Question

How do i sync Sharepoint to FTP?

Asked by: zer0k3wl

We have one MOSS2007 server with in our farm. We are trying to setup a solution for some external clients where when a file is uploaded in a certain Sharepoint page (internally) then it's easily accessible through FTP (based on Linux and Apache in DMZ with SSL) with a straight forward Directory structure. Is it possible? Main reason to do this is, is to avoid licensing expenses.

If that's not possible then how do i go about creating or Extending a current WebbApp Externally with customized logins for external users?

I would appreciate any help.

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Asked On
2009-11-03 at 13:53:00ID24869035
Tags

Sharepoint sync to FTP

Topics

MS SharePoint

,

FTP Servers

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Answers

 

by: Steve_NJPosted on 2009-11-03 at 14:29:31ID: 25734540

No, it's not really possible because files in SharePoint do not reside on the file system, they are all in SQL server.

this is the basics of an extranet site: http://help.sharepointsolutions.com/products/excm/webframe.html?Configuration_FBA_DualZone.html

of course going external brings up questions as to if you have the right licensing.

 

by: zephyr_hexPosted on 2009-11-03 at 14:35:29ID: 25734587

you can extend sharepoint as an Extranet using forms based authentication (FBA), SSL and configuring alternate access mappings (AAM) in sharepoint

FBA:http://msdn.microsoft.com/en-us/library/bb975136.aspx
SSL: http://support.microsoft.com/kb/299875
AAM:http://blogs.msdn.com/sharepoint/archive/2007/03/06/what-every-sharepoint-administrator-needs-to-know-about-alternate-access-mappings-part-1.aspx

with regard to your first question about FTP:  you can do this with SPIEFolder and a script that copies the extracted file to your FTP server.  SPIEFolder will export the file from sharepoint.  you can schedule it to run using Task Manager.  You'd then need to create a script that copies the file to a folder accessible via ftp, or ftp's the file to your FTP server.
http://www.codeplex.com/SPIEFolder

 

by: zer0k3wlPosted on 2009-11-03 at 16:30:37ID: 25735376

Thanks guys!

To Steve_NJ: Would i need a SSL cert to accomplish this?

To Zephyr_Hex: Can i setup a Windows 2003 FTP box in DMZ, enable IIS authentication and use SPIEFolder or something along those lines?

 

by: StevenMulkerrinsPosted on 2009-11-04 at 03:56:21ID: 25738398

I can think of one possibility that should work, at least from the SharePoint end of things, I'm not sure if the Apache FTP server will be able to handle the configuration needed.

SharePoint document libraries can be accessed vie WebDAV, in short this allows applications to read from and write to document libraries as if they were folders on a standard file system. You can see this for yourself if you go to the document library in SharePoint and from the Actions menu choose to view it in windows explorer. It will open a windows explorer window with the path set to the library and you can work with the files and copy and paste etc just as you would with any other windows explorer window.

With FTP you should be able to set a home directory which is the folder users access when they log in. What I would suggest is that you try to set Apache to point to the WebDav path for the SharePoint library. That way when a user connects via FTP, they would be accessing the document library as if it was any other local ftp folder on the linux server.

I'm not sure if Apache will let you use a network resource as the home directory, or if it will let you use a WebDAV address like that. You will also need to authenticate to SharePoint (unless you make it accessible anonymously), and I'm not sure if it will let you provide authentication details or if it will only try and authenticate under Apaches own credentials. It should work pretty similar to trying to use a folder on a windows file share (but I don't know if Apache allows that or not).

If Apache isn't allowing that, an alternative would be to mount the library through the Linux OS itself. Again I don't know much about Linux but I'm pretty sure you can mount a Windows files share, and it should be pretty similar. Once mounted through your Linux OS it should then be pretty easy to get Apache to use it as the home directory for the FTP users.

 

by: zer0k3wlPosted on 2009-11-04 at 06:31:58ID: 25739606

Steven: That is exactly what i was looking for.  i had come with a similar theory to yours but it sounds more practical with your explanation. But keeping in mind that we are wanting to open Sharepoint to our External clients through a DMZ Apache based FTP server, are there any security issues that i should be concerned about?

 

by: StevenMulkerrinsPosted on 2009-11-04 at 07:49:51ID: 25740510

The main issues I'd think would be with Apache/FTP itself. But you should naturally lock down what is acessible from SharePoint when accessed via your DMZ. As far as I know, WebDAV runs completely over http, so you should just be able to let HTTP traffic through to that specific server. I think some firewalls can also restrict access to only specific URLs. Also with the account you use to access SharePoint you should restrict it's access to only the library required. And naturally you'd want to keep SharePoint, Windows and particularly IIS up to date and patched on the SharePoint server.

With all that in place it should be relatively secure. I can't think of any way for SharePoint to be exploited via WebDAV, although that's not to say it isn't possible, I just think it very unlikely. The main risk I can see would be if access to the FTP server is compromised it would allow someone access to the files which are in the library, but I've no knowledge of how secure Apache/FTP is (but I'd imagine it is quite secure).

 

by: zephyr_hexPosted on 2009-11-06 at 10:33:36ID: 25761714

you wouldn't need a MS server if you had a batch script that FTP'd the exported file from your sharepoint server to your Linux/Apache server.

export from sharepoint using batch script that runs SPIEFolder
FTP that file to the Linux/Apache server using batch script

and those scripts can be scheduled using windows Scheduled Tasks.

 

by: zer0k3wlPosted on 2009-11-16 at 13:35:49ID: 31649678

Both solutions worked for me. Just testing out to see what works best for us. Thank you all!

20120131-EE-VQP-002

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