Howto Create FTP / HTTP base Media Sharing Server in Windows 2003 Server + HFS HTTP SERVER

What is  File Server

A File Server is basically a computer that is dedicatory used to store and share digital information / Media Files / Songs / Videos / Documents that can be accessed by other computers that are connected to the network. For your home / office / Internet Network, any computer can be a file server if you want it to be.

Advantages of a file server

• A file server can act as a backup storage for your important documents and files. If your computer crashed, you can recover lost files from the file server easily.
• It also acts as a central location to share files between multiple computers. This way everybody knows where to find and store a shared file.

Following is an guide on howto create FTP / HTTP base sharing server for your local / public network.

For example, If you have a server with windows 2003 server and you want to share softwares/vdo folder or whole sharing drive that can be accessed via browser only , then you must add IIS web/ftp service to your server.

Note:In this article I used Windows 2003 R2 , My Ip Address is 192.168.2.5  , You have to change this according to your Network.

FTP BASE SHARING IN IIS

First we need to add http/ftp service. Please follow the steps.

1. Click Start, point to Control Panel, and then click Add or Remove Programs.
2. Click Add/Remove Windows Components.
3. In the Components list, click Application Server, Select Internet Information Services (IIS),  and then click Details.
4. Click to select the following check boxes (if they are not already selected):
   Common Files
   File Transfer Protocol (FTP) Service
   Internet Information Services Manager
   World Wide Web Services
5. Click to select the check boxes next to any other IIS-related service or subcomponent that you want to install, and then click OK.
6. Click Next.
7. When you are prompted, insert the Windows Server 2003 CD-ROM into the computer’s CD-ROM or DVD-ROM drive or provide a path to the location of the files, and then click OK.
8. Click Finish.

See the attached image

Howto add IIS FTP / HTTP service in Win2003

You have now installed the IIS and FTP services but before you can start using your new FTP/HTTP service, you must configure it or add the desired folder / drive. To configure the FTP Service follow these steps.

Howto Add Folder in FTP/IIS

(You can Add single folder or whole drive , as per your requirements)

Your Folder/Drive is ready to be access by user. Now Open your browser and type

ftp://192.168.2.5

or goto START / RUN and type

ftp://192.168.2.5

and you will see its result something like below image.

HTTP BASE SHARING IN IIS

As we have already installed IIS in the start, We can create Virtual Folders base HTTP sharing server. Please follow the steps shown in images below to create virtual folder that can be access via http://192.168.2.5/videos

Your Virtual Folder is ready to be access by user. Now Open your browser and type

http://192.168.2.5/videos

or goto START / RUN and type

http://192.168.2.5/videos

and you will see its result something like below image.

Alternate Easy Method to Create HTTP File Sharing Server using HFS HTTP Serve

Recently I was in need of a simple file sharing server which does not requires dedicated installation or any other components, I came across HFS HTTP File Sharing Server, which is a standalone file , Using it, you can create http file sharing server in seconds. [For more enhanced guide, please visit http://www.techmalaya.com/2008/02/16/home-network-file-server-setup/ ]

# Create a folder named “hfs” on any disk drive, for example C:\hfs
# Download HFS HTTP SERVER  from following link

http://www.dovedove.it/hfs/hfs279.exe

Double click hfs.exe to execute the program. You will see the following

Select YES.

Now Adjust Few settings to make it adjust with your network environment. See the below images.

Now from Browser open http://yourip and you will something below

Now its time to add any folder, you can DRAG n DROP any folder you wish to share with the general public,or Right click on any folder and you will be presented with the option ADD TO HFS, a popup windows be opened , select Real Folder, and click on OK.

Now open the http://yourip again and you will see the shared folder.

Your Files are ready to be Explored 🙂

You can also protect your folder by User ID / Password. Just Rright click on your folder (in HFS) and set user/pass , and then type your id password, so next time when any user will try to open this folder, he will be asked for credentials.

You can also use multiple Skins/Templates supported by HFS.

You can  play Songs / Videos  / image preview directly via Browser using this hfs server, for this purpose yo have to install RAWR Template Theme from

http://www.rejetto.com/forum/index.php/topic,5456.0.html

After importing Template , You can directly Play several Media Files via Browser, Sample is attached.

[Make sure your clients have VLC Media Player installed.]

Comments are Welcome !

Regard’s
SYED JAHANZAIB