

What's your use case for FTP over AFP or some other better-supported protocol?


If this is in-house you may be better off with a file sharing protocol such as AFP (or SMB if you need to include Windows clients). It offers better performance and more features than FTP.


FTP may work better for remote clients (over the internet), but it is a clunky, insecure protocol that has significant drawbacks.


I'm not saying it can't be done (as others have already indicated), just making sure you're aware of why you're doing it and what the alternatives may be.

Power Mac G5 as in home FTP server

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