Secure FTP

dman

dman

Perch
Hello,

I have a client that requires secure FTP. They have an SSL cert already. From what I have read in the forum, there is no support for this. This is my biggest client and I don't want to loose their business. What other options are there? Why is it not supported? Is this available with a VPS? Do I have to move them else where? Thanks!
 
Thanks for the reply Stephen. So my only option is to move this client and all their sites to a new host? If I move them to a Jodo VPS will it be easier? If I enable this in the VPS is there some concern? Why isn't FTP over SSL supported on the reseller plans? Is there some problem or risk? They plan to use Core FTP.
 
Well it isn't supported would be the main reason :) And its not something we can just change out or addon. It's not in the forecast for any release that I have seen even a long term roadmap on either.
Personally I would love for hsphere to work with filezilla FTP server, and have even made requests for such, it uses a nice XML config and could be more secure than MS FTP and ServU that they support, as well as offering the TLS/SSL FTP as an option that would allow for secure FTP connections.
 
Hey Stephen,

Thanks again for the reply. Sounds like FTP over SSL is not possible at Jodo.

Does Jodo have anything that might be HIPPA compliant and offer greater security overall. Does VPS provide this? Any suggestion about another host that can offer this level of hosting and security? Thanks!
 
Linux VPS can provide transfers over SSH, SCP is what it is called, it can do that native or can have a SFTP app installed, but linux VPS is a beast to manage at times.
I have seen some people to make an SSL secured upload manager/fiel manager for their sites with aspupload, pureasp upload, etc.
 
Hmmm... This site relies on ASP/ASP.Net so Linux is not an option. Maybe I could use ASPUpload to transfer it to the other server via SSL. I'll have to look at that option further.

In regards to the HIPPA compliance and security, would you suggest a VPS or should I be looking at other hosts. If VPS, how difficult is it to transfer from a resold account to a VPS account for one client? Thanks!
 
Its not too hard in fact you can make file transfers move really fast on windows vps by logging into ftp from the server and moving the files over.
 
Transferring or uploading the files are less of a concern. Migrating the emails is the big hassle. Do I have to re-create each one?

Additionally, this client plans to move their mail hosting to Exchange this week. My understanding is that I can specify additional MX records via trhe CP to do this while the domain is hosted at Jodo. IS this correct? How will this effect emails that are sent from the web site? Do the MX servers need to be in some order? Can I use the Jodo mail server for redundancy some how? Is propagation an issue when changing MX servers?

I just moved them from another host but I would like to increase their security and since they are going to chnage the MX records maybe now is the time to do it all. I'm just a bit confused on how to take the leap to a VPS and get this client set up. Does VPS spund like the solution? Any suggestions to make this easier or mostly seamless? Should I be recommending they bring the web server in house? Thanks!
 
I sent you a rather long PM with some details on HIPPA and hosting.

As for MX, you would need to set the exchange to a lower priority(meaning instead of 10, put 5) as the lower number is first in line for delivery.

You could keep a higher numbered MX record as a backup store if the exchange went down, it can be done within hsphere, or even vps from plesk, using custom DNS records.

If they are already moving to exchange, moving mail may not be an issue, as they will have to setup the exchange anyway, and you coudl setup just one MX record as a backup store with(eh almost hate saying this!) a catchall to catch the mails that come to there.
 
Hey Stephen,

Thanks for the PM. I replied there as well.

So is there any easy way to transfer all the email accounts? The catch all probably won't work as a redundancy with 20+ emails addresses it would be a pain to sort out if needed. Are there more detailed instructions on working with the MX records and the DNS for external Exchange hosting in Hsphere, or Plesk if I move to VPS? Thanks!
 
Just a note here.. there seems to be some confusion in this thread about what the client requirements are, or otherwise the terminology is incorrect. There are several different secure file transfer methods:

Secure FTP (aka FTP over SSH):
The FTP protocol is tunneled over a SSH connection. A standard FTP client is used with SSH configured as a proxy.

FTPS (aka FTP/SSL):
The FTP protocol is used together with TLS to encrypt the command and/or data channel. FTP client and server needs to support this.

SFTP (SSH File Transfer Protocol):
Successor to SCP and a completely different protocol than FTP. It multiplexes SFTP commands and multiple data transfers over a single (encrypted) SSH-2 connection.

Core FTP Server supports the latter two options. Only the second one actually requires a SSL certificate.

I've been using SFTP for a few years now. I wish it would go beyond the draft stage and become more widely supported. FTP is a rather archaic and notorious for it's problems in conjunction with NAT routing. It's a shame PSoft isn't a bit more proactive at adopting 'new' technologies at times :(
 
Thanks for the reply and clarification SubSpace! I may have used the terminology incorrectly. I think the only option for this Windows account is FTPS (FTP over SSL). They do have an SSL Cert. I've tried all the options in Core FTP and none will connect securely. With FTPS it gives the error, 500 "AUTH SSL" command not understood. I may not know how to set up the SFTP with SSH.

Might you have a suggestion on how I could use CORE FTP or another option to securely transfer the file from an Hsphere Windows account? Thanks!
 
you won't be able to use core ftp to connect to a standard FTP, it will have to be to a server supporting the same method, which the IIS FTP can't do.

There are a few terms bouncing around here, but any one of these 3 would be HIPPA compliant :) even SCP would be.
 
dman said:
Might you have a suggestion on how I could use CORE FTP or another option to securely transfer the file from an Hsphere Windows account? Thanks!
Click to expand...
If it's for a one time move to a Windows VPS account, I suppose you could use the Web File Manager to zip all the files needing to be transferred, password protect a directory with .htaccess (assuming that ASAPI filter is enabled atm, haven't used it in ages) and use HTTPS to download the file from there.
 
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