Create a file server that is accessible from the internet

Question

I want to turn my Ubuntu computer into a server that allows users to download files from it over the internet. However, I want to have it setup so people can just download files by connecting to its external IP address, then enter some folders and download the files with their browser. I would like it to be FTP or HTTP, but setting either of these up seems very complicated. How should I go about setting this up? I tried using GADMIN-PROFTPD but it always crashes.

Answer 1

The simplest and safest method would be via HTTP, as this would be read only.

Ubuntu has good documentation for setting up a working LAMP stack here. Although you only really need to pay attenton to the Installing Apache 2 section.

There are then a few more steps, such as ensuring DirectoryListings is set to +Indexes and that your firewall is open and the relevant ports are also open.

Hope that helps