Introduction to the Virtual File System (VFS)

The Virtual File System (VFS) allows you to make files and folders available to users through the granting of permissions.

User permissions are given priority.

In the folder that the user wants to access, if EFT Server finds user-specific permissions that are not those from Groups, EFT Server does not look for any Group permissions. EFT Server gives priority to individually configured permissions. For example, suppose there is a user with the user name Bob. Bob is a member of two permission Groups that have download and list permissions only for Folder1. However, you have decided to give Bob full permissions for Folder1 without creating a new permission Group. Since EFT Server looks for these individual user permissions first, then Bob will have full permissions for Folder1 no matter how his Group membership is configured. This same rule implies that if Bob has individual permissions that only allow him to download files from that particular folder, it does not matter if he is a member of two Groups that have full permissions for the folder. Bob will only have permission to download files.

If a user does not have individual permissions for a folder and is a member of more than one group, the server gives the user the least restrictive access for the folder.

From their Groups, users receive all the permissions available for the folder. For example, suppose a user with the user name Jan is a member of two Groups, Group1 and Group2, that both have permissions for a particular folder, Folder2. If Group1 has download permission and Group2 has upload permission then Jan will have both upload and download permissions for Folder2.

The All Users group is the same as any other group except that it can't be removed from the root folder permissions list.

You can use the All Users Group to determine inherited permissions from the parent folder. If you change any inherited permissions for the All Users group, the server display a confirmation message to make sure you want to change the inherited permissions.

On the VFS tab, you can specify which files and folders are available to users, and then specify Group and user permissions for the folders.

The Virtual File System (VFS) allows you to create physical folders and virtual folders.

You make the files, physical folders, and virtual folders available to users by granting permissions based on their Group membership. VFS permissions are constructed to allow users the least restrictive access to folders.

For example, suppose a user is a member of a Group (Groups allow the administrator to define access permissions to files and folders. Just as User Setting Levels control access to EFT Server resources such as bandwidth allowances and connectivity privileges, Groups control access to folders. See virtual folders.) that has read, upload, download, and delete permissions to a folder. Even if the user is a member of another Group that has only download permissions to the same folder, the user will be able to read, upload, download, and delete files from that folder.