Set up a separate FTP for Downloads.

[Peter Istrate]

Hello :)

I'm trying for a few days to set up a different FTP for my downloads items.
Got the FTP, and set it up in ACP with the help of the support (who do a great job as usual). So far so good... but there are some issues with the FTP.

The community it's hosted on invision servers while the FTP it's on my own host.
The host provided me with an IP as a hostname for that FTP, as i didn't had a domain name linked to that FTP. So it's normal.
But because the hostname it's an IP, the IP.Downloads can't access that FTP. It can upload though but can't do any downloads.

The invision support suggested me to buy a domain or a subdomain and link it with that FTP, so in the FTP-hostname instead of having an IP, there will be a domain name which will be adressed to acceess that FTP.
Is this the only sollution ? Have anyone tried to use a different FTP for Downloads ?

Now..., wanted to get the easiest way and get a subdomain (as messing with another domain would be a problem more) but the surprize was that the guys at www.domain.com asked me to pay for a subdomain (of a domain that i already bought and registered with them). As far as i know, all subdomains of a domain should be free as long as you already bought that domain. And those subdomains aren't cheap at at all, 5$/month.
I didn't wanted to take any other money out of the pocket. I already spent a lot with these small payments and i can't afford going any further.

Do you guys have any suggestions ?
Thank you.

[Aiwa]

You'd have to look and see what link it's trying to pull the download from... When you connect to an FTP, you have to provide login details.. and the 'actual address is 12.123.123.123/user or something of the sort...

If it's only trying to download the files from 12.123.123.123/filename... Then it won't find it...

Playing with the domain can get a bit complicated... But you might be able to redirect it to your host, then use cPanel to redirect it to IPS hosting... Then you can use 'ftp.somedomain.com' to access your files.

Someone correct me if I'm wrong and you can't play domain shenanigans like that...

[Peter Istrate]

Playing with the domain can get a bit complicated... But you might be able to redirect it to your host, then use cPanel to redirect it to IPS hosting... Then you can use 'ftp.somedomain.com' to access your files.

Yes, that's what i thought too, having a domain in this chain only complicates the things more. But this is what actually the host suggested me. I think it's more secure for them to access the FTP through a domain.
So this would be just a restriction imposed by the host. They could easily allow me to access it with IPB directly through the IP but they just don't want, i suppose.

[Dmacleo]

you also need to make sure ftp is enabled in php settingsof server.
I had issues when testing w/o that enabled that were similar.
for some reason uploads worked but downloads did not.
made no sense to me.

also if you use ip/username it may work.
10.10.10.10/ftp@domain.com like that worked for me before.

[Peter Istrate]

Exactly, the uploads work but the downloads don't.
It doesn't work if i use an IP so the host suggested me to use a domain.

I'll ask the host to check if the FTP it's neabled in php settings as you suggested (and hopefully he will want to do that), usually they don't deviate from the usual stuff they do.

[Peter Istrate]

You'd have to look and see what link it's trying to pull the download from... When you connect to an FTP, you have to provide login details.. and the 'actual address is 12.123.123.123/user or something of the sort...

If it's only trying to download the files from 12.123.123.123/filename... Then it won't find it...

How / where can i see the path he uses to download a file ?

[Dmacleo]

most likely it IS enabled, you can check it by looking at php test page.
make a page (use any text editor) called phpinfo.php or something and use this code in it

<?php

phpinfo();

?>

then upload that into webroot and open with browser then look for this

[Peter Istrate]

Thanks for the help @Dmacleo. Also to @Aiwa :)
Yes, indeed, FTP support it's enabled :(

Any other ideeas ?

[Dmacleo]

I will try to setup some tests tonight to see if I can duplicate.

can you give example of how you log into that ftp w/o giving the actual login?

[Grumpy]

Now..., wanted to get the easiest way and get a subdomain (as messing with another domain would be a problem more) but the surprize was that the guys at www.domain.com asked me to pay for a subdomain (of a domain that i already bought and registered with them). As far as i know, all subdomains of a domain should be free as long as you already bought that domain. And those subdomains aren't cheap at at all, 5$/month.

Move your domain elsewhere. $5 for a subdomain is bullfaeces.

You can even get domains for free from places like co.cc

[Varro]

Exactly, the uploads work but the downloads don't.

It doesn't work if i use an IP so the host suggested me to use a domain.

I'll ask the host to check if the FTP it's neabled in php settings as you suggested (and hopefully he will want to do that), usually they don't deviate from the usual stuff they do.

Your files must be under public_html, if not you will get 'permission denied' when trying to download. IP/ Domain not the issue but the location of the files.

[Dmacleo]

well ....mine aren't.
mine are in a folder under home directory called ipdownloads on server I am using to test stuff with.
have to make sure pathing/dns (I am pointing subdomain to it) is correct though.
but most would tend to be under public_html or www, I just set mine up differently for a specific reason which escapes me now, iirc was due to testing remote backups and wanted to keep things really separate.

[Peter Istrate]

I will try to setup some tests tonight to see if I can duplicate.

can you give example of how you log into that ftp w/o giving the actual login?

There's like that:
- a hostname for which i use the direct IP to that server (as i don't have a domain/subdomain for that FTP yet)
- user
- pass
It all works fine, the support team made sure everything's set correctly in the AdminCP. As i said, i can do uploads but not downloads.

Move your domain elsewhere. $5 for a subdomain is bullfaeces.

You can even get domains for free from places like co.cc

Do you suggest a good registrar that can provide me with free subdomains for the domains i will move to them ?

Your files must be under public_html, if not you will get 'permission denied' when trying to download. IP/ Domain not the issue but the location of the files.

The folders were in home directory so i moved them in a public_html folder but it still doesn't work.

well ....mine aren't.

mine are in a folder under home directory called ipdownloads on server I am using to test stuff with.

have to make sure pathing/dns (I am pointing subdomain to it) is correct though.

but most [u]would[/u] tend to be under public_html or www, I just set mine up differently for a specific reason which escapes me now, iirc was due to testing remote backups and wanted to keep things really separate.

I think, having the items in folder the root folder it's not a problem. Maybe yours work because you have a subdomain as a hostname which i don't have(i use server ip instead).

[Aiwa]

Here's the thing... You need to 'log in' to the FTP to upload... But you don't to download...

ftp://12.123.123.123:user@pass will redirect you to the correct address to upload files.. So when logging in, you're good...

But when downloading...

http://12.123.123.123/filename.ext it won't be the right file... Your download ip needs to be something like http://12.123.123.123~user/filename.ext or something like that... The IP gets you to the server, but you need the username in the download path so the server knows which account to go to... If you have a subdomain, this is handled behind the scenes in the cPanel or such.

[tomturd2]

Domain monster.com is good. Move your domain, then set up a subdomain with an a record. It's not straight forward if you don't really know what you're doing though!

[Dmacleo]

Here's the thing... You need to 'log in' to the FTP to upload... But you don't to download...

ftp://12.123.123.123:user@pass

will redirect you to the correct address to upload files.. So when logging in, you're good...

But when downloading...

http://12.123.123.123/filename.ext

it won't be the right file... Your download ip needs to be something like

http://12.123.123.123~user/

filename.ext or something like that... The IP gets you to the server, but you need the username in the download path so the server knows which account to go to... If you have a subdomain, this is handled behind the scenes in the cPanel or such.

right, this is why I was asking about an example. the username will point to the the virtual directory needed. often in that setup you also need to use (not always) the username/public_html/ also as it will need to path to webroot.

[Peter Istrate]

Ok, guys. So it's all about having a hostname as a valid domain/subdomain, NOT a direct IP to that FTP/server.
Initially i thought it's a restriction from the host who didn't allowed me to grab files by directly connecting through the IP.
I will move my domain to a registrar that offers free subdomains and set it all up.
I wil keep you up to date.
Thanks for the help :)

[Peter Istrate]

Got this answer from DOMAIN.COM registrar.

Dear customer ,
Per your request I have added the sub domain feature to your account . Please note that sub domains only point to the file manager . note , you will only have access to the file manager via ftp . if you need assistance with the management of your account please contact support .
best regards ,
account support.


That's pretty bad to hear that they didn't offered this by default unless you ask them. Probably many users will fall for the price they ask for subdomains.
What they means by "subdomain will only point to file manager. having access only to the file manager via ftp" ? Will i have any limitations ?

[Peter Istrate]

Hi guys.

I still got some issues here, as i don't know how to set up the new subdomain to point to a different host (the storage host i need to use for IP.Downloads, in my case).
I use DOMAIN.COM registrar (if anyone got experience with it).
Basically, should be the same for all the registrars.

So i selected my domain (that i need a subdomain for) and:
- in Subdomains section i added downloads.cg-space.com as a subdomain. But as far as i understood from what i've read on google, this step it's required only if you want to have that subdomain on the same host/server with the parent domain (in this case, the parent domain cg-space.com it's hosted on Invision servers). Some say that if i use a different host for the subdomain, then that subdomain entry should be deleted from this section and be introduced to DNS section instead.
- so i also went to DNS section and in A-record subsection(i have no ideea if this would be the right place but intuitively, this might be :D) i added downloads.cg-space.com as a Host and the ip of my storage server as Points to

That's all. I don't know if i'm missing any steps but i'm still unable to login into the FTP, probably it needs more time to propagate(12-72 hours) as there passed about 24 hours.

Thanks guys !

[Grumpy]

Do you suggest a good registrar that can provide me with free subdomains for the domains i will move to them ?

I personally like namecheap.com best. They have a really clean interface that doesn't throw ads or upsell at your face at every turn.
They also have a DNS manager so you can configure stuff like subdomains yourself. But I rarely use dns provided by registrar because I like to have greater and finer controls. I have my own dns setup. But namecheap is not bad. Geographic diversity and multiple sources. Should be quite speedy and reliable.

With regards to your last post... I'm not sure if you're getting the big picture. This is how domains work. If you get this, why certain steps exist should be clear. If I'm wrong, sorry for underestimating you. But your post is rather all over the place.

When you buy a domain, the registrar tells the root domain server (maintained by the internet gods) that this domain is registered and it has the following Domain NameServers (DNS).
So, when someone looks up your example.com, it asks the root server what name servers are for the domain. There can be many name servers, recommended with geographic diversity so that it's reliable.
The nameserver then tells the user what IP this domain points to. That is how the user knows where to look for this server.

registrar -> root -> nameserver -> ip -> your web server handles incoming requests often based on domain.

Right now, your registrar is being multiples of above. It encapsulates the states registrar to nameserver. So, they have the control over how your nameserver responds. If you operated your own nameserver, you can set any thing you like.

One of the primary function of a name server is its A-Records. A records are basically a mapping of a domain (subdomain, main domain, sub sub sub domain, etc) to any single or more IP addresses.
So, you can have
example.com -> 1.1.1.1
sub.example.com -> 1.1.1.2, 1.1.1.3
sub.sub.example.com -> 1.1.1.1
etc

Now, if the person is directed to IP addres 1.1.1.1, it is received by one logical server. Based on the domain they reached with, the server often dictates how it should respond. So, if they came with example.com, direct them to /var/www/html. If they came with sub.sub.example.com, direct them to /var/www/html/sub. So this is a stage AFTER dns.

So, what they mean by:
What they means by "subdomain will only point to file manager. having access only to the file manager via ftp" ?
Is complete utter bull excrements. (Some mod changed my words last time...) The DNS managed by the nameserver cannot have control over what the webserver chooses to do. It can only point at IP addresses.
OR
You also get hosting from your registrar (bad idea). In which case, they mean they added the subdomain handling to the web server and any DNS control they have can only be pointed to a single IP address. That means, you cannot point it at other physical servers which seems like what you're trying to do.
BUT
You just said you edited the A-Record by yourself. Which makes your support's an incompetent fool.

[Peter Istrate]

@grumpy
Yes, i will consider moving to another registrat as these guys on Domain.com (who are one of the most renoun) have a very crappy support and as i said above, they probably ask money from users for subdomains and who knows for what else. It took 4 days to reply to a simple question (why they charge for subdomains) and it seems like it's gonna be another 4, for another question related.

Regarding to the last post you were talking about, you're right, i'm affraid i don't really get these web related stuff very well as i'm just a beginner and not quite literate in that. Google is my friend most of the times when it comes about new stuff:)
Yes, the principle you just stated makes perfect sense and i agree. My confusion came from the fact that i saw on the web that some guys pointed the subdomain straight to an IP.

I don't have any host with them(the registrar). Right now the forum it's hosted on Invision servers(using ipslink nameservers). And i'm trying to set an A-record for a subdomain which points to a secondary host(where i have an FTP i want to use as a storage for IP.Downloads).

I already edited the A-record(for cg-space.com), like this: added a new entry downloads.cg-space.com(as host) which points to an IP(of the secondary host i'm trying to use).

I wonder what's an NS-record. Here's the description: A NS record is an alias record that associates a specific domain with a specific name server (sales.yourdomain.com >> ns1.nameserver.com)
So i have made last night a new entry here too: downloads.cg-space.com >> ns1.secondary-host.com

Thank you!

[Peter Istrate]

I'm back again and i figured out what the hell i was doing wrong. It was very very silly what i was trying to do :smile: well... at least that's how you learn from mistakes. Never worked with subdomains before :smile:

So.
Setting a subdomain and pointing it to a different IP should have been done with the actual host (in my case IPSlink).

But i was trying to create and point it in a host cPanel at www.domain.com and that's because they offer the hosting possibility too.
The fact that they granted me access to a hosting cPanel without even having a host with them confused me a lot(they offer hosting possibility too though), and i thought that's the place where i should do it. I thought creating subdomains it's something related to domain registrar.

So yeah, back to ipsLink host cPanel where i need to creat and point the new subdomain.
BUT i got another problem here. When i log in to ipsLink CPanel, i see no options like subdomains(to create it) and simple DNS zone editor(to point it).
I attached an image with the difference between an ipsLink host CPanel and another host CPanel of another website i have.
I have contacted invision guys to unlock/unhide these options for me.