Re: Can I setup multiple ftp + eMail accounts for ONE Linux user ?

Carsten Eishold wrote:
Assume I have a user account for user aaaa. Linux user=aaaa means a user which logins in at the GUI frontend/desktop with login name and passwort.

Now, is it possible to assign multiple ftp accounts for this user or is the relationsship always
1 Linux user = 1 ftp account ?

If multiple ftp accounts are possible: How do I create (from command line / by editing config files)
the following ftp accounts for user aaaa:

login=aaaa-1 password=aaaa-pw1 initial ftp root directory=<userhome>\ftp1
login=aaaa-2 password=aaaa-pw2 initial ftp root directory=<userhome>\ftp2
login=aaaa-3 password=aaaa-pw3 initial ftp root directory=<userhome>\ftp3

Furthermore the same question arises for eMail accounts: Can I setup multiple POP3 eMail accounts on a Linux system for user=aaaa ?

If yes: How can I assign them to user=aaaa ?

It sounds to me like you're looking for "virtual" mail and FTP accounts.

Any of the popular SMTP and POP3 daemons can be configured to receive mail and deliver it to a mailbox without requiring a login account for that user. Instead of having the mailbox owned by the user (which doesn't exist), it is typically owned by the "mail" account or some other system account. In your case, you'd just set up virtual mail hosting running as user "aaaa" instead.

See, for example, Exim's "user" parameter for transports at: http://www.exim.org/exim-html-4.63/doc/html/spec_html/ch24.html

(You need to configure both SMTP and POP3 for your mail users. The computer will receive mail on SMTP connections and users will read it via POP3.)

Other SMTP (and POP3) daemons can likewise be configured to run as whatever user you like. Consult the documentation for whatever daemons you're using for info on setting them up for "virtual" mailboxes. Just make sure they run as "aaaa".

Same goes for FTP. You can set up most common FTP daemons for virtual users, too. Again, make sure the daemon is configured to run as "aaaa" instead of some generic system "ftp" or "daemon" account. See, for example, the reference to "guest_username" in the question on "virtual users" in the vsFTPd FAQ at http://www.vsftpdrocks.org/faq/

The most common approach for virtual users (mail or ftp) is to store configuration information in a database. In your case it would be easy to set up the database to contain username, password, mailbox location, and FTP base directory all in the same database table if you want the same users to have mail and ftp access or different tables if you have different users for each.

Anyway, "virtual users" for both FTP and mail are common. Google for detailed documentation using those keywords and the names of whatever SMTP, POP3, and FTP daemons you're going to be using.
.

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