Transfer data securely and easily with Cerberus FTP Server

Jun.29, 2009 in Software

Cerberus FTP is very lightweight but powerful ftp server providing reliable data transfer. It has a user-friendly interface that can be easily hidden or accessed from the system tray. The server offers easy to use manager for users and files administration. One of its biggest advantages is the low CPU and memory utilization. The operating system requirements are the only requirement for the program to work , which means that it can run on almost any computer.

Let’s see how it works.

When you start the program for the first time you’ll see the following window.

Here you have the option to create Initial user called anonymous. This account is used by anonymous users not registered on the server. By default the root directory for anonymous is the root directory of the ftp server. This means that any anonymous user will have access to all folders on the ftp server. Therefore I recommend you to restrict the rights of anonymous users by giving them permition only to download ( just uncheck the Allow Upload option). If you want your ftp server to be accessed only by registered users you can dissable the anonymous account.

The following is the main window of the program. Here you can see detailed information about everything that happens on the server including the current users and the file transfer they perform.

One of the most important functions of the program is the User Manager. It can be accessed by selecting Configuration > User Manager from the menu. Here you can easily create or delete users and change their access permitions as well.

To create new user just click the “New” button on the left. Then the new account will appear in the “Cerberus User Accounts” section. You can rename the new user with any name of your choice. Now double click on ” password” to change its default password.

Once the user is created you have to assign a directory to that user. In the “Virtual root directory” click browse button and select any folder you like. For example I’ve created a folder “NewUser1” in the root directory of the ftp server called ftproot. This directory is created during the installation of the server and is placed in C: by default.

cerberus-ftp-user-manager-32 When you are done with your selection click “Add to Root” button. Now click on the newly added directory to see the user permitions list for it. By checking any of the options you tell the ftp server what rights to provide to the selected user .

Now that you know what User Manager is and how it works, it’s time to look at the rest of the settings offered by the ftp server. They are available through the “Server manager” window by selecting Configuration > Server Manager. Here you have a lot of settings that could be a little confusing especially for inexperienced users but the good news is that you can leave them with their default values for now.

As you can see the preparation of the ftp server takes less than 10 minutes so I think it’s time to test it.

Using a ftp client program is definitely the most convenient way to connect to the ftp server. In the Internet you can find many programs that can do the job, so that you can choose one that suits your needs best. In the next post I will try to explain in details how to work with ftp client but now I will show you how to connect to your ftp server through a web brouser.

For example, open Internet Explorer or Mozila Firefox or any other browser and tipe ftp://your_IP_address/ftproot in the address box. If everything is fine you will be able to browse the user directories and the files they contain.

Note that now you are logged as anonymous user. It means that your ftp server can be accessed by anybody from your local network or from the Internet so if you want to give access only to registered users you have to disable the anonymous account.