Summary #

Anonymous FTP (FTP sites which do not require you to login) access for downloading works through the SecureSchool proxy engine, as long as you allow it under “Website Filtering” -> “Port Access”.  Authenticated FTP access and FTP uploads do not worth through the proxy engine, and require a direct connection to the FTP server.

Note: While FTP can be easily made to work, there are better alternatives.  FTP is an insecure protocol that sends the username, password, and all the data over the Internet in clear-text (unencrypted).  It also does not work well when you run a server behind a NAT.  A better alternative is SFTP or FTPS.  If you can, you should use one of those methods instead.  For example, if you are uploading your website to your hosting provider, most current editing tools support SFTP, and most providers support it as well.

More Information #

1. First you need to determine the IP address of the server you’re trying to connect to.  A simple way to do this is by pinging it.  On your computer, go to a command prompt and run “ping servername”, where servername is the server you’re trying to get to.  Even if pings are blocked, you will still get a line that looks similar to “Pinging servername [1.2.3.4] with 32 bytes of data:”.  Write down the IP address (1.2.3.4 in this example).
2. Next, you need to make a firewall rule in SecureSchool to allow machines to connect directly to the FTP site.  Go to “Firewall” -> “Protocol Rules” -> “Add A Rule”, and make the following rule:
   
   
   • Name: [Name of ftp site]
   • Type: Allow
   • Protocol: All
   • Direction: From Inside
   • Source Address: “0.0.0.0/0” for all workstations, or put in a specific workstation’s IP address
   • Destination Address: IP address of the FTP site
3. Go to “Commit Changes” and restart whatever needs to be restarted.
4. When you connect to the FTP site, use a dedicated FTP program.  For example, FileZilla or WS_FTP.  If you are using a web design tool like Dreamweaver, make sure that it is set to either not use the proxy at all, or to bypass the proxy for the ftp server.