How can I easily setup and maintain multiple user accounts who need access to the web directory used by Apache?
This single directory (with subdirectories) contains sample files for users to download and they are maintained by a handful of users who should have r/w access and the ability to create folders and overwrite eachother’s files.
They should not have access beyond their ability to manage these files as described above. These users know how to use FTP that shouldn’t be an issue.
What is the best way to set this up?
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There are a couple ways to configure an FTP server like vsftpd to restrict users to a directory (and it’s subdirectories) that you select. This guide will help you in installing vsftpd and this answer on StackExchange provides two good examples on the methods for setting up the directory restriction (chroot).
There is also a link at the top of the first tutorial to a guide on securing vsftpd with SSL/TLS encryption. As FTP is an inherently insecure protocol by default this is recommended.
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