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We don’t need no stinkin’ DLLs. We don’t need no stinkin’ installation programs. What we do need is a lean and mean FTP server that makes up for its lack of bulk with a ton of speed. If these sound like your own thoughts (or perhaps those of your boss), you’ll find exactly what you’re looking for in the form of BisonWare FTP Server.
After downloading the trial evaluation release of BisonWare, all you need to do is unzip the package, throw an executable and some help files into a directory, launch the executable, and – wham! – you have an instant FTP server. And as far as system requirements go, all you need in order to turn your machine into an FTP server is a TCP/IP stack and a winsock-enabled Windows 95/98/NT computer.
We don’t need no stinkin’ DLLs. We don’t need no stinkin’ installation programs. What we do need is a lean and mean FTP server that makes up for its lack of bulk with a ton of speed. If these sound like your own thoughts (or perhaps those of your boss), you’ll find exactly what you’re looking for in the form of BisonWare FTP Server.
Written in native 32-bit code, BisonWare FTP Server is advertised as using up minimal processing power when transferring files, and based on our testing this claim is very accurate. Each connected user eats up only a few kilobytes of memory, and we noticed no drags on the system when serving multiple users simultaneously.
And if a file transfer dies, BisonFTP supports full transfer restart processing.
The user interface, while a bit spartan, allows for easy access to all controls. You can send log information to the server system log and track who has connected to your server and what actions they have performed. You can set up security controls for individual users or for groups of users (alas, user information can’t be imported from the Windows NT User Manager). You can also restrict users or groups to a specific amount of data that can be uploaded or downloaded.
Security can be assigned to different directories at various levels. You can assign full privileges to a public directory while restricting incoming files to an incoming-only directory; you can hide important directories via a Virtual File System, which can present a pseudo file system to clients; and you can also automatically redirect any directory or file within your file system to another directory or file.
There’s really not a lot of complexity to the BisonWare FTP Server. Then again, when it comes to efficient file transfers without a lot of system overhead, we really don’t need a lot of complexity – we need sheer performance, and the BisonWare FTP Server delivers.
Pros: 7 Easy to install and configure, 7 Excellent performance, 7 Inexpensive ($25), 7 Low overhead and minimal use of system resources
Cons: 7 No Unix/Mac versions available, 7 Spartan interface, 7 Lacks a few of the more advanced features and security options found in competing offerings such as War FTP Daemon and Vermillion FTP
New in v3.5: Winsock 2.0 support, system tray integration, Virtual File System
Upgrade Meter: 5
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Version Reviewed: 3.5 |
