Subject: Opinions Sought...which FTP server

From: Emmett Hogan <[email-masked]>
Date: Tue, 29 Sep 1998 13:04:25 -0700 (PDT)

First off...I am not trying to start a "religious war"...but I need
some honest opinions (although this crowd might be a *bit* biased) :-)

I need to install an FTP server on a Solaris 2.5.1 box.  In the past,
I have ALWAYS used wu-ftpd, but now there are a few alternatives and
I'd like to hear about the pro's and con's of each....from those folks
that actually use it (rather that from those who WROTE it).

The "freeware" servers I have been hearing about are:

	wu-ftp (with all of it's patches)
	BeroFTP (is there a web page for this?)
	proFTPD (www.proftpd.org)

If there is any interest, i will happily summarize the info I receive
and repost it to the list.

Thanks alot,
Emmett

-- 
Emmett Hogan
Global Networking and Computing
Home Page: http://www.gnac.com/~hogan
Inet: [email-masked]
ICBM: 38d 47' 27" N, 121d 14' 05" W

---

From: Gregory A Lundberg <[email-masked]>
Date: Tue, 29 Sep 1998 17:12:48 -0400 (EDT)

>         proFTPD (www.proftpd.org)

When it comes to FTP daemons, there's one one real choice and that's
WU-FTPD.  Sure, there are a lot of otheres out there but none have the
history or installed user base of WU-FTPD.

BeroFTPD is a version of WU-FTPD.  It includes most (not all) of the
patches people have suggested for WU-FTPD over the years.

I recommend:

 - BeroFTPD if you have a large, multi-homed site

 - VR-patched wu-ftpd 2.4.2 beta-18 if you have need of the features
   added

 - the base version 2.4.2, beta-18, for all other users

I had never heard of 'proFTPD' until you mentioned it.  Checking out it's
web site, I'd say there are a few things to watch out for:

 - It's a newcomer and likely to have bugs because of that.

 - It's never been vetted by security experts

 - Despite it's name, there's no guarantee anything about it was done by
   professional programmers.

 - It runs on only a portion of the Unix systems out there.

 - Has an unknown, but probably small, install base

WU-FTPD, on the other hand:

 - Has been arround for years and is very mature.  If you're looking for a
   *stable* daemon you can rely upon, it's the one.

 - Has been specifically recommended by CERT (http://www.cert.org/) for
   its security features.

 - While originally developed by graduate students at UC/Berkeley and
   Washington University in Saint Louis, has been supported and maintained
   by professional programmers and system administrators who have real-
   world requirements.

 - Runs on virtually every Unix (including some you can't get any more)

 - Is the daemon of choice for virtually all major file archives and is
   installed on, literally, hundreds of thousands (if not millions) of
   computers arround the world.

-- 

Gregory A Lundberg		Senior Partner, VRnet Company
1441 Elmdale Drive              [email-masked]
Kettering, OH 45409-1615 USA    1-800-809-2195