FTP Virtual Directories

The most important characteristic of FTP virtual directories is that they do not appear in directory lists unless specifically configured to do so. Another characteristic to note is that, like FTP home directories described previously, FTP remote virtual directories are accessed by a single Windows 2000 account, which must have permissions granted to it for both the share and in NTFS.

However, there is a way to work around some of these issues. You can use multiple remote directories to separate permissions. This is not a very efficient or very secure method, though. For example, from the FTP site ftp.connectos.com, suppose that I create two remote virtual directories. One is called private, and the other is called public. Both use the same Windows 2000 account to access the same remote physical directory. However, the private virtual directory is configured with both read and write permissions, while the public virtual directory is configured with only read permissions. Because neither appears in the directory list, users could be told about, or linked to, the public virtual directory, but only the Web designer is told about the private virtual directory. Still, if a user finds out or guesses the location of the private virtual directory, then he also can change the files.