FTP and security

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garynunes
Posts: 8
Joined: Tue Oct 31, 2006 6:59 pm

FTP and security

Post by garynunes » Sat Jan 20, 2018 7:58 pm

Looking at the cPanel documentation I am warned that FTP is insecure and it is suggested that I instead use a secure methodology, e.g., SFTP.

The documentation ("How to Configure Your SFTP Client") includes a Private Key section that says:
cPanel users can generate and download a private key via cPanel's SSH Access interface (cPanel >> Home >> Security >> SSH Access).
However there doesn't seem to be an SSH Access section in cPanel.

So, my question is, how to I set up SFTP so that I can securely modify my web sites, or, if not SFTP then what?

Thanks for your help.

Regards,
Gary Nunes

matthiasr
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Re: FTP and security

Post by matthiasr » Sat Jan 20, 2018 8:46 pm

Gary,

i am able to connect also by FTPeS, that´s FTP explicit with TLS/SSL.
Maybe you could try that protocol?

The other solution is to ask On-Rev support for enabling SSH access for your account.

Regards,
Matthias Rebbe

garynunes
Posts: 8
Joined: Tue Oct 31, 2006 6:59 pm

Re: FTP and security

Post by garynunes » Sun Jan 21, 2018 12:38 am

Matthias,

Thanks for your reply. I will look into those possible solutions.

Regards,
Gary Nunes

garynunes
Posts: 8
Joined: Tue Oct 31, 2006 6:59 pm

Re: FTP and security

Post by garynunes » Sun Jan 21, 2018 2:13 am

I think I will be a bit clearer about what I'm doing as it may elicit additional responses.

I'm technically inclined (programming for decades) but ignorant with respect to website hosting and related services.

I have a few domain names hosted by LiveCode and would like to experiment with putting simple websites on one or more of the domains. To that end I'm trying out a few different website builders (as well as a "smart" text editor, BBEdit). These applications all allow the creation of website data and the uploading of that data to a domain. The upload can be unsecured FTP as well as various secured formats (e.g., SFTP, FTP with explicit SSL/TLS, etc.). Naturally I would like to use a secured format, if possible.

The question is how to set up the LiveCode Hosting server to accept a secured upload, preferably without spending any (or very little) money since, as mentioned above, I am currently just experimenting (i.e., messing around). Looking at cPanel and its documentation I don't see any obvious (to me) way of enabling SFTP and reading about SSL/TLS seems to imply some kind of purchase (although I certainly could be misreading the docs).

So, any advice on what to do would be appreciated.

Thanks,
Gary Nunes

matthiasr
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Re: FTP and security

Post by matthiasr » Sun Jan 21, 2018 2:15 am

Gary,

did you try FTPeS? Please use the original server name in your connection settings, not YOURDOMAIN.on-rev.com.

You only need an ssl certificate if you want to access your site with https.
The good thing is that you can ask On-Rev support to install a free Let´s encrypt certificate. But this does not have anything to do with FTP access.

Matthias

garynunes
Posts: 8
Joined: Tue Oct 31, 2006 6:59 pm

Re: FTP and security

Post by garynunes » Mon Jan 22, 2018 1:09 am

Matthias,

If I understand what I'm reading in the (sometimes arcane) docs in order to use SSL/TLS I need to generate a Private Key and a Certificate. I've generated the Key and will shortly try generating a self-signed Certificate. I will then try doing FTPeS using one of my website builder applications.

Will let you know what happens ... and thanks for your help.

Gary

... (a while later)

Used generated Key and self-signed Certificate to install SSL on one of my test sites. Tried various available secure protocols in website builder (Sandvox) but none worked. Almost certainly I'm doing something wrong but haven't figured out what yet.

Will try playing around a bit more then maybe a message to customer support.

If you or anyone else has anything to say ... be my guest.

Gary

P.S. Sandvox available secure protocols include:
- FTP with implicit SSL
- FTP with TLS/SSL
- WebDAV HTTPS
- SFTP

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