14.2. Accessing the i-bays

You can access the contents of an i-bay using a web browser, Windows file sharing / AppleTalk, or FTP.

• accessing an i-bay using a web browser (via http): To view an i-bay using a browser, enter "www.yourdomain.xxx/i-bayname". For example, the URL for Samson's Farms i-bay is "www.tofu-dog.com/samfarms". Assuming you are entitled to access this i-bay, you will see the index.html page in the html directory in the Samson's Farms i-bay. If a password is required to see the contents of the i-bay, a password dialog box will appear before the contents of the i-bay are served to the web browser.

• accessing an i-bay via Windows file sharing and AppleTalk: To access the i-bay using Windows file sharing or AppleTalk, simply navigate to the server over your network browser (in Windows, this would be via "Network Neighborhood") and select the i-bay you want to enter from those appearing. You can only access an i-bay in this way if you are on the local network.

• accessing an i-bay via the FTP server: To access the i-bay using FTP, you use your FTP client to connect to your server and use the i-bay name as the login id. If the i-bay requires a password, you will need to enter the i-bay password as well. If you are using a command-line or graphical FTP client, you will usually be prompted for the login username and password. If you are using a web browser, you will need to enter a FTP URL. This will be in one of the following forms, depending on whether or not a password is required:

  ftp:// ibayname @ftp. domainname

  ftp:// ibayname : password @ftp. domainname

  
  

  	Warning
  	Be aware that FTP transmits all passwords in the clear without encryption and can therefore be a security risk. If you are concerned about security, we suggest you consider the scp "secure copy" command associated with ssh as an alternative to FTP.

  Note that users accessing the i-bay via FTP in this manner are not able to upload files to the i-bay. They can only download files from the i-bay to their client.

  It is possible to upload files using FTP, but to do so you must login to the server with a valid user name, not the i-bay name. That user account must be a member of the group that has been given write permission for the i-bay (configured on the i-bay screen). You would then change to the i-bay directory (using the ftp command "cd ../../ibays/ibayname"). You will now be able to upload files from your FTP client to the appropriate directories.

In the next few sections, we will take a look at some examples of i-bays that have been created by our hypothetical catering and event-planning company, The Pagan Vegan, to demonstrate their capabilities.