Best method of transferring files over internet?

I have a small server(running Ubuntu 9.10) at my (parent's) house and will be leaving it there once I go to college this fall. Currently I'm using samba to transfer files between computers, but I was wondering if once I am on my university's network, whether using FTP would be a better option versus samba over a VPN. The files will range from 100 MB to 17 GB, if that matters.

Would one be more efficient over the other? Did I forget any other options?

0d0h0m0s

Posted 2010-03-12T08:26:46.903

Reputation: 101

Don't underestimate the utility of a flash drive and a visit. Add in a hot meal and free laundry, the occasional visit home might be a worthwhile route for the largest files. – afrazier – 2013-02-23T15:51:55.137

Answers

I'd choose rsync over ssh.

You get encryption that way and rsync is smart enough to resume partially downloaded files and to copy only different files to avoid excessive traffic usage.

geek

Posted 2010-03-12T08:26:46.903

Reputation: 7 120

I'd prefer a more GUI way of doing it, though I could use rsync if that turns out to be the best option. – 0d0h0m0s – 2010-03-12T08:57:40.823

1grsync is a frontend for rsync on Ubuntu – Dom – 2010-03-12T16:48:14.783

The first thing that springs to mind to me is that I don't think that SMB will allow you to resume a download - which would be a real pain if you had a problem 16.5GB through a 17GB file...

So I would go for FTP, something like the pure-ftpd or vsftpd servers, both of which I would guess would be in the Ubuntu repositories if it isn't part of the standard install, and both of which should be relatively simple to set up securely; see here for an example setup for vsftpd.

Neal

Posted 2010-03-12T08:26:46.903

Reputation: 8 447

the limiting factor here is the bandwith of your parents internet connection (network throughput), not the encoding speed of the data.

so i would prefer encryption (vpn, ssh-tunnels, whatever) over non-encryption (ftp yikes) any time for sensible data.

akira

Posted 2010-03-12T08:26:46.903

Reputation: 52 754

Nothing I'd be transferring would be sensitive information and I don't really think the encryption would be necessary. Could, for example, the transfer rate between SFTP vs FTP be significantly different because of the encryption in SFTP? – 0d0h0m0s – 2010-03-12T08:59:28.667

again: the limiting factor is the bandwith of your parents connection. if your home machine can encrypt your stuff with 20mb/s and your parents machine saturate the fiber at 1mb/s .. whats the point? – akira – 2010-03-12T09:26:42.730

I get your point, but that doesn't answer my question. – 0d0h0m0s – 2010-03-12T09:31:44.780

it did. as long as the network bandwidth is the limiting factor, there is no point in thinking about if encryption have any effect on the transfer rate. obviously it has an effect, encryption is cpu-intense and thus it would decrease your theoretical bandwith. with a slower cpu the decrease will be higher. – akira – 2010-03-12T10:52:33.000

Personnally, I use FileZilla on an SSH server with an ftp server. That is for a GUI-based access to the server, but the sftp command line does the job great too. Just remember that if you are connecting as a different user that you are on your box, you have to specify it on the command line.

But SFTP solved all my problems.

If you also want to remotely access their computer with a graphic GNONE/KDE session, I would recommend FreeNX, or NX from NoMachine (www.nomachine.com). This lets you login to a full GNOME/KDE session remotely. Those also work over an SSH connection, so your connection is safe.

jfmessier

Posted 2010-03-12T08:26:46.903

Reputation: 2 530

Ad my university FTP is blocked, but I can use SSH. So normally when I like to send files from my server to my laptop, when I'm at the University, I use SSH. SCP for example. But 17 GB is a lot. Is your internet connection at home fast enough?

JordyOnrust

Posted 2010-03-12T08:26:46.903

Reputation: 273

It's about 250 KB/s. I think it'd be enough. – 0d0h0m0s – 2010-03-12T17:41:14.140

Assuming that 250 Kilobytes/sec is accurate, you're taking about 19 straight hours of transfer time. – afrazier – 2013-02-23T15:54:05.840

I would recommend using scp to move the files.

If you are worried about having a GUI for scp, then secpanel might work for you.

If you aren't happy with the results, then you could try sftp instead.

eleven81

Posted 2010-03-12T08:26:46.903

Reputation: 12 423