Is there a way to test an FTP from within the network you're working on? I'm in a sink or swim sort of situation at work; trying to learn the server on the fly and do network admin stuff for my boss. One of the tasks is set up the FTP, which I've done, and testing is an issue because I have wait until I go home to test it. One directory that we're trying to allow all users to have access to is giving me issues. I know that's just a matter of getting the settings right, but I can't test it here. There's got to be a way to get around the network to test it. Is there?

Perhaps you could detail your setup. Life's more painless for the brainless.

Is there a way to test an FTP from within the network you're working on? One of the tasks is set up the FTP, which I've done, and testing is an issue because I have wait until I go home to test it. This sounds like two different things to me. In the first case it sounds like you want access your ftp server from inside the LAN. In the second it sounds like you want to access the ftp server from outside your LAN (which is to say, external access). Which is it, one or the other or both? I run a couple UNIX boxes at home. Mostly they're file repositories but one of them is one of my two firewalls. All are ssh and sftp enabled. (ssh = secure shell, sftp = secure ftp) In order to accesss them externally, I've setup a port forward on my firewall device which points to my UNIX firewall's IP address. So if I need to connect remotely, I type sftp [my external IP] and the request is passed through the firewall device to the machine specified in the port forward (my UNIX firewall). I then have to authenticate. With regard to your ftp server: Any client on the LAN will be able to access the ftp server directly just by typing: ftp [IP of ftp server] If you require external access, you'll have to setup a port forward on your firewall pointing at your ftp server's IP internal address. NOTE: sftp is a secure ftp that uses encrypted passwords (as vs. clear text passwords in regular "ftp"). I highly recommend if you're going to be externally accessing your ftp server on your LAN that you use an sftp server and not just a regular ftp server. Anyone with a packet sniffer could capture traffic on your external IP and within a short period of time have your username/password for your ftp login and then hack you.