Summary
FTP servers have historically been a very
important part of the Internet, but today their function has been partially
taken over by Web servers. Even so, FTP servers remain important in some
situations, both as a means for authenticated file transfer (possibly in two
directions) and as a means of anonymous file transfer (usually just from the
server to the client). The two most popular FTP servers for Linux are WU-FTPD
and ProFTPd. Both are powerful servers with many options, including support for
both authenticated and anonymous transfers. Their configuration styles are very
different, though. WU-FTPD uses its own system, and ProFTPd's configuration
files are similar to those of Apache. Most distributions ship with FTP server
configurations that work for authenticated access, and with little or no
additional work, for anonymous access as well. Most of your FTP server
configuration will probably involve making small changes to these default
setups.