FileZilla Server supports the creation of users and groups. One user can belong to more than one group (see the Groups section), and the order in which groups are listed is significant.
You can set the following properties:
- Whether a user is enabled
- Which kind of credentials must be used to log in
- Which groups a user belongs to
- Mount points
- Filters
- Limits
By default, FileZilla Server lists only the system user, you can add users by clicking on the Add button.
Editing users
To edit a user, select it from the list on the left of the Users panel. Then, on the right side ofthe Users panel tabs you find three tabs:
- The General tab allows you to edit whether a user is enabled, their credentials, which groups the user belongs to, the mount points and optionally a description.
- The Filters tab allows you to edit the user’s filters.
- The Limits tab allows you to edit the user’s speed, filesystem, and concurrent sessions limits.
To create a new user, click on the Add button at the bottom of the list on the left of the Users panel.
To rename a user, select it in the list on the left of the Users panel, then click on the Remove button.
To duplicate a user, select it in the list on the left of the Users panel, then click on the Duplicate button.
To remove a user, select it in the list on the left of the Users panel, then click on the Remove button.
Enabling a user
In the General tab, the User is enabled checkbox allows you to enable or disable the user. A disabled user will be denied access to FileZilla Server. Disabling a connected user, will result in the session being killed.
Editing user’s credentials
Users can authenticate in multiple ways:
- Do not authenticate, if you want to allow the user to access the server without authenticating;
- Require a password to login, if you want the user to authenticate with a password;
- Use system credentials to login, if you want the user to authenticate with system credentials;
Make sure to communicate the password to the user through a secure channel.
By setting Use system credentials to log in, FileZilla Server delegates credential checks to the operat-
ing system it’s running on. If you also select the Use system credentials also for accessing files and
directories checkbox, the user will be granted the same access privileges that are associated with
their host operating system account, although these might be further restricted by the mount points.
Note: the special user <systemuser> can be used only to impersonate operating system users, hence the credential type must be Use system credentials to log in.
Add a User to one or more Groups
Users can belong to one or more groups. To add a user to a group, click on the drop-down menu labeled
Member of groups and select the desired group. You can add a user to more than a group and the order in which groups are listed within a user affects how mount points’ conflicts are resolved.
Mount points’ conflicts
If a mount point is defined at the User level, FileZilla Server will always prioritize that over mount
points defined at Group level. If a mount point is defined in more than one group to which the user
belongs to, FileZilla Server will prioritize the mount point of the group that is listed first.
To change the order of the groups, select one or more group and use the Up and Down buttons to change their order.
With the Up and Down buttons on the right of the menu, you can change the order in which groups are selected.
Groups and users belonging to such groups might define the same mount points, it is important to understand how that works.
If the same mount point is defined both for a user and for any of the groups they belong to, FileZilla Server will use the one set for the user. If a mount point is defined in more than one group the user belongs to, FileZilla Server will use the mount point of the group that comes first, in the list of the groups the user belongs to.
The download and upload limits that apply to a user are the minimum of all the limits specified for that user and the groups the user belongs to.
The filters that apply to a user are defined as the union of all the filters associated with that user and the groups the user belongs to.
Editing mount points
Editing user’s mount points works as it works for the groups. Please, refer to the section Editing mount points to learn how to edit mount points.
Note: While setting up native paths, make sure they exist or ask the server to create them for you by selecting the checkbox Create native directory if it doesn’t exist.
Editing filters
FileZilla Server implements IP-based filtering, to allow only certain connections and/or disallow others, based on whether the connecting IP address matches the addresses or range of addresses within the two lists.
The lists can contain single IP address, or IP ranges in the CIDR Notation, or IP ranges in the interval form, both IPv4 and IPv6: for example, the range 192.168.0.2-192.168.0.30 defines a closed interval that includes all the IP addresses going from 192.168.0.2 to 192.168.0.30.
Using the asterisk ‘*’ character is equivalent to entering the numbers from 0 to 255.
If both lists are left empty, then no filtering is applied and all connections are allowed.
Please, refer to the Editing Filters section to learn how to edit filters.
Editing limits
Speed limits: The speed limits sections allow you to configure upload and download speed limits,
which can be customized for each session associated with the user or shared among all sessions linked
to the user.
For example, if a per-session limit is set to 10 KiB/s and there are 5 active sessions related to the user, each session will be able to reach 10 KiB/s, resulting in a cumulative speed of 50 KiB/s for all sessions.
On the other hand, if you set a shared-session limit to 10 KiB/s and have 5 active sessions related to
the user, the combined speed for all sessions will be limited to 10 KiB/s.
Filesystem Limit: The Filesystem Limit allows you to define the maximum number of files and/or
directories that can be opened simultaneously. This setting provides fine-grained control over the
user’s file management activities within each session associated with the group or across all sessions
related to the group.
Concurrent Sessions Limit: The Concurrent Sessions Limit feature enables you to establish the max-
imum number of sessions that a user can have open simultaneously. This parameter governs the
parallel operation of sessions, ensuring efficient resource utilization and helping to manage the user’s
engagement across multiple sessions. Whether specific to each session related to the group or shared
among all sessions, this limit provides flexibility in controlling the user’s concurrent interactions with the system.
Please, refer to the Editing the Limits section to learn how to edit the limits.
The video tutorial below shows how to configure FileZilla Server’s user types and how to use placeholders to define native paths.