When an FTP server is selected, the FTP Server tab appears in the right configuration panel. From this panel you may configure the Serv-U Administrator connection to the server. If connecting to the "Local Server" running on the same machine, you can also start and stop the server. The local server tab is somewhat different from the remote server tab, as many of the entries are not needed for connecting to the local server.
When connected to a server the lower-right corner of this tab will show the build number of the server. This can be helpful information when you need technical support. For "Local Server" an extra button is shown when you are connected to the server. It can be used to set a password for doing local administration. The following shows the fields in this tab:
This checkbox is only available for the local server. Check it to make the local server start automatically as soon as the PC is started, and to keep the server running even when PC users log out of the PC and back in again.
Enter the name of the server. The name is a descriptive field that allows you to describe the server in the Serv-U Administrator. By default the local server is named "<< Local Server >>", this cannot be changed.
Enter the IP address or name of the server. If you enter a name instead of an IP address, that name will need to resolve to an IP address. For example, you might enter "ftp.Serv-U.com" which has a DNS entry resolving to an IP address. The value for the "<< Local Server >>" is always 127.0.0.1 and this cannot be changed (This is a special IP address that always points to the local PC).
Enter the user account name to configure the server. The "<< Local Server >>" default user name is "LocalAdministrator" and this cannot be changed. For any remote server, use a valid user account name that exists on the remote server. The user must have some administrative privilege to configure the server or you will not be able to log in to the remote server. See the user account setup for more information about users and user privileges.
Enter the user’s password here. You may use any value here when configuring "<< Local Server>>". For any remote server, use a valid password that belongs to the user account.
Select this option to save the password between connections. When the password is saved on your computer it is saved in a somewhat encrypted format to keep it from prying eyes. If you want absolute security then do not save the password.
The Administration port is used to connect to the server. For "<< Local Server >>" this value will vary and is configured automatically. For any remote server it should be the same as the port number you use for logging in to that server, i.e. the normal FTP command socket port. For most servers this will be port 21 (the default for FTP). Do not change this value unless you are sure what you are doing.
When this option is enabled the Administrator program uses strong SSL encryption to talk to the Daemon. This makes it impossible to listen in to the conversation between Administrator and Daemon. The advantage of switching on SSL encryption is security, the disadvantage is overhead and speed. SSL communications are much slower and have much more overhead than plain-text communications.
This button lets you start the FTP server (local server only) or stop a server. For remote servers the stop button is only visible when the Administrator program is connected to the server. When connected to the server the stop button will present a dialog box with choices how and when the server should be stopped. For the local server these choices are only visible when the Administrator program is connected to the local server.
The Stop Server dialog box looks as follows:
Stop server immediately
Stops the server and causes the Engine task to exit. This option does not wait for users to complete what they are doing. Use this option with care! This option will cut off any ongoing data transfers and for a remote server you will not have any way to restart the server through the Administrator program.
Stop server after all users have logged off
This option waits until all users have completed what they are doing and have logged off before the server is stopped. The Engine task exits after that. This means you will not have any way to restart the server through the Administrator program if this is a remote server. New FTP users connecting to the server will see a message indicating the server is about to go down.
Stop server after all transfers have completed
This option waits until all file transfers have before the server is stopped. The Engine task exits after that. This means you will not have any way to restart the server through the Administrator program if this is a remote server. New FTP users connecting to the server will see a message indicating the server is about to go down.
Put server offline, server keeps running
For remote servers it may not be a good idea to completely stop them since the Administrator program cannot restart the server. For this it may be more useful to just put the server offline. Putting the server offline does not affect existing FTP users or ongoing transfers, they can continue their FTP session. Only new users connecting to the FTP server will see a message indicating the server is offline.
Cancel pending server stop or go online
Use this option to undo a pending server stop or to put the server back online after it has been placed offline.
This button lets you set or change the password that is required to do local administration of the server. By default no password is required. This is not much of a security risk, as any potential hacker would need physical access to the server PC to do local administration with or without a password. With physical access any hacker worth his salt would have no trouble getting full control over the server PC and change settings as he sees fit, even if Serv-U requires a password to do local administration.
In case you do decide to set a password, please keep in mind that you will have to remember this password. It is not stored anywhere and there is no way to retrieve it. Without the correct password you will not be able to do any local administration of the FTP server, short of directly editing the ServUDaemon.ini file to remove the need for a local administration password.
This is the local administration set/change password dialog box, its use should be fairly obvious:
