Windows & DOS: Issues & Discussions

I have a small problem, there is one Win98 PC on our network, and I would like to map the FTP server that we have as one of the Win98's machine's local drives. I am by no means a Windows expert, instead my area is *NIX. The webserver is just a regualar webserver, within the LAN. I tried searching the 'net, and came across people who have done it, but with no instruactions of how to do it. Does anyone have a clue how to do it? The FTP server runs just FTP services, no SMB services (naturally, otherwise id just map the SMB service directory ). Thanks.

Are you wanting to map the entire Unix FTP server to the Win98 machine or just a sub-dir of the Unix FTP server to the Win98 machine?

If you want to do the entire FTP Server to Win98 then I would think that some sort of ipnat would get the job done.

If you want to do a single sub-dir, then samba would be the way to go or use a Win32 nfsd on the Win98 machine. It appears that the Freeware War NFS Daemon is no longer available from their website so you might have to look at a commercial solution if you want to use the NFS route.

I'd do the samba connection myself and just mount the filesystem under the ftp share.

The FTP server must remain a FTP server only. You can't fix a problem by ignoring it with another solution. If samba was an option, I would have went for it, as well as if NFS was an option. The 98 machine must have no extra software installed, nor must the FTP server. THere are reasons for this, among those security (extra port open in the network, and YES that will be a problem), performance (the FTP server is barely able to handle FTP, even though smbd is lightweight, it is still going to hit the server hard, with the loads it takes), and last but not least, I do not want a "bastardised" system that requires to install clients on all machines (if any future 98 machines do come), and I want everyone talking the same protcols, makes it so much easier to troubleshoot a daemon. Sorry if I sound rude, I just hate it when people "fix" a problem by offering another suggestion that ignores the problem. I know that this can be done, and installing any OS > 98 is also not an option. I've heard of this done before......

So you want an under-powered Unix box to serve FTP for Win98 box without the addition of any CPU over-head such as SMB or NFS without installing any server software on the Win98 box.

So this precludes SMB, NFS or even natd redirection to Win98 (assuming IIS/FTP server is not installed on Win98 box).

And this is NOT a bastardised solution?

On some versions of Windows, I believe you can do this, not I'm not sure of the details. I believe it's >98 versions, such as ME. Even then, I think it's more of an "autologin shortcut" than a mapping.

And don't piss and moan about not getting the answer you want right away. That will get you nowhere fast. There are people who are trying to help in the way they know how, and most likely, are providing better solutions.

The biggest problem that I see is the communication between the Unix box and Win98 machine. Since Win98 and Unix have no network protocols in common I feel that we are at an impass.

Since we cannot use SMB under Unix or NFSd under Win98 I don't see how the communication can take place.

One thing I thought about was using natd to route FTP communications around the Unix box directly to the Win98 box. If an extra external IP is available the Unix box could virtualize this IP and natd could redirect FTP on the virtualized IP to the Win98 box running the MS-FTP service. But, that would call for software installation on the Unix box (natd) and on the Win98 box (IIS/FTP, which aren't installed by default on Win98 IIRC).

I guess there could always use a null-modem cable between the two boxes and use pppd (which might be currently installed on the Unix box) and have the Win98 contact the Unix box on the null-modem cable. Maybe something could be worked out. That wouldn't count as a bastardized solution would it?

First of all, I was not even expecting a correct answer, so its not that im pist off because no one was able to give it to me, i got pist off because I specified that SMB was not a solution, and I got a SMB answer. Secondly, the FTP server is not underpowered, it handles its work load just fine. Thirdly, and most importantly, the main reason for not wanting another protocol is security. THere are already too many services available on the network, and *YES* security is a concern, as the HNSG network offers SSH/telnet access to anyone that can login as request and answer a few questions. There are iptables rules set on all the linux boxes to not allow any server to communicate with the 98 box (except for the FTP server). This is not a bastardised system, it is a system with as few services as possible. For those of you that will tell me that SMB is secure, let me remind you of zero-day exploits. This is an extremely vunerable, and thus protected network that I set up, maintain, and secured. That is the true reason, although additional SMB services on the FTP server will diminish resources that could better be put towards proftpd, or one of the distributed computing projects it runs in the background. Like I said, this is a highly secure network we're talking about here, so MSFTP or IIS is *DEFINETELY* out of the question. Not only that, but I fail to understand how making the win98 box a FTP server will fix things, only complicate them, as there is already a FTP server. I will admit that I am no where near as good in Windows as I am in *NIX, that is why I posted here. After much thought on this subject, I am about ready to just say screw it. I've tried everything I can think of, from editing the 98 box's registry and changing //hostname/share of a tested map to ftp://hostname to ftp://user@hostname and changing the service definition from Microsoft Networking to God only knows how many abbreviations of FTP I could think of. I may just have to live (or rather, the user will have to live) with having a shortcut instead of a mapped drive, or just install win2k (which supports FTP-mapped drives). I've heard of it being done, but like so many MS-related stuff, it takes a win32 kernel hacker to find out how to do it, which I definetely am not. Oh yeah, and pppd won't work, as the connection needs to be at least 100 Mb/s, with the exception of some Gigabit servers (backup, etc). I guess I'm a bit of a perfectionist, as I don't want any client software installed extra to re-install when the damn 98 box goes down for the third time in a month, like most 98 boxes often do.