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01-11-2008 - Remote Folder Access With Serv-U Running As A Service

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Hello,

Welcome to another installment of the RhinoSoft.com newsletter. You are getting this newsletter because you signed up on our web site. If you would like to stop receiving these newsletters, please visit: http://www.RhinoSoft.com/newsletter/unsubscribe.asp

The intent of this newsletter is to give you some pointers on our products. This newsletter discusses making folders and files on multiple computers accessible to Serv-U users.

Accessing Other Servers With Serv-U

A common requirement when deploying Serv-U in a corporate network with multiple servers is the ability of users to access files or folders on a server other than the one on which Serv-U is installed. A user in accounting may need FTP access to a folder which resides on an accounting server, while Serv-U is installed on the main server for the network. Another common example is when a user's home directory needs to be set to a folder on a server in the IT department. After setting the home directory and directory access permissions is complete, you may find that the user is still unable to logon, and is receiving a "530 Home directory inaccessible" or similar message, and are unsure of how to proceed.

At the root of the issue is the way that Windows handles Services in relation to the NTFS security model. Windows services run under the "Local System" account by default, which is a service account with access to basic necessary local resources. However, it exists only locally and is unable to access any of your external network resources. When Serv-U tries to direct that user in accounting to their home directory on another server, it is unable to do so and returns the "Home directory inaccessible" error because it is unable to reach that directory. This is a restriction imposed by the security model of a Windows operation system.

Fortunately, the resolution is simple. Windows allows services to be run under an account other than Local System. By navigating to the Control Panel | Administrative Tools | Services window and opening the properties of the service named "Serv-U FTP Server", the "Log On" tab allows the user account to be changed. To grant access, the radio button should be set to "This account", and the account used should be an administrative account that exists on the domain (the local Administrator account will not work here - either the domain-wide administrative account or a named account must be used).

Once this is done, restart the "Serv-U FTP Server" service. Windows will start the service as if it were a process that was created by the specified local account. This means that Serv-U will have access to all remote and local resources that a user of the account has access to.

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Thanks for reading!

Thomas J Parikka - Technical Support Engineer
http://www.RhinoSoft.com
Voice: +1(262) 560-9627
FAX: +1(262) 560-9628