The best way to skin a cat OR how do I get file system info on the most basic level? Post: 302278925

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Top Forums UNIX for Advanced & Expert Users The best way to skin a cat OR how do I get file system info on the most basic level? Post 302278925 by mph on Wednesday 21st of January 2009 01:39:35 PM

01-21-2009

Registered User

The best way to skin a cat OR how do I get file system info on the most basic level?

Hi,

We have an FTP server (vsftpd) running on Linux, that I've kinda built a "Data Management" system around. I could use some ideas as to the best way to handle/create "triggers" for file notifications.

Internal users drag 'n drop files from their Windows boxes to the server via Samba mounts. FTP users transfer files via FTP (go figure). Programs run every five minutes to check for new files. Internal files are checked by first checking the filesystem size for changes, if so, then using the find command on the FTP directory and comparing it to the previous run. On the FTP side the program checks the log file for newly transferred files.
From the difference between the two it generates an email to the proper internal & external people telling them that there are files and what the names are. Also CCing FTPadmin group, then updates a database with all the info.

Ok now that you know how the files are transferred. My questions are as follows;

1) Internal Transfers. Is there a better way to find new files than using the find and comparing the differences? We've hit the 400 user mark and at peek times running find and parsing the output can be a bit slow.

2) FTP Transfers. What's the best way to determine when an FTP transaction is complete. Keep in mind that I'll have to track multiple connections starting and ending at different times.

As to question #2, I've written a simple packet sniffer in C which does nothing more than let me know when an FTP connection has been established and from what IP, then lets me know when that connection has terminated so another program can generate notifications. The problem with this is; FTP users are using arbitrary "Keep Alives" making it virtually impossible to determine inactivity to be able to disconnect the user. To add to the complexity, the FTP server is using SSL encryption so dumping the packets to determine their contents and file progress is useless. Also, I could have vsftpd log ALL FTP events to the log file but the increase would more than triple the log file size again slowing things down to a crawl.

Thank You in Advance

mph

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ftpconfig

ftpconfig(1M)						  System Administration Commands					     ftpconfig(1M)

NAME

       ftpconfig - set up anonymous FTP

SYNOPSIS

       ftpconfig [ftpdir]

       ftpconfig -d ftpdir

DESCRIPTION

       The ftpconfig script is executed by the super user to set up anonymous FTP. Anonymous FTP allows users to remotely log on to the FTP server
       by specifying the user name  ftp or anonymous and the user's email  address as password. The anonymous users  are  logged  on  to  the  FTP
       Server  and  given  access to a restricted file area with its own file system root. See chroot(2). The FTP area has  its own minimal system
       files.

       This command will copy and set up all the components needed to operate an anonymous FTP server, including creating the  ftp  user  account,
       creating  device  nodes,  copying  /usr/lib files, and copying timezone data.  The passwd and group files set up have been stripped down to
       prevent malicious users from finding login names on the server.	The anonymous file area will be placed	under  ftpdir.	If  the  ftp  user
       account already exists, then the current FTP area is used, and the system files in it are updated. All other files are left untouched. This
       command should be run to update the anonymous FTP area's configuration whenever a system patch is installed, or the system is upgraded.

OPTIONS

       -d     Create a new or update an existing ftpdir without creating or updating the ftp user account. Use this option when creating guest FTP
	      user accounts.

OPERANDS

       The following operands are supported:

       ftpdir	 The absolute pathname of the directory under which the anonymous FTP area is set up.

EXIT STATUS

       The following exit values are returned:

       0     Successful completion

       1     Improper usage of the command

       2     Command failed

ATTRIBUTES

       See attributes(5)  for descriptions of the following attributes:

       +-----------------------------+-----------------------------+
       |      ATTRIBUTE TYPE	     |	    ATTRIBUTE VALUE	   |
       +-----------------------------+-----------------------------+
       |Availability		     |SUNWftpu			   |
       +-----------------------------+-----------------------------+
       |Interface Stability	     |Evolving			   |
       +-----------------------------+-----------------------------+

SEE ALSO

       ftpaddhost(1M), in.ftpd(1M), useradd(1M), chroot(2), attributes(5)

SunOS 5.11							    1 May 2003							     ftpconfig(1M)

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