Apache, ftp and virtual directories

yotamk · 12-11-2004, 10:59 AM

Hi all,

using Debian, Sarge. Apache 1.3. The server is only for debug purposes, i.e. to check my PHP scripts

have two questions:
1) Should I have all my web files under /var/www/ ? If not, how do I define virtual paths to directories situated elsewhere?

2) Currently I'm using root mode to move files to /var/www/... How can I use FTP to do the same?

Sorry if these questions are silly....
Thanks.

bruno buys · 12-11-2004, 11:22 AM

Not sure whether this is what you asked, but I have apache 2.0.52 running here with these features doign well:

1. You can have dirs elsewhere, just link them into /var/www/. Apache will follow symlinks.

2. you can use sftp or fish with konqueror to move files.

yotamk · 12-11-2004, 03:15 PM

The thing is I'm trying to connect via ftp with no success.
What is the ftp address?
Tried ftp://localhost ; ftp://myusername:mypassword@localhost, with no luck. Also used 127.0.0.1 instead of localhost - obviously it didn't work either...

Should Apache be re-configured for ftp?

bruno buys · 12-13-2004, 06:16 AM

ftp://localhost should have done it right. I guess neither apache nor any other program is listening on port 21. Maybe you need to install proftpd.

If you are doing this in the same machine, just use root to move files, its better than installing another source of vulnerability.

Try this at konqueror (kde user?):

fish://root:rootpasswd@localhost

or

sftp://root:rootpasswd@localhost

yotamk · 12-13-2004, 07:57 AM

Using Gnome

Moving files in root mode isn't very convenient

If I'll have a symlink to my /home/user/website, will it save me the job of copying files to /var/www. i.e if I make changes to a php file which is located in /home/user/website, will the change be shawn when I browse to localhost/"symlink_to_website" ?

bruno buys · 12-13-2004, 08:05 AM

Good point. I didn´t see this. Well, I guess it will load the new php file, as requested.
I use to have index.html in /var/www/apache2-default/, so, even when I change other symlinked files, I have to log as root if I edit index.html. But I never tried to symlink index.html itself. Did you?

yotamk · 12-13-2004, 08:25 AM

Will try it soon, thanks.

Do you think having symlinks that way, might compromise security?

yotamk · 12-13-2004, 02:41 PM

Created a symbolic link to my website directory in /home... And it works

I think it's better to have a symlink to a directory (the server will load index.html by default...), don't you?

Changes to files are immediately shown.
This is a great solution for debugging server scripts without having to upload them on each change.

But does this compromise security?

Thanks bruno buys.

bruno buys · 12-13-2004, 04:41 PM

Glad to know. Maybe I'll use this solution, also. Kinda used to transfer files as root...
I don't see how it can compromise security at a first sight... But I'll check further. I'm no sec guru.
Thank you!