Free Tutorial - CHMOD - Setting File Permissions Tutorial

This tutorial is designed to show you how to set file permissions with your ftp client. WS_FTP LE and CuteFTP are covered here.

If you're using SmartFTP, you can find a tutorial on setting file permissions on their site - http://www.smartftp.com/support/howto/ - Look toward the bottom of the page under the heading "Miscellaneous" for CHMOD and click the "View" link.

Overview:
The most common reason to set permission for a file or folder is when you're using a cgi script on your site. A cgi script and its supporting files/folders normally require specific permissions in order for them to do their job.

Unix classifies users by individual, group, and world. Permission to access files and directories is based on the category an individual user falls into, relative to the owner and group of the file or directory being accessed. The term for configuring Unix file security is "setting file permissions".

Read - allows the file or folder to be read
Write - allows the file or folder to be written to.
Execute - allows executing of the file or folder.

Owner - the person who owns the account that the file or folder resides in.
Group - any user residing in the same group
Other - any other user including Anonymous

Most cgi scripts will run properly when set to 755 as shown in this tutorial so its best to try that first even if the script information says to set it to 777. Many web hosts do not allow users to set 777 permissions due to security issues.

Some scripts will run with a lower permission. Be sure to check the documentation that came with the script for the details that you need. Your instructor is also available to help you if you're taking a class here at LVS.

WS_FTP
- this may work with other FTP clients but I won't guarantee it, and the screen caps will likely not look the same