I have a directory, hosted on a cpanel host; that I want to map a drive to ( z: ). Is this possible at all? The host uses linux, I'm on a windows xp computer at the office. Why? A piece of software I use (endicia) pulls xml files from a given directory to print out labels for shipment. I'm looking for a single step process that would let it happen easily.
possible at all? yes. Have to take care to make it secure though. Also very unlikly the a hosting company will set it up for you on a shared server. Is your host dedicated or shared?
I have a VPS. I'm pretty sure that means its shared, right? I could also probably do an ftp script that'd download the files to my computer and delete them from the host.
If it is a true VPS and you have root then that is good enough, you need to install and configure samba on it. You need to be sure you are using the latest version of such and set it up to disable clear text passwords on both ends.
It only takes a few seconds to break an LM hash. Unless samba on his machine supports NTLMv2, enabling shares over the Internet it's like giving your machine away. What you should do is to set up a VPN between your office machine and your server and once you establish a VPN tunnel, you will be able to access shares on your server in a secure way. J.D.
Thats why I said make sure both sides are up to date. Though it seems for their use they may also be able to get away with a read only share.
I've never attempted a VPN or anything like that. Hate to sound stupid, but when it comes to networking and databases, I'm an idiot. Is it difficult? I assume I need a secure cert as well to make it a secure connection?
No, but crypto is Cpu intensive, not sure I would run it on a vps myself. Maybe your idea to just ftp over the files is good enough? (btw, most ftp clients also send the pw in clear text).
I'm using Windows VPN and can't help you setting up a Linux box for this. Sorry. In order for your Windows office machine to see the VPN running on Linux, you will need either a) set up a VPN channel that is supported by Windows (PPTP or L2TP) or b) buy third-party software that does this (e.g. Cisco VPN). Ask your IDC if they would allow any of that first. J.D.
We are talking about your own secure access to the box. How much data you are thinking of pumping through? Anyway, I'm pulling gigs worth of backups through VPN and would rather know that my transfers are secure than worry about how hard it is on the CPU J.D.
Running up to date software is not enough. For example, even latest versions of Windows still use LM hashes for compatibility reasons. You have to disable LM hashes through security policies if you want to be secure. J.D.
Can you not map a folder to an FTP directory in Windows? Pretty sure you can... web folders or something rings a bell...?! I'll look into it tomorrow but thought i'd put it out there now...
On a regular box I would agree with you, but I have found running cpanel enough to bring many vps to a crawl.
I thought the latest samba disabled them, and if you disabled clear text, it would not try to fall back on them or lm hashes?
You can type ftp://your-ftp-server.com/ in Windows Explorer (not IE!) and you will be able to work with files on the FTP server as if they are regular files. J.D.