Configure IIS for an FTP Site - Part 1

In this series, I will show you how to configure IIS to work as an FTP server

Many people think that IIS is an application for hosting websites, but IIS is also configured to work as an FTP server to allow uploading or downloading files. An IIS FTP site can be a website or it can be a single site. In both cases, IIS provides you with a flexible way of handling an FTP site. In this series, I will show you how to install the necessary services, how to backup your IIS server. We also introduced some changes to the technology that you can use to adapt your FTP site for specific types of situations.

After using FTP?

FTP (File Transfer Protocol) is a file transfer protocol invented in the 1970s. There are many file transfer protocols other than FTP, even more effective but there are several reasons why we Choose to use FTP because: First, FTP is popular, everyone knows what FTP is and it works on pretty well on operating systems.

FTP completely conceals the complexity of interacting with other operating systems and file systems. Whether you use Linux or Windows 95, Windows Vista, or a certain operating system. As long as your operating system is aware of FTP, they can completely transfer files to and from the IIS server running on Windows Server 2008.

Another reason why we want to introduce FTP is because FTP services are included in IIS. You don't have to develop or buy any additional software. Simply install the necessary components, adjust the configuration settings and you can use it.

Install FTP server

Windows Server 2008 offers you two different options for installing FTP Server. An option here is that you can install the FTP server via the graphical user interface (GUI). The other option is to configure the server to act as a core server installation. As you have heard, core server implementations are completely used by the command, although it is somewhat complicated to use but is much more secure than using a GUI method because it has few Windows components. install more. For the sake of simplicity, we would like to introduce methods of implementing GUI-based installations like the traditional ones.

With the GUI-based installation, we will begin the process by opening Server Manager, then looking in the panel on the right side of Roles Summary. Click the Add Roles link located inside this section. When you do this, Windows will launch the Add Roles Wizard.

Click Next to bypass the interface's Welcome screen, and you will see the Select Server Roles screen. Select the check box corresponding to the Web Server (IIS) role and click Next. You will now be taken to the Select Role Services screen. This screen will list the various IIS-related components that you can install. Since many of the services required by this FTP server are selected by default, click Next to use these default values. You will then be taken to the confirmation screen, which lists the options you have made. Please review the components you will be installing, and then click the Install button. When the installation is complete, verify that the installation was successful and then click the Close button.

Open Server Manager and navigate through the console tree to Server Manager | Roles | Web Server (IIS). Select the Web Server (IIS) section, look in the Role Services section. When checking the entries in this section, you will see the FTP Publishing Service and its components are not installed.

You can install components by clicking the Add Role Service link. When you do, Windows will open a dialog box to prompt you to select role services to install. Select the checkbox corresponding to the FTP Publishing Service. Then the underlying FTP Server service and FTP Management Console checkboxes will also be selected. Leave the status of these items selected.

Click Next, and Windows will display a master screen, which will show which role services you want to install. Assuming your options appear correctly, continue the process by clicking the Install button. Windows will install the selected role services. When the installation process is complete, verify that your installation was successful, then click the Close button. We recommend that you return to the Server Manager and look at Role Services for the Web Server (IIS) role. You can verify the FTP Publishing Service, the FTP Server and the FTP Management Console installed.

Secure FTP Server

Once the necessary role services are installed, this is the time you need to take actions to protect the FTP server. One of the main techniques used to protect an FTP session is encryption using SSL. You need to know that SSL encryption is not mandatory. In some cases, uploading and downloading unencrypted files is not good. For example, we downloaded a new template of Microsoft Word from a website via FTP last week. The transmission is unencrypted but does not affect it because it is just a document template. In other cases, allowing users to get the option to encrypt sessions if they want is an effective solution.

SSL encryption is based on the use of digital certificates. The certificate is not used as the basis for encryption, but it serves as a mechanism to identify your server. There are three options for you to be interested in using a certificate. You can purchase a certificate from a commercial certificate authority, you can create your own certificate from the Windows Server configured to act as an Enterprise Certificate Authority or you can configure the server. FTP to create a self-signed certificate.

When deciding which method to use, remember that the client must trust the certificate that the server is using. Windows clients will automatically trust certificates from commercial certificate providers. They will also automatically trust an Enterprise Certificate Authority as long as the client is a domain member. However, you will never automatically trust a self-signed certificate.

Conclude

As you can see, certificate trust is a big problem when it comes to providing SSL encryption. In Part 2 of this series, I will continue the discussion by showing you how to configure the client to trust a certificate that is not trusted. Also introduced is how to use SSL encryption for your FTP server.