Share via

Adding FTP Sites to Your Server

  • Article

Applies To: Windows Server 2003, Windows Server 2003 R2, Windows Server 2003 with SP1, Windows Server 2003 with SP2, Windows Server 2008

IIS enables you to create multiple FTP sites on a single server. To add a site to a server, you must prepare the server and associated network services, and create a unique identity for the site.

Preparing to Add an FTP Site

Adding an FTP site to a server that is already hosting an FTP site requires some preparation.

  • Multiple FTP sites can use the same IP address. If you use a unique IP address to identify a new FTP site, however, you must obtain a static IP address from your organization or Internet service provider (ISP) and configure the TCP/IP settings on the server.

  • Standard FTP services use TCP port 21 by default, and it is generally not recommended to use any other port for FTP services. However, if you use a nonstandard TCP port number to identify a new FTP site for special situations (typically used on private Web sites for development and testing purposes), select a TCP port number above 1023 so it does not conflict with well-known port numbers assigned by the Internet Assigned Numbers Authority.

  • Use Windows Explorer to create a home directory for the FTP site content. Create subdirectories to store other content as needed. To organize home directories for multiple FTP sites on the same server, you can create a top-level directory for storing all home directories, and then create subdirectories for each site. You can create a home directory on the local server, or as a uniform naming convention (UNC) path on a network share. You can also create virtual directories that map to the physical directories.

Adding an FTP Site

IIS provides the following two methods for adding a new FTP site:

  • IIS Manager.

  • The Iisftp.vbs command-line administration script.

Important

You must be a member of the Administrators group on the local computer to perform the following procedure or procedures. As a security best practice, log on to your computer by using an account that is not in the Administrators group, and then use the runas command to run IIS Manager as an administrator. At a command prompt, type runas /User:Administrative_AccountName "mmc %systemroot%\system32\inetsrv\iis.msc".

Procedures

To add an FTP site through IIS Manager

  1. In IIS Manager, double-click the local computer, right-click the FTP Sites folder or a specific FTP site folder, point to New, and then click FTP Site.

  2. In the FTP Site Creation Wizard, click Next.

  3. In the Description box, type the name that you have selected for the FTP site, and then click Next.

  4. Under Enter the IP address to use for this FTP site, click All Unassigned to allow FTP to respond to all unassigned IP addresses on the server, or click a specific IP address for the site.

    Note

    In the FTP Site Creation Wizard, All Unassigned refers to IP addresses that are assigned to a computer but not assigned to a specific site. The default FTP site uses all of the IP addresses that are not assigned to other sites. Only one site can be set to use unassigned IP addresses for a given port number. For more information about how sites are identified, see Creating Multiple FTP Sites.

  5. The TCP port is assigned to port 21 by default. To use a nonstandard port number to create a unique identity for a private FTP site, under Type the TCP port for this FTP site, type a new port number above 1023, and then click Next.

  6. Click the appropriate user isolation method for this site, and then click Next.

  7. In the Path box, type or browse to the path of your FTP site home directory, and then click Next.

  8. Select Read permissions, or select Read and Write permissions for the site.

  9. Click Next, and then click Finish to close the FTP Site Creation Wizard.

Important

You must be a member of the Administrators group on the local computer to run scripts and executables. As a security best practice, log on to your computer by using an account that is not in the Administrators group, and then use the runas command to run your script or executable as an administrator. At a command prompt, type runas /profile /User:MyComputer\Administrator cmd to open a command window with administrator rights and then type cscript.exe ScriptName (include the script's full path and any parameters).

To add an FTP site by using the Iisftp.vbs command-line administration script

  1. If the new FTP site will be in a new directory, create the new directory.

  2. From the Start menu, click Run.

  3. In the Open box, type cmd, and then click OK.

  4. At the command prompt, switch to the systemroot\System32 directory.

  5. Type the following, and then press ENTER:

    cscript iisftp.vbs /create HomeDirectory "SiteDescription" IPAddress /b PortNumber

    For example, the following command creates and starts an FTP site called MyFTPSite on port 21, which is at IP address 123.456.789 with C:\Inetpub\Ftproot\NewDirectory as its home directory:

    cscript iisftp.vbs /create c:\inetpub\ftproot\newdirectory "myftpsite" /i 123.456.789 /b 21.

Note

The Iisftp.vbs script supports many more options for creating an FTP site. To see the options available, search for "iisftp.vbs" in Help and Support Center for Windows Server 2003.