configure ftpd port range

[John DeStefano]

--- Lowell Gilbert <freebsd-questions-local at be-well.no-ip.com> wrote:
> John DeStefano <deesto at yahoo.com> writes:
> 
> > Due to ISP restrictions, I must change the default port on which
> ftpd 
> > runs in order to enable ftp access to and from my machine.
> 
> That would violate the FTP spec, and isn't supported (IIRC) by the
> standard FreeBSD ftpd.
> 
> > I had to do the same for my httpd server, but that information was
> a
> > bit more accessible.
> > Reading material has been sparse, but I've read that adding a port 
> > number/range to the ftpd entry /etc/services and /etc/inetd.conf
> might
> > do the trick.
> > Is this an acceptible way of going about changing the ftp ports?
> 
> It won't work.
> 
> > If this box is sitting behind a hardware firewall (Linksys router),
> what 
> > range would you recommend I open in the firewall for a maximum of 5
> > ftp users?  Same question for security on the FBSD box itself?
> 
> This is going to be a royal pain anyway.  The FTP protocol is tricky
> to get through firewalls, and *very* tricky to get through NAT.
> 
> If you can use, e.g., scp(1) to move your files around, you'll be in
> much better shape -- FTP passes cleartext passwords.  However, if
> you're really stuck on FTP (and I am not encouraging you to violate
> your contract with your ISP, but just giving the advice for
> informational purposes), there are other FTP daemons that can change
> the base ports.  You'll need to punch holes for the data ports,
> though.

SO, strangely enough, it sounds like moving away from the stock ftpd,
and using a 3PP daemon to configure the new ports, is the way to go.
Any suggestions?

> > Quick sidebar: DNS is setting my domainname to my ISP's domain,
> > not my local domain, which is causing some problems.  "man 
> > domainname" tells me " The super-user can set the domain name by 
> > supplying an argument", which I assume means "domainname 
> > <domain>".  But this setting does not stick on reboot.  Is there an
> 
> > easy fix?
> 
> According to the FreeBSD Handbook, the FreeBSD FAQ, and the
> rc.conf(5)
> manual, setting "hostname" in /etc/rc.conf is what you're looking
for.

Yes, thanks for reminding me.  I'd seen that solution and implemented
it.  Unfortunately, something has changed my setting:

# cat /etc/rc.conf |grep hostname
#hostname="gandalf.istari"
hostname="gandalf"
hostname="gandalf.Optonline.net"

How to keep this from getting changed automatically?
Thanks,
John


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