War FTP Daemon

WAR FTP Daemon is the premier FTP server for Windows 95 and NT. No other FTP server application brings together the UNIX style security features, a BBS like Windows interface for the system operator, the extreme flexibility, Win95 and NT 4 OLE support, the multithreading design and the advanced software technology and performance provided by this package!

And despite the technical quality, the package is released as freeware; available on CD's, and spread all over Internet on a large number of HTTP servers, FTP servers and BBS systems. Provided that you accept the license agreement, you can use this software freely without registering or paying for it.

War FTP daemon is among the most popular FTP servers for Windows 95/NT.

Version 1.70 beta is released

Version 1.70 is released in public beta, and have got it's own homepage.

Background

In the very beginning of 1996 I needed a FTP daemon for Win95. I searched the Net for freeware/shareware products. All I found was two half-hearted crippled shareware implementations. Instead of paying the shareware fee for a product I did not like (how I hate those people who believe that they can claim money for just anything!) I ordered Microsoft Visual C++ 4.0 and started to write my own server.
As an old UNIX, network and BBS programmer, I had some thoughts on how to do a FTP demon. Instead of just writing another "me-too" implementation of the RFC 959 specs, I wanted to do something new. The idea was to write a server that was fast, had a "BBS style" Sysop interface, and that supported up/download ratio limitations. I also wanted an option to deny upload of existing files, no matter where the files were stored on the server.
First I spent 5 weeks learning C++, Windows and Winsock programming by writing test-implementations in order to find the best possible design for the Winsock FTP engine. Then I wrote the core of a working FTP daemon implementation (RFC 959, minimum requirements), - and then I started to put my own ideas into the project.
I have spent far more time on this project than I initially planned to, - not because a FTP daemon is so f... hard to write (it is in fact very simple), but because I sort of "fell in love" with this program, and wanted each line of C++ code to be like poetry. (Yes - some of us programmers actually feel this way about well-written source code).

Quotes

I Downloaded your FTP server...and proceeded to wipe out EVERY other server I had tried before.. K. Smith
It is bloody brilliant.Glen A. Lewis
Your server rocks! I almost peed in my pants when I started playing around with this thing! I couldn't believe my eyes! Thad Farrar
I really appreciate what you do and your FTPServer seems to be the BEST there is for Win95-WinNT. Hans
War is _by FAR_ the best ftp daemon for win32 yet! I feel bad not paying you! Sam Schlansky
Wow, I'm impressed !!! I just got a copy of your software, damn, it's the best FTP daemon I've ever tried for Win95... MELZ
This is just a short note to say how impressed I am with the WAR FTPD - you have some very well thought out features and a very good design. Aris Stathakis
Congratulations! You've done a terrific job! Neil Hunter
Thanks alot for making it available for ppl like me. I'm having a hard time switching to linux but since I found this, I'll stick with what I like. Nawaf Al-bash
I found WAR FTP a few days ago and set it up on a PC at work. Simply, it's GREAT! It's a snap to setup and use, and all the features are superior. It's a nifty piece of work. Peter Vonnegut
Job well done. It is easy to configure and is extremely well behaved. I've used most of the available servers so I write with some knowledge. Keep up the excellent work. Alvin Garrett
I use your warftpd, and have been since it first came out. It is the best Windows ftpd available.I have used ****, ****, ****, and ****, but yours beats them all. Greg
Thanks for your excellent server.... Jonathan Terry
Love it - keep it up! Alan Bailward
All those references about how great your software is are telling the truth! It has EVERYTHING! Chris May

Features

The following is a list of features of The FTP Demon

Compatibility

Follows the RFC 959 and 1123 FTP specifications.
Works with Cute-FTP, WS_FTP, ftp (the one following Win95 and NT), MS Internet Explorer, Netscape Navigator, AmFTP, M-FTP, GuiFTP, - in fact, there is hardly reported any incompatibility at all.
Emulates standard UNIX ftp servers, including most ls line parameters and ls formatted output.
ABOR command supported. (Yes - it's listed in the RFC, but not all PC based FTP servers can handle it).
REST command supported (Resume an aborted transfer)
Import filter for Serv-U user database
Native support for NT service process mode.
Optional Wu-ftpd compatible log for file transfers
Operates on Windows95, Windows NT 3.51 (Intel only) and Windows NT 4.0 (Intel only). War FTP Daemon is a native 32 bit application and will not work on Windows 3.*. Requires 486 processor or better.

Design

Multithreading
Dialog based system console
Simple and advanced mode of operation, making it perfect for both small and large FTP services.
Users are organized in user-groups and user-classes to ease maintenance of time-out, directory/file access etc.
Automatic shutdown option when the last user has logged off
Displays a list of all users online where you can kick one of them, edit the user database entry, send a message to the user or even spy at the user (see the last given command, current directory, file transfers and a list of all files this user has sent/received during the current session.
Supports user supplied messages to the console through the SITE MSG command.
Supports personal greeting messages to all users, groups and classes.
Full OLE support for Win95/NT4 .lnk shortcuts
Online and off-line operation
In-memory transfer of directory listings
DOS or UNIX style directory paths
Mapping of paths to the root path
Support for long filenames
Virtual file system for improved performance and functionality, including full UNIX-like security and links on directory and file level.
Scheduled re-scans of the Virtual File system to handle changes made on the file system outside the server.
"On the fly" generation of index files for the current directory/all files on the system (that the user is allowed to see)
Support for comments on any file/directory in "on the fly" generated .index files.
Macros in the welcome files to display the users name, time-out limit etc.
On single network/ppp connections, the server shows the current IP number in an edit window, allowing copy/paste of the number to other applications. It also saves this number to a file.
Multihoming/multihosting support allows setup of several virtual FTP servers based on the IP number the user connect to. Both single-server/multiple domains and multiple-servers/single (virtual) domain is supported.
Firewall support - if FTP transfers is allowed, the War FTP Daemon is reported to work with most firewalls.
Context-sensitive Help
Mounting of network drives at startup (NT service mode only)
Denial of upload if the free disk space runs too low
Flexible verification option on incoming files. This feature allows you to use “plug-in” modules (external programs) to verify and validate incoming files before the upload is accepted by the server. Can be used for CRC checking, virus scanning, processing of file_id.dix files etc. Several free plug-in modules are made available by experienced War FTP daemon users.
Option to handle brain dead ISP's (you know - those who try to block out personal FTP sites on your ppp account)
CD-ROM and CD-Julebox support (copy of files to harddisk prior to transfering the file)

Security

High level of security with directory-level permissions for read, write, execute, dir, mdkdir, rmdir and delete.
Full UNIX security with user group and rwx permissions if the Virtual File System is used
Upload/Download ratio option for anonymous and regular users. Supports file or byte check (upload # files/bytes for each # files/bytes to download). Free files can be defined.
Reports of user access privileges, directory access privileges, etc.
Maximum number of concurrent connections for users, groups and classes.
Maximum number of connections based on login IP number (allows you to have ## anonymous logins, but just # concurrent connections from one workstation. Handy to prevent one user from taking up too many connections.
Simple one-button enable or disable option for users, groups and classes
IP level access control for the system, users, groups and classes. Incoming connections can be refused before and after login based on the callers IP address.
Automatic disable of an account if a selectable number of bad passwords are given
"Not Wanted" list of files that will be refused.
"Dupe checker" that can deny upload of any filename that exist within the paths of the server
Disconnect single users without shutting the system down
Stop an ongoing file transfer without disconnecting the user
No built-in limitations ("crippling"), "secret" connections to my site or any other ugly stuff.

Visual Sample

Below you can view a snapshot of the FTP system console.

[More visual samples]

Requirements

Win95 or
Windows NT 3.51 / NT 4 (Intel)
Win32s is not supported

Known Problems

I have had reported that the sound feature can cause the server to crash when users log in under NT 3.51. Please disable the event sounds if you experience this problem.
The user interface does not look very good under NT 3.51. The menu are overwritten by the toolbar, and sometimes the list boxes will not be visible. These problems will be resolved in version 2.0.

Notification on new versions

You can be notified about new vesions by email.

Support

Support information is available through email to support@mail.jgaa.com. Please verify the following before asking for support:

You have the latest version of the daemon
There are no .dll files in your war-ftpd home directory
Your question is not answered (or easy to find the answer to) in the online help or in the War FTPD FAQ

Support (and general chat around the server) is also available on IRC, Undernet, #war_ftpd whenever I am at my PC. If I dont reply in the channel, try to MSG me. The window is often minimized on my machine. If I don't reply at all, I'm not there... But there might be someone else in the channel that can help :-).

Of course, the alt.comp.jgaa newsgroup is open for any questions you might have :-)

See also the general support information.

Commercial support is now available for companies.

Getting Started

War FTP Daemon miss a simple step-by-step tutorial on how to get started. If you need this, check out this link.

The latest version of the War FTP Daemon is available from the Download secion below.

Want to promote the daemon?

Do you want to promote War FTP Daemon on your WEB page? Save the button and add the following lines to the html code on your page:

   <a href="http://www.jgaa.com/"><img src=warftpd-free.gif width=88 height=30></img></a>

I've noticed that some general software listings still don't list the War FTP Daemon. If you surf along on Internet, and miss the War FTP Daemon on a site where it should be listed - send an email to the webmaster (or whoever is responsible for the listing) on that site and suggest that the War FTP Daemon is added :-) Remember - War FTP Daemon is free (also for commercial use), so there is no need for people to pay for this kind of software - unless they actually choose to do so.