CrushFTP

CrushFTP 5.8.0 Released!

2012-01-07T15:35:00.002-06:00

CrushFTP 5.8 changes:

New:

***better thread usage, handles higher loads now

***added Jump support for CrushTask (Enterprise customers only)

***added MFMT, MLSD, MLST command support to FTP

***added per user file at rest encryption capabilities

***improved HTTP interface response time

***improved speed handling for uploads and download with Java applet (advanced upload/download) in WebInterface

***supports delta based uploading and downloading when resuming a transfer with the Java applet

***CrushTunnel can now do reverse mode

***can now direct link to files even through a login request

***validates emails in Share WebInterface

***supports multiple simultaneous downloads and uploads on a single SFTP connections

***WebInterface can select all files even in pagination mode now

***shows growl notification in WebInterface when download starts

***supports read_only fields in WebInterface custom forms, and hidden fields

***added support for asynchronous events that might run for a long time

***less WebInterface caching

***WebInterface can now display the last error that occurred on a file transfer

***can now control the number of recent sessions kept in the GUI

***can block URL unsafe characters

***better URL decoding capabilities

***importing users can handle additional fields in tab delimited format

***added support for max connections per protocol

***added support for case insensitive usernames

***added support for complex password restrictions

***added support for changing the password front he login page when its expired

***changed to Derby for internal DB engine to prevent corruption caused from HSQL (automatically converts)

***internal code cleanup

Fixed:

***CrushTunnel bandwidth acceleration had a memory leak that was fixed

***other misc CrushTunnel fixes

***login count is less exaggerated with web clients now

***fixed zip archive structure being too deep for zipped web downloads

***WebDav fix for some clients looping forever

***fixed bug with IPv6 support

***FTP proxy fixes

***fix for Adobe Contribute WebDAV issue

***fixed changing password when using SQL back end

***fix for very small uploads and downloads int he WebInterface

***fix date customizations for shares not he WebInterface

***work around for JVM bug on some Windows versions

***fixed file size tracking for zipping and reports

***fixed upload bug with HTTP leaving files corrupt if the size was a specific size

***fix for uploads not overwriting a file

***fix for events and WebDAV, tracking multiple sessions as one

***fixed daemon install for some OS X systems

***fixed new files report when a path contained a space

***fixed delete order for CrushTask deletes

***fixes for variable replacement in CrushTask

***bug fix for tree view in WebInterface

***fixed bugs with resuming transfers in WebInterface

***fixed bug with ReverseProxy and WebInterface

CrushFTP and IPv6

2011-06-08T23:03:00.002-06:00

Hope you didn't miss it today, but today was World IPv6 Day was heavily tested around the world. If your using CrushFTP, you have IPv6 capabilities built in. Just specify an IPv6 address to bind to, or if CrushFTP is already bound to all addresses, you are ready to go.

http://www.filetransferconsulting.com/study-finds-ipv6-gaps-in-mft/

--Ben

CrushFTP 5.7.0 Released!

2011-05-24T01:00:00.001-06:00

New:

***improved user manager load times

***added new 'welcome' event to trigger different actions

***increased size of thumbnails in Sharing emails

***bundled ThumbsUp to handle OS X image previews (http://www.devon-technologies.com/)

***faster WebInterface performance

***logs detailed changed being made to server prefs, or users to CrushFTP.log

***inheritance for WebInterface customizations now merges across all layers

***added cleanup of expired accounts in the user manager

***added support for controlling who emails are sent To: and From: for Sharing

***added ability to grant limited administration to just the user manager, and only the users in a group

***preserves modified times on uploaded files using advanced mode

***added the ability to do exclusion pattern matching for folder monitor

***added support to encrypt VFS URLs in the XML files

***additional modes for AS2 authentication

***added ability to redirect user at login to another web page

***alerts can now catch bad email addresses

***added list of files a user accessed to the Welcome form report

***reports no longer email out empty reports

***added support for importing BulletProof FTP users

***added support for MySQL and statistics DB

***added additional APIs for WebInterface for external access

***added default slideshow permissions when sharing images

***removed old WebInterface

***cleanup of unused libraries, smaller application size

Bug Fixes:

***fixed bug with export user pass report handling groups

***fixed bug with case sensitivity and using a DB as the back end for users

***fixed bug with some UTF8 chars on the WebInterface

***fixed bug with symlinks that are being downloaded

***fixed bug with searching in the WebInterface

***fixed bug with SSL and SMTP

***performance tweaks for SFTP proxy scenario

***fixed bug with tracking upload forms with Advanced upload

***fixed bug with POSIX permissions on OS X

***fixed bug with mass updates in user manager and VFS

***fixed NLST responses

***fixed bug with getting disk usage in Linux

***fixed bug with SQL mode and non local VFS

***fixed bug where password changes were lost in the user manager

***fixed memory leak in specific scenarios

***fixed bug with SFTP download packet order sequences

***fixed bug with Groups for various reports

***fixed bug with creating too long of paths in Windows

***fixed bug with cached VFS items being difficult to delete

High Speed File Transfer - CrushTunnel

2011-04-10T17:01:00.005-06:00

First, just a little background on what high speed file transfer is, and why you need it. If you are ever dealing with file transfers around the world, or even across the US, the distance of the network connection adds latency to the file transfer. This latency as a result limits the maximum speed the transfer can reach, regardless of the bandwidth you have with your ISP. Even if you have a 1Gbit connection to the internet, your maximum speed of a transfer from CA to Europe is going to be around the 2Mbit to 4Mbit mark.

How does CrushFTP help? CrushTunnel solves the latency issue using patent pending technology. The file transfer runs inside a CrushTunnel which uses HTTPS for the file transfer. CrushTunnel automatically opens multiple connections as needed to accelerate the file transfer over the network. It will use as few as needed, and no more than beneficial to prevent wasted overhead and IO operations. Additionally, since everything runs inside a HTTPS tunnel, its automatically securing the plain FTP protocol making it secure, and faster at the same time. Full bandwidth speed transfers, all without using UDP at all.

Does it really work? Absolutely! If you can get 4Mbit on one connection, you can now get 400Mbit over 100 connections. If your latency is extremely low, there is no need for the tunnel. Either way, the WebInterface, or local CrushTunnel application can adjust and be used as needed to get the best speeds possible.

CrushTunnel uses a Java applet, or stand alone Java WebStart application to achieve the speeds.

CrushTunnel is available to Enterprise customers. If you regularly do long distance transfers, how can you not afford to use CrushTunnel?

--Ben

http://www.crushftp.com/enterprise.html

NAB - Las Vegas April 9th-13th

2011-03-09T12:09:00.001-06:00

If anyone is attending, I'll be around roaming the floors. Not exhibiting this year, just attending.

CrushFTP 5.6.0 Released!

2011-01-21T00:46:00.000-06:00

New:

***Many WebInterface enhancements. Faster loading, pagination, selecting recent items, quick view

***Web Customizations now inherit individual settings instead of only all at once.

***All statistics that are tracked in the stats DB can be sent to another DB

***Auto calculations for HTTP(S) tunnels now works correctly for high speed transfers

***Previews of images will now skip corrupted images better, improved logging

***Enterprise customers now get a Jobs tab to monitor and schedule CrushTask events

***Support groups for running reports

***Shared files with the temp link now keep web customizations of parent user

***added retry capability to CrushTask

***Added support for %expiration% date in automatic MagicDirectory emails

Changes:

***bug fixes to how PASV response is determined

***SSL sockets are now bound to the proper IP

***fix for selecting users when the list is very long

***better compatibility with AS2 servers

***fixes loading of deep URLs after HTTP login

***fixed "I forgot my password." link on login page

***fixes bugs with IE downloads and UTF8 characters

***fixed bug with deleting multiple temp accounts

***fixed bug with Test Email button

***fixed logging display on remote admin when under high load

***fixed download file tracking for reports

***fixed slow report generation on big reports

***fixed defaults for SSH

***fixed bug with GoodReader and iCal

***fixed bug with calculating transferred data this month

***fixed issue with default owner, group, and privies with WebDAV

***fixed how CrushTask handles copying files from remote FTP servers

***fixed downloading using advanced method of download basket

CrushFTP 5.5.0 Released! (This is a big release!)

2010-10-25T14:14:00.001-06:00

Major Enhancements for Everyone:

1.) New SSH Engine

--faster, robust, and more compatible with SFTP/SCP clients in general.

2.) New HTTP Engine

--new engine is faster at handling HTTP requests, and handles reverse proxy scenarios correctly.

3.) New HTML WebInterface

--All based on CSS, Javascript, and HTML. Includes integrated invisible Java applet when needed.

--No more Flash interface! Same interface works on any modern browser now.

--Supports native browser drag and drop upload for modern browsers.

--Uploading and downloading in the WebInterface can now use zipstreaming for faster performance.

4.) Support for IPv6

Major Enhancements for Enterprise Customers:

1.) High speed file transfers using accelerated HTTP tunnels.

--regardless of distance, or packet loss, you can now get full speed on file transfers around the world.

--20Mbit connections from Australia to the US.

--100Mbit connections from Europe to the US.

--So whatever your bandwidth is from your ISP, you can utilize it all if the other end also has the bandwidth.

2.) Task Scheduler

--You can run scheduled CrushTask instances to do various things when needed.

Other general enhancements:

Added option to require both public key and password authentication for SFTP.

Added support for @AutoDomain where the user's domain on their login determines where CrushFTP finds the user account.

Added event for when a user connects.

Added event for deleting files.

Added button to send email notices of new accounts.

Increased speed of remote admin handling.

Added more compatibility for AS2 and AS3 file transfers including ASYNC MDN replies.

Stores the last 200 hours of prefs.xml files for longer history to recover from.

Added ability to easily restore an older prefs.xml file from the main window.

Added STOU FTP command. (Store Unique)

Added ability to restrict server bandwidth, but exclude some IPs

Added user manager customizations for the WebInterface to insert your own CSS or Javascript.

Added SQL "modified" table to we can track when data has been altered externally. (Better caching support for SQL.)

Added safeguards to prevent accidental deletion of config files.

Added protection against reading a file that is only partially written.

Directory listings are now sorted by default.

Increased the speed of ASCII mode handling.

Added ability to get URL parts in an email event

Added hammering alert for user accounts connecting too frequently.

Added some additional logging customizations.

Added support for the same CrushFTP folder to do remote admin for multiple places.

Added control for proxy mode to do active or passive mode on FTP connections.

Added ability to set the home path of a user who logs in with SFTP.

Added configuration option for maximum threads the server can do.

Added support for SITE restart command.

Added support for ASCII mode when using proxy.

Cleans up older stats out of the statistics DB.

Added upload and download counts to the GUI user info window.

Added support for SFTP proxy mode to keyboard interactive servers.

Improved efficiency of Chunked encoding in HTTP handlers.

Added control over the index of the ethernet adapter in the ServerBeat protocol (High Availability.)

Added helpful message about AES256 encryption and how to enable it.

Increased speed of SFTP proxy mode.

Added preliminary support for XML API to do server administration.

Added additional debug logging throughout the server.

Events now run multithreaded.

User manager can now do batch copying, linking, and deleting of events to users in that group.

Created stronger warning message on what monitor folders does.

Added create local folder button into user manager.

Added display item to see "filetree" listings statuses on really large listings

User manager automatically displays hidden items now when using the quick jump feature.

Now uses better privilege escalation for installing a daemon, or using ports below 1024. Less annoying popup window.

Added ability to create user home directories.

Bug Fixes:

Better socket management when CrushFTP is acting as a proxy

Fixed tunnel configuration in remote admin mode

Binds to the same IP that the incoming FTP connection used for data channels

Fixed caching bug on local files

GUI tweaks for better sizing and layout

Fixed bugs with synching plugins to remote admin session

Fixed new folder bug with Windows FTP client, and Windows WebDAV.

Fixed GUI issues in User Manager when using the quick find for a particular config item.

Improved searching algorithm to be more reliable and faster.

Fixed formatting on expiration date in user accounts.

Fixed ServerBeat (high availability) function for Linux machines.

Fixed bug in creating command line users.

Fixed bug in "Forgot my password" link not working.

Fixed bugs in proxy mode when using SFTP.

Fixed bugs in service install when port configuration is not correct.

Fixed STAT command in FTP.

Fixed bug with monitor folder settings not being cancelled properly.

Fixed bug with multiple PASV commands breaking the FTP session.

Fixed bug with installing daemon when using SQL mode.

Fixed error conditions when using a proxy in RFC mode.

Fixed bug with duplicating an event not making that vent unique.

Fixed bug with plugins using public key authentication.

Fixed beforeLogin plugin hook.

Fixed bug where the user manager reset permissions when renaming.

Fixed bug with some characters on remote admin passwords.

Fixed IP banning for HTTP sessions.

Fixed bug with jails proxy connections and merging multiple proxy FTP connections.

Fixed user manager concurrency issues.

Fixed inheritance in user manager.

Fixed browser's BASIC authentication popup.

Fix for events thread dieting and no events being triggered.

Fixed bug that showed the root SFTP VFS item's path.

Fixed reports to handle the display of larger file sizes.

Fixed out of memory issues when using inline plugins for the user manager's events.

CrushFTP 5.1.1 Released!

2010-06-22T22:36:00.001-06:00

New:

***initial support for UDP tunneling for faster transfers (Enterprise Licensed Customers only)

***UDP support includes FTP proxy, SFTP proxy, and HTTP/TCP proxies (Enterprise Licensed Customers only)

***warns if you use different versions of CrushFTP for remote admin and actual serving

***added case sensitive filtering flag on dir listings

***added flag for controlling FTP proxy mode on non standard FTP dir listings

***defaults to Binary mode if the using FTP and the user never specified (flag can control this)

***significantly improved proxy performance

***folder monitors can now run in intervals of seconds if the value is negative

***added flag to allow disabling the stats DB engine

***fixed memory consumption scenario for FTP transfers

***set AES ciphers to be higher priority by default

***added support for higher strength AES ciphers in SFTP if your Java has the right policy files

***added support for automatically resuming failed uploads or downloads with the FTP proxy

***added mdtm_gmt flag to make MDTM use GMT format for dates

***alert's can now execute a plugin by specifying it in the "To:" header. Example: PLUGIN:CrushTask

***added flag for determining if reports should be emailed in HTML or Plain Text mode

***added support for SFTP key renegotiations

Fixes:

***A CRITICAL BUG in CrushFTP 5.1.0_37-5.1.0_45 was fixed. (Denial of Service)

***fixed bug saving changes to the connection groups

***fixed bug where the last window size wasn't being preserved

***fixed log location filename

***fixes bugs when reading in ASCII mode to prevent character translation

***fixes potential port conflict bugs with port race conditions on Solaris

***fixed bug with the SCP handling of flags

***fixed bug creating the default user in MySQL

***fixed idle handling for HTTP sessions

***fixed bugs with Safari 5

***fixed bug with Flash 10.1 removing menu items

***fixed bug with HTTP sessions behind a reverse proxy

***fixed bug with owner/group/priv information with non ASCII filenames

CrushFTP 5.1.0_37 to CrushFTP 5.1.0_45 URGENT BUG FIX!

2010-06-22T11:58:00.004-06:00

If you downloaded CrushFTP from the time period 6/11/2010 to 6/22/2010 your version of CrushFTP will fall in this range.

Please update your copy of CrushFTP5 immediately to the latest build by selecting check for update from the File menu. Click the button to check for update, and answer YES to update even though you have the latest version. Tonight I will update my official version number forcing everyone to see the new update.

The bug is specific to CrushFTP 5, and causes a Denial of Service where CrushFTP is unusable. Do not wait to see if the bug can effect you, rather update immediately if your version ends in _37 through _45.

This is a critical bug.

Please update if you have those versions. Sorry I'm not going to give more info on the bug, but I don't want people accidentally, or maliciously to hurt themselves or others.

Sorry for the inconvenience.

--Ben

CrushFTP 5.1.0 has been Released!

2010-05-10T00:30:00.001-06:00

Finally, a new official public version. Lots of testing and bug fixes went into making this version.

New:

***uses fewer threads for all sessions

***client certificate authentication is now supported for FTPS as well as HTTPS

***improves WebInterface to display logos, welcome messages and honor some color customizations

***added control to block access to specific directories or files matching a pattern

***improved server prefs GUI to be less confusing on what "Server Groups" do

***added default for WebInterface to hide the upload method choice

***added defaults for WebInterface sharing, and allowing uploads

***supports recursive MKDIR command in FTP now

***added customization to force slideshow only mode

***added browse and test buttons for DB setup on the User Config tab

***windows service will now work in 64bit mode instead of 32bit mode

***faster exiting of failed remote admin sessions

***added support for dumb proxy mode

***SQL compatibility improvements

***removes temp files when using remote admin mode from a web browser

***added flag for disabling an account in the user manager

***added additional plugin hooks to monitor and control CrushFTP

***added flag to make events be able to be run immediately (_NO_DELAY at the end of the event name)

***added support for SFTP public key files being stored in the user manager field

***allows for multiple copies of CrushFTP to technically be run from the same machine

***now propagates error messages back to WebInterface or SFTP client if an upload fails.

***improved servu import to capture notes field

Fixes:

***WebInterface compatibility fixes

***bug fixes for webdav clients

***bug fix for editing inline plugin info in user manager

***fixed who downloaded report to only show downloaded files

***bug fixes for the WebInterface sharing feature

***bug fix for downloading PDF files with Adobe Reader browser plugin

***bug fix for event handling processing a file multiple times

***fixed bug when writing files in encrypted mode

***fixed bug for making previews of images when not on the C drive

***fixed bug with chmod in SFTP

***fixed bugs with CCC command in FTPS mode

***fixed bug with IIS FTP proxying

***fixed compatibility with Adobe Contribute and WebDav

***fixed bug with chunked HTTP tunneling

***fixed potential memory leak when in proxy mode

***fixed bug with importing CrushFTP 4 user databases to CrushFTP 5

***fixed bugs with SFTP proxy handling of files and directories

FTPS Client based authentication

2010-03-16T23:47:00.004-06:00

The HTTPS server in CrushFTP has been able to authenticate users by a client based certificate allowing for auto user/password authentication based solely on the certificate installed in the browser.

Technically, the FTP protocol can do this as well, and so I have added support for it with the FTP protocol too. I verified this using the command line client "curl". Its still a bit of a pain dealing with all the certificates, so I'll be writing up some entries in my Wiki to help people with the process.

The summary? CrushFTP now supports FTPS client based certificates for authentication where the common name is the username. The cert the user provides must exist in your trust store file as a certificate that was issued from your server, or it won't be accepted.

CrushFTP 5 WebInterface

2010-03-05T00:27:00.003-06:00

The flash WebInterface is finally getting some attention. I've enabled the header, logos, and some other customizations for it.

I'm working on the flash stuff pretty regularly now. Its still not the way I want it to be, but its definitely getting closer.

More features to come soon for the slideshow ability on photos in it too.

CrushSync 1.6 was just posted.

2010-03-05T00:23:00.002-06:00

My favorite part is its self update. Now I can set my parents computer to self update to newer versions automatically without me getting involved. See my FAQ on how to configure self updating on CrushSync: http://www.crushsync.com/faq.html

New:

***improved logging to have more meaningful data

***added log rolling ability to keep logs files from growing to big

***added ability for OS X to do self updates

Fixed:

***fixed schedule bug where schedules may not run

***fixed bug so self updating will work

***fixed bug so post script commands will complete

Just posted a new version of CrushFTP 4 and CrushFTP 5

2010-02-25T21:54:00.001-06:00

New:

***will act as CrushFTP 5 is CrushFTP detects you meant to start CrushFTP5 but forgot the flag (linux)

***uses new events system for more reliable event execution

***made it easier for generating Previews

***can now set the title on the login page

***added additional support for dump proxy mode in CrushFTP when dealing with bad FTP servers

***folder monitor can now call third party plugins (CrushTask)

***added support for allowing uploading to temp accounts

***added additional hooks for plugins

***changed dir filtering to use regex (partially)

***added flag to be able to start Crush with all ports stopped

***WebDAV is now supported on Windows Vista / 7

***WebDAV now passes most of the 'litmus' tests.

***some plugins can now be created inline in the UserManager instead of just globally in the server prefs

***creates groups in CrushFTP 5 when importing CrushFTP 4 users

***added variable %user_dir% that does not include the root directory of a user

***added ability to set a alternate source port for active mode connections

Fixes:

***fixed bug with ServerBeat not being disabled properly

***fixed bug with inheriting the user/group/privs in OS X and Linux when writing a new file.

***fixed bug with scp handling multiple uploads per connection

***fixed bugs with generating Previews on Windows

***fixed bugs with Flash and UTF8 characters (another work around)

***fixed bug with CrushUploader uploading files

***fixed bug with backing up prefs.xml, and restoring a backup file if a main one fails

***fixed bugs with Custom VFS's by third parties

***fixed bug where modified dates were lost when you copied and pasted files in the WebInterface

***fixed bugs with editing temp accounts when using remote admin mode

***fixed bug with lowres downloads of images

***fixed bug with UTF8 characters in emails

***fixed bug with a memory leak

***fixed bug where files coulee be left in use

***fixed admin user creation to write file in the CrushFTP 5 default location

***fixed bug where uploads seemed to be failing even though they were not

***fixed bug with the IP in response to PASV

***fixed bug with timeouts for hammer banning

***fixed bug with the folder monitor GUI

***fixed bug with CCC synchronization

***fixed bug with blocking WebDAV connections

***fixed bug with empty directory listings

***fixed bug with logging in and out using different user accounts within the same browser session

***fixed bug with linked events

***fixed bug with miniURLs and the default flash/html mode

Just Updated CrushSync to version 1.5

2010-02-25T21:53:00.000-06:00

New:

***added ability to start multiple syncs at once

***added MD5 hash checking with CrushFTP servers

***can now set the next time to run by clicking on the time

***added ability to rename the source file after a sync

***email notifications can now be customized

***added support for UTF8 on more servers

***prevents caching of DNS names int eh event the DNS changed

***handles more complex invalid URLs

***can now handle multiple hosts by separating them with a comma

***windows version can be set to self update (see FAQ instruction)

Fixes:

***fixed bug with FTP listings

***fixed bug with installing and removing the daemon in OS X

***fixed bug where a scheduled sync could be missed if the machine had been off

***fixed bug where a group of syncs could be running at the same time

***fixed bug where multiple source items could make the sync run very long

***fixed how pre-scripts and post-scripts run

***fixed bug where group licenses might check frequently

CrushSync Scheduling

2010-02-21T16:47:00.003-06:00

CrushSync scheduling got some fixes over the weekend too. It will now pick up on syncs that may have been missed while the machine was shut off. The new algorithm results in less CPU usage to calculate when syncs should be run, as well as finding out when a sync was missed.

Big new feature coming to CrushFTP and CrushSync is the ability to sync the contents of large files, where only the changed portions of the file are transferred. This makes perfect sense for a database file, log files, etc. In addition, it will also support encryption on the synched file, so you can store an encrypted version of the file on the remote server, and still synchronize tis contents.

--Ben

WebDAV finally fixed!

2010-02-21T16:44:00.002-06:00

CrushFTP now will work with Vista and Windows 7's WebDAV client. MS fails to handle a date format that isn't in GMT format, and this subtle issue had eluded me for quite a long time. Finally tracked it down, and now CrushFTP works great with all known Windows versions.

CrushFTP still works great with OS X 10.4+ and many other WebDAV client too. I'll probably post a new official build of CrushFTP this week when i get some time.

--Ben

CrushFTP 5 User Manager Events

2010-02-10T01:59:00.002-06:00

There is another great feature I just added to the CrushFTP 5 User Manager. The events section can now create plugin configurations on the fly, to be used by that event only.

What does this mean?

It means you can create very specific CrushTask plugin configurations to do specific tasks without having to go back and forth between the global server preferences. While you can still have global plugin configurations, you can now also have per user, per event type configurations. It makes for easier editing too.

I also finally tracked down a rare session bug that sometimes prevented getting a directory listing in CrushFTP 5's WebInterface. New builds have been posted, and new public versions coming soon!

Publishing and Sharing Files

2010-01-26T15:52:00.003-06:00

Did you know using CrushFTP 5, you can easily share files with other people? Just enable the "Publish/Share" feature on a folder and use the flash based WebInterface.

Login, upload a few files, then right click and select "Share...". Now enter a few details such as their email address, some comments int eh body, and your done.

They get a random self expiring account generated, tied to your account, with access to only the items you shared with them.

Find out more on the CrushFTP5 Wiki: http://crushftp.com/crush5wiki/Wiki.jsp?page=Sharing

CrushTask

2010-01-26T15:46:00.004-06:00

A brand new plugin is coming to CrushFTP called CrushTask. As for now, I plan on this being a free plugin. It adds a complex task system for CrushFTP events on uploads or downloads.

For example, some images just arrived from a designer of yours. You setup an event to run a CrushTask set of tasks.

Move the files to a new location.

Execute an external task to create thumbnails of the images.

Copy the files to several other FTP servers.

Wait for simultaneous copies to complete.

Send an email notification to a coworker about the files being posted.

Delete the original files.

You get the idea? Additionally, third party hooks are going to be allowed with the plugin as well.

With the rewritten event system in CrushFTP 5, events are more reliable too!

CrushFTP is under very active development!

2010-01-26T15:42:00.002-06:00

I sort of forgot about this blog. A couple people mentioned that it looked like CrushFTP wasn't under development anymore since the blog postings were so old.

This isn't true!

Every day, CrushFTP is under development. Since 2007 there have been hundreds of features added to CrushFTP4. CrushFTP 5 was released in August of 2009, and is under active development as well.

I'll start using posts here to make brief notes about changes and new builds of CrushFTP going forward.

Three More Features of the CrushFTP WebInterface

2007-07-08T15:56:00.000-06:00

Mini Secure URLs to Auto Login a User and Download a File

Yeah that's a long title, but that's basically what its for. Have you ever given a user a url and told them to use a certain username and password only to end up spending time on the phone, or emails back and forth trying to figure out what they are typing wrong in their password? This feature aims to solve that. You provide one simple URL that they can just click on, and that is it. Sure you could do this if all your files were available to the "anonymous" account, but that's not secure.

This allows you to build a URL that will tell CrushFTP to login a user using a specific username and password, and point them at a specific location.

For example: https://www.crushftp.com/d

That will log you into https://www.crushftp.com/demo/ using the username of "demo", and the password of "demo". If I wanted to be more secure instead of "d", I could have done something like "XJT59wR" with the same effect. I could also have directed that URL to "/documents/stuff/last year/vacation planning.pdf". For something that long, you can see how a shorter url is helpful.

Mini URL's can also be set to auto expire. So you can make a URL that is only valid for say 1 day and then it invalidates itself. That adds another layer of security to them. You know the URL won't be floating around for a few months because you forgot to delete it.

There is one important note about these mini URLs. When authenticating a user, if you direct them to a specific file, they are still logged into the WebInterface. So don't use it as a security measure. A crafty user will know how to see the folder that contained the specific file you pointed them at. They can only access the files that the user they are logged in with has access to, but its not a way to limit them to a single file.

Forgot Password Reminder

The WebInterface now has a few more useful features. Features just keep trickling in. You'll notice on the login.html page you now have a link for "I forgot my password, email it to me." This allows you to automate a common thing users do. They forget their password! No fault of theirs as they have so many to remember. So how do you enable and get this feature working? Their are three parts to enabling this feature. Don't worry, they are all easy.

Step#1 : Configure the SMTP server settings in the server preferences. This is the same setting that used to be located on each and every user event. Its now been moved here. It will automatically be populate for you if you open a user and click on an event that used to have the SMTP server set for it. CrushFTP copies that setting then to the server preferences if it doesn't already exist.

Step#2 : Enter an email address associated with the user on the upper right of the events email tab of the user manager. This email is the email that will be used in the 'To:' address for outgoing emails.

Step#3 : Enable permission for the user to request that their password be emailed. You enable this option under the admin tab of the User Manager in CrushFTP.

Now you can test this feature out. If you don't have access or something isn't configured, you will get a message telling you why you can't use the link.

Custom Login Page for Virtual Domains

You can now deliver a different custom login page based on the domain a user used to reach your site. For example, www.crushftp.com, and www.benspink.com both point to my machine. but I can have a custom login.html page for each domain. You may want to do this to have custom logo's, custom layout, styles, etc. Once logged in, its up to your individual user customizations to control the layout of the WebInterface.

To get started, duplicate the login.html page. Then begin editing it with either a text editor, or a HTML editor. The main critical piece in that page is where a line of javascript passes the form to a function for login. Save your new page with a different name besides login.html...maybe something like benspink_login.html. Then in the server preferences, under WebInterface, add a new login.html virtual domain mapping and point it at your new file. Thats it!

What is this WebInterface? (FAQ)

2007-03-10T21:15:00.000-06:00

"I thought CrushFTP was an FTP server...what is this WebInterface thing?"

This is a common confusion with CrushFTP. Quick bit of history. CrushFTP 1.0 and 2.0 were strickly FTP servers. CrushFTP3 provided HTTP upload capability and some rudimentary HTML customizations. CrushFTP4 brought about a full scale WebInterface utilizing all the current technologies so that you can fully customize every aspect about it. Its not just an FTP server anymore.

The WebInterface allows users to access the files on your server with a WebBrowser. They can download, upload, rename delete, make directories, etc. All from a nice modern WebInterface. When they go to upload files to you, they get realtime feedback as to the speed of the transfer, a progress bar, and estimated time remaining. If you tried to do this without CrushFTP, you would have to have several custom PHP configurations, various config changes to your web server, PHP script files, and HTML / javascript. With CrushFTP, you double click on the application, and this is all immediately available without any other work. Talk about easy! And that's not all, there is also the CrushUploader that provides drag and drop support and compression for file transfers. Just keep reading.

"What makes CrushFTP's WebInterface special?"
First, lets talk about how customizable it is. Sure you can jsut enable it and go, but if you have someone who is up on their HTML standards, they can really go a long way with it. The layout of it, the color schemes, graphics & logos...everything can be modified. It just takes editing the XSL file and the changes take affect right away.

Uploading to the WebInterface is portentially faster than any other protocol. This is because it has a built in CrushUploader that will zip the files you are sending on the fly. Say you have a folder with 100 images, and text files in it (like a website). When you upload that with a normal FTP client, it has to send each file individually. If the file is big, things go as fast as your connection can handle. But when you start getting hundreds of small files, it can take a long time to upload each tiny file as much of the time is taken by the setup of the transfer and not by the transfer itself. The CrushUploader allows you to drag and drop, copy and paste, or "Browse..." for the files to upload. You can then choose to upload them as a ".ZIP" or normal. If your uploading a single large file, use "Normal", otherwise, you are probably better off using "Auto Zip". The "zip" feature doesn't make you wait while it builds a .zip file of your files before the upload starts. It zips directly to the CrushFTP server, no local files are ever made, and there is no delay before the upload starts. On my demo site, I have a folder with 400 files in it. It takes about 2 seconds to upload all 400 files. They are all small, but if they were uploaded "normally", then they would take close to 7 minutes! The zipping not only benefits multiple files being uploaded, but it also saves bandwidth allowing you to upload bigger files in less time.

http://www.crushftp.com/demo.html

And it goes both ways. You can also select a folder, or several files to download and click the ".ZIP" button. You will get a single .zip of those items generated on the fly directly to you. Otherwise it could get pretty painful clicking on 400 items individually... Then simply decompress the .zip you downloaded and you have allt he files you wanted!

The WebInterface supports resume downloads, and the CrushUploader supports resuming uploads as well.

"But if users are uploading .zip files, I have to decompress them before I can access them, right?"

Actually there is a built in plugin to handle this called the "AutoUnzip" plugin. You can access it in the Preferences of CrushFTP. You set it up to decompress uploaded .zip files once they finish. So a user will upload a .zip, then CrushFTP will decompress it and delete the original file. It will all be transparent to you and the user. Its an end to end solution allowing for compressed fast transfers.

"What is WebDAV?"
WebDAV is another part of the WebInterface. If you have heard of Apple's iDisk, it is essentially WebDAV. You connect from the OS X Finder to a WebDAV server and can mount it just like any other server on your desktop. You can read, and write to it, open files and edit them directly. So there is no need to use a web browser, or an FTP client. You can't get any more integrated or natural feeling to your end user than that. Check out the WebDAV server on my demo site to get a feel for how it works.

Easy to Configure!
And best of all, both WebDAV and the WebInterface run on one single port. No complex router / firewall configurations. Simply open up one port (default is 8080) for HTTP/WebDAV, or for SSL HTTPS / SSL WebDAV (default is 443). No issues with "passive" ports. Additionally from a server standpoint, you can monitor what your users are sending you better. FTP doesn't allow for the FTP client to tell you how big of file is being sent. WebDAV and the WebInterface do! So you will see estimated time remaining telling you how long you have to wait before the upload is complete!

WebInterface Changes and Security Issues

2007-03-10T20:50:00.000-06:00

Goodbye template.html
As of CrushFTP 4.1, there won't be any real "html" templates anymore. CrushFTP 4.1 uses XML and XSLT to generate the entire web interface allowing it to be completely customizable. All the data is provided in the XML, all you need to do is just decide how you want it formatted. The XML is then rendered either server side or client side to HTML to display.

As a result, the template.html file is now gone. One single file provides the WebInterface, template.xsl. You can make copies of it and individualize it for your various needs. Each user can have their own dynamic customized WebInterface. Easily incorporate your company's logos and CSS styles. The CrushFTP logo is provided as a template, but you don't need to keep it there. Simple replace the logo.gif with your own file and brand the WebInterface to your liking.

Security
A little about security. If your using HTTP for logins, you run the risk that someone could be watching your network traffic and gain access to your user and password for the server. So if this is soemthing you're concerned about, CrushFTP can do HTTPS as well. As it "ships", HTTPS is configured on the default port of 443. So if you point your browser to "https://your_ip/" you will be asked about a certificate not ebing valid. Click continue and you can then login. Everything is then encrypted and secure.

Self Signed Certificate
The warning about the certificate is because the certificate hasn't been given from a certificate authority. That cost around a minimum of $70 per year for a SSL certificate. What would it provide for you? If you are worried about someone hijacking your connection and providing their own CrushFTP instance with their own certificate generated that looks like yours...then you could be compromised. If your not the government or some kind of banking site...you probably won't have that concern. I can come up with far fetched scenarios where it could happen, but its pretty unlikely it would.

Anonymous Access
If you create an account named "anonymous" then no user/pass will be asked when a user connects to CrushFTP. Anonymous is just like any other account in CrushFTP, except it accepts any password. There is a link on the WebInterface allowing a user to "login" to see theirfiles. I highly recommend you never give "anonymous" upload rights. An example for an anonymous account is how you downloaded CrushFTP from me. I provide anonymous access to teh CrushFTP applications for anyone to download. Never think that because you didn't give your IP out to anyone that that makes you secure. Just be safe and only give the "anonymous" user access to files you truly wouldn't mind anyone having. If you don't make a user named "anonymous" then you have nothing to worry about.

Upcoming Features

2007-03-07T20:49:00.000-06:00

Lets get some feedback...
I've been busy working on some upcoming features in CrushFTP. I'm always looking for feedback, and its your feedback that helps shape how I go about implementing new features. My to-do list is never ending as I keep adding to it with users feedback.

Help be get some priorities on what you are most interested in.

CrushPGP - Plugin that makes all files listings end in ".pgp". Requesting one of these files results in the file being encoded / encrypted band streamed to the end user. When SSL isn't enough, maybe this is just the security you need. The private key used to encrypt files can be set on a per user basis. So you can have individual accounts that encrypt files differently in PGP. Its a reverse of the private / public key mentality. Some banks use this to ensure (if you trust the bank) that files being sent from them can only be read with someone who holds your public key. In this case...both keys are "private" as you keep them both secure.
This plugin will be one of my more complex plugins...so it will take a day or two to code.

File Filtering for WebDAV Email Events
Ever notice when you upload with the finder, your email notifications states something like:
test.tst 0 bytes
._test.txt 500k

That's because the finder uploads the file as the hidden file, then renames and swaps the files before deleting the originally named item. It keeps someone from potentially trying to access the file while its in progress. It however makes the email reporting be confusing!

I plan on creating some logic in CrushFTP 4 that will follow renames with uploads so the resulting email notification would contain only the files that were uploaded (with their final name after it was renamed) and none of the "." items that were uploaded, or items that were uploaded and immediately deleted.

Better Update Mechanism
So its no secret the update mechanism isn't really holding up as well anymore. It still works, but is far from ideal. Besides loading my main server more than needed, its slow for you...the real user of it! The next version of the update mechanism will only update files that have changed, and will transfer everything in a .zip. One single file to download.

Running CrushFTP behind Apache
CrushFTP 4.1 now supports running CrushFTP behind apache. This means that your main server will still be your main server. A path on your server, will be "reverse proxied" to CrushFTP. So when users go to: http://www.yourdomain.com/files/ they will get the CrushFTP WebInterface instead. ('/files/' is just an example...you can make it what you want.) It only takes a couple config entries in your apache config, and telling CrushFTP what "path" you have set, and the rest is handled for you. No need to open multiple ports as everything can come across on one port as well (80).

Have you seen my new plugins?
Just wrote a few new plugins. These include:
OSXNetInfo - integrate CrushFTP with OS X accounts (this includes OS X Server accounts)
AutoUnzip - Automatically decompress those .zip files users are uploading. Makes for an end to end solution. The CrushUploader automatically zip's files when they upload them, and the AutoUnzip plugin can automatically unzip them as they arrive.
PreferencesController - Lets you specify times of the day that specific configurations of the CrushFTP server are active. This means you could for example throttle bandwidth during the day, and let it loose in the evenings! Some other uses might be enabling certain plugins at different times, or disabling FTP access at specific times. Use the plugin to make a "snapshot" and that config will be used whent he specified time arrives.

Plugin Updates
The HomeDirectory plugin now has the option to put users in a new folders daily, hourly, whatever. You could use this to have a "rolling" folder where every days users get a new folder to upload into. Once the day changes, their previous days files are no longer accessible.
The CrushLDAP plugin also has been expanded to work with more LDAP servers. LDAP still ain't easy...but at least you have the options to configure it now.

I've got a lot of other features planned, some bigger than others. This is a good start to future posts I'll be making explaining things you can do with CrushFTP 4. Feel free to email me directly as well. I'm just getting started...:)