Best Way to Transfer Files?
 

I have a Red Hat Linux 8 box. I would like to be able to tranfer files from my Win98 computer to it and from it. I'd also like to be able to transfer files remotely from work to it on occasion.

What is the best way to do this? I don't mind having to get to the Linux box in a remote way from my Win98 box, even though they are networked together. I'd prefer only one option if possible.

My options include, as far as I can tell:

1. Samba - For talking to my Win98 box
2. FTP - I could just set this up for both scenarios. However, I hear FTP is very very unsecure, and transfers passwords in plain text which can be caught easily
3. HTTP/1.1 - I really am not sure how this would work, how to set it up, or anything about it. :)

Are there any other options? Which of the above would be best, or would a combination be better than just one option?
Thanks.

I would say Samba for internally between the machines and FTP for outside access would be the best option. Though you could setup FTP only and use a browser Window like within IE to transfer files back and forth that way with no problems ??

Like for example, go to my FTP server I setup using IE: ftp://66.68.41.138 and that is what it would look like for you to drag and drop files.

If both pcs are on a local network, go with samba. If not then go with ftp.

Maybe I'm too paranoid about FTP... though I guess there are some good programs out there, since it's so common. From looking around proftp seems like one of the most favored. Is it true the passwords are transferred in plain text... and if so, is that hard to pick up?

I think it depends on which FTP server you use, and the configuration of said server. proftp, for example, supports shadowed passwords.

You said you want one way for internal transfer and external. So Samba is out of the question, I guess.

What about SCP? Maybe additionally SFTP. Everything you transfer will be encrypted going over the wire and there is a nice Windows Client around, that works just like an ftp client (WinSCP). I don't know if there are any good sftp clients for windows but there might.

Not familiar with SCP or SFTP.. I'll do some internet lookup. If i were to get proftp... it appears as though Ret Hat has an rpm package... or I saw a reference to it. However, haven't been able to find it yet. I'm looking around the proftp site... seems like all the mirrors are down, or else my connection is bad.

Try here:
http://psyche.freshrpms.net/rpm.html?id=426

Another good source for rpm's is www.rpmfind.net

Cool thanks.

I'd still like more information on the http file transfer protocol before I decide... :)

why not loggin in using SSH and then using smbmount???? even from an external network, it should work. And use samba (with encrypted passwords) and that should do it.

You could use an apache HTTP server or an HTTPS server... I think it would be better https. If you want a graphcial way to do it, obviously. if you like text or you want to use a ftp client I say that ftp is your best option. Just do a little search on the web and you'll find out the differences between them...

The only way I can see using http to transfer files is to set up a website with the files you want to share, and then use a web browser to access them, which is kind of a convoluted way to simply share files. If the files needed to be private you would have to do some apache configuration voodoo, and use /etc/hosts.allow to explicitly state who may access the server.

I could be wrong of course...:p

I think security by obscurity by using just a nonstandard port is a little weak ;)

There are some webbased filemanagers. I've seen some for PHP but never used them. Some look nice though. Check google.

Other than that, you could think about a webdav solution, even though that starts to make things even more complicated ;)

The problem with http is that it is not designed for file transfer. It was designed to respond to a request by sending out content. The other way round, sending stuff to the server has to be supported by the web application you are running.

Yup, exactly, that's why I was cautioning against using http to transfer files. My opinion, FTP is the way to go. I have edited my post lest anyone get some bad ideas:p

Not quiet right. Using a web browser you can browse an http directory without using an HTML interface. all you need to do is a simple security configuration on your apache and set a password, Note, every password can be cracked, you just have to be smart and know what passwords use, and change them often.

I thinks it is possible, yet it is easyer to share files with FTP (That¿s what the File Transfer Protocol was ment to be, http was meant to be used with html files as a browser.)

Here's what I am in the process of doing (thanks to bulliver for the link on Apache ;) )

I already have a decent ftp setup. It works great, and no need to mess with that. Now I am setting an http page for the obvious homepage on a website. The kicker is, that I will have links to an ftp setup that will then let me transfer files, if that makes any sense at all.

Here's an example to show better what I mean:

Let's say I make a page with all my favorite media on it. There's pics, movies and audio. For the movies and audio files, I would simply provide a "link" that one would click on, it would be a direct link to my ftp folder that contains that file, and then they start downloading it.

Ok, sounds all fine and dandy, well here's the twist that I am trying to work out: The http server is on one box, the ftp server on another, and I am working out how to get them to speak flawlessly across the 2 boxes. I am gonna be reading up on samba for this. Anyway, my point is that you don't have to use the same protocol for your file transfer as you would for your website serving. But it appears that you really don't want website, but only filesharing. You can still simply setup both, and have a nice looking web interface if you wanted.

Not that FTP would be any different though, it just wouldn't have all the nice looking things you would add if you were also running http.

Oh, and here's a link to my ftp, so you can see if this is what you want or something more elaborate (for the remote filesharing):
ftp://masterc.no-ip.org

Anyway, you can also setup to ssh into the box, which was suggested earlier, this works great too, and has good security as well. The other nice thing is, there are a lot of ssh clients on winbloze too so you could use them for that. At work I use cygwin to ssh into my box, then it feels like I am right at home ;)

Anyway, hope all this rambling helped :D

Cool