servedat Server

The servedat file server allows ExpeDat and SyncDat clients to upload, download, and manipulate files. It is most commonly installed as a system service, but can also be run from the command-line or by double-clicking. See the Setup chapter for more information about installing and running servedat.

Only one instance of servedat may be running at a time. If you are trying run servedat manually and receive an error that the UDP port is already in use, check whether you have already installed servedat or have it open in another terminal.

For unix systems, including macOS, running the install-servedat script will install and run the server as a system daemon, allowing system users to authenticate and access the filesystem just as they would with FTP or scp.

With Windows systems, the default Install Servedat batch file will install the server as a Windows Service, allowing system users to authenticate and access the filesystem using their Logon credentials.

For complete installation instructions, see Setup.

Step-by-step instructions for creating user accounts can be found in Adding Users.

Step-by-step instructions for customizing the server configuration can be found under Configuration File.

When determining which authentication type to use, servedat will choose the most restrictive configuration that still affords some access. The best practice is to explicitly set your preferred authentication types and not rely on defaults.

The following three sections explain servedat's access control features in detail.

Users	The server decides who is allowed access based on the username and password a client may provide. This section summarizes the authentication mechanisms.
Homes	Each user has access to files in a specified home folder, and may have access to select absolute paths or the full filesystem. This section discusses how a given user's home directory and other folder access is determined.
Privileges	File access can be controlled on a server-wide, per-user, and per-file basis. This section explains the different ways you can control these privileges.

If the primary purpose of your server is to allow System Users to have the same type of access they would with FTP or scp, then you can simply install servedat using the installation script. When run as root or Administrator without any other options, the server automatically turns on SysAuth and disables Anonymous access.

Sections:

Access

Features