Fixing Slow FTP Server on Mac OSX

One of the very nice things about working with multiple platforms and technologies, not to mention just having longevity in the business (which is a nice way of saying I’m old!), is that you get exposed to a lot of different ways of solving problems.  “Oh, I’ve seen that before.  Back in the DOS days we used to…”

Administering FTP services on Mac OSX server has always left me wanting something better.   The built-in services work, but they have a few drawbacks:

1. I don’t like having to bounce around multiple places to administer things.  Over to the User section of the System Settings to add users.  Back over to the Server Admin to manage FTP Server settings, etc.  I always liked the all-in-one console approach with things like FileZilla on Windows servers.

2. I don’t like having to create real, actual user accounts in the system for FTP users.  I have multiple web hosting clients who need access, each to their own specific web site directories.  I don’t like creating “real” user accounts on the machine for them.  Partially a security concern, and partially just “…something bothers me about it.”  The Windows Server OS has FTP services built-in, but they are woefully inadquate and they too are all integrated and require actual user accounts.  For years I’ve used the open source FileZilla Server for Windows.

3. FTP access is SOOOOOO SLOOOOOOOW.

The very first thing I had done, when I first installed the Mac OSX Server, was to look for an OSX version of FileZilla.  Alas, they don’t make an OSX version of FileZilla.  I poked around didn’t find a suitable alternative.  So I stuck with the built-in services.

We hadn’t been using FTP all that much on the OSX Server, so we dealt with the slowness issue.  But more recently we’ve had the need to use it a bit more, and the time lags made us want to stab our eyes out.  So less we go blind, I started searching around for a cause and hopefully solution.  And to my great pleasure, I found TWO solutions!

First, it turns out that the slowness issue is very easily solved.  It’s merely a configuration setting that really ought to be part of the default installation, but isn’t.    Go here to find the full write-up from Apple.  But in a nutshell, I just needed to open the file   /Library/FTPServer/Configuration/ftpaccess    in a text editor, and then add the following line:

  passive ports Server_IP_Address 49152 65535

Then restart the server.

That’s it!  The slowdown was because when trying to go to passive mode, it was banging its head against the wall trying to find a valid port to use.

However, it gets even better…

In my travels, I also got clued into a FileZilla -like open source FTP Server!

pureFTPd is an active, open source FTP server project for the BSD unix / linux families including Mac OSX.  And there’s a GUI interface called pureFTPd Manager for OSX!    Just click the preceeding link, and you can download the GUI interface and ftp server all bundled up in one since installation package.

This software will allow you to setup multiple different username/password combinations, locking each into a specific set of “home folders”.  But these are all accounts setup within the software, and NOT actual system accounts.  Its much better security approach, and much “cleaner”.   And the software is FAST too, with better system monitors.

Enjoy!