In this article I am going to cover the basics of creating users in Rumpus FTP Server. The Rumpus server is developed by http://maxum.com and is a very robust commercial implementation of the common FTP protocol. The main reason I have chosen Rumpus over the built-in FTP daemon bundled with Mac OS X server is the ease of use, over all speed of the product and Web File Manager.
I have conducted numerous tests over the years and each time the Rumpus server wins hands down especially when traversing NAT through a firewall. The down side is that the product does not support SFTP which I think would be a great enhancement.
While it may lack the security of SFTP there is the Web File Manager. The WFM is a FTP client presented in a brand-able web page. This is a great when you have a client that isn’t tech savvy enough to understand the mechanics of FTP or you just need to off the client a onetime in and out dropbox solution.
In this article I am only going to cover setting up new FTP accounts using a template scheme I developed over the years of working with the product. Without further ado let’s begin.
If the Rumpus control panel is not already running then launch the application.
It should open to the ‘Setup’ page, which looks like the following;
To add a new user to the FTP system select ‘Define Users’ to open the user manager. In the ‘User Manager’ select the default user ID as shown. This ID already has the correct settings and is the template for future users.
To create a new user using the default ID’s template simply click on the + icon in the lower left corner of the screen. Enter the desired user name which it is recommended but not required to be all lower case. Ad and appropriately strong password but that is easy to remember. A 4 character password can be broken in a matter of hours while a strong 7 character password containing both upper and lower case letters and at least one number and symbol will take approximately 7 years to crack.
After pressing ‘OK’ the new user will be created and you will need to set the account’s home folder.
Select ‘New Folder’ and enter the desired folder name in the new window. Once again I recommend using all lower case and something that represents the username previously entered. In this case I will use testftp exactly matching the account ID I have already created.
After pressing ‘Create’ you will see you newly created folder already highlighted and ready to be selected. If the spelling is correct then press the select button and proceed to final steps.
The first few times you create new user account you may wish to double check the settings. By clicking on the PATH in the ‘Home Folder’ section and using your right arrow key you can confirm that the new folder you created is correct.
Next select the User Info tab in the middle of the page and note the settings.
Again with Options.
And Security. Observe the first check box immediately below the Security Tab. If this box is checked then the user may move freely about the system. I do not recommend allowing this under any circumstances. FTP is the easier protocol to hack and allowing an average user to roam the entire filesystem could lead to a potentially dangerous and costly situation.
And finally if you wish the History tab which is mute at this point as it is a new user and currently has no history to reveal.
The last step is ti save the changes. I usually hit CMD-S which is the Hot Key combination for saving the changes but you can just as easily go to File–>Save Changes To Server if you prefer.
The last thing I recommend is checking that the new FTP account works correctly before sending the credentials to the client.
Well that about sums up this how to create new user accounts on Rumpus FTP Server. I hope that you have found it useful and that it will make working with the product a bit more productive. Please not the default user depicted in the example is one that I created to have the default settings I set the password to an annoyingly long and complicated scheme as this user is not intended to actually be used. However I did not want to uncheck the ‘Permit Logon’ option in the Basic info tab or all users created from this template would also have that set.
ABOUT THE AUTHOR: Mikel King (http://twitter.com/mikelking) has been working in the Information Services field for over 20 years. He is currently the CEO of Olivent Technologies, a professional creative services partnership in NY. Additionally he is currently serving as the Secretary of the BSD Certification group as well as a Senior Editor for BSD News.
Leave a Reply