This page describes in detail how to take full advantage of the administration client interface. Because Ability FTP Server contains many features, it may take several minutes to learn where particular settings are located. This tutorial will enable you to quickly learn how to use the interface and help you understand where particular settings can be found.
Ability FTP Server is split into multiple applications of which each perform different tasks. The most important two are afsmain.exe and afsclient.exe. The 'afsmain' process runs invisibly in the background and is managed automatically. The 'afsclient' process is the administration client interface and enables you to fully control Ability FTP Server's settings, activation state and view the status information. By default the installation process will add a shortcut to your desktop and start menu to load the administration interface.
By default the administration interface will manage the locally installed FTP server. However, the key benefit of a separate administration interface is that you can fully control the FTP server from any location. By accessing the drop down menu 'File' and selecting 'Connect...', you can enter network address information and connect to other FTP server processes on your network or across the Internet. From a remote location you have access to all the same administration features. To setup a remote computer for access to the FTP server, you must ensure you install at least the client side half of Ability FTP Server. Additionally, if you have enabled security restrictions for the 'Admin' settings, you must ensure the new remote computer's IP address will be allowed to connect.
To help speed up administration of the FTP server, the status and settings information are divided into two main areas which can be selected by clicking on either the 'Status' or 'Settings' tabs at the top of the interface. Within each of these two main areas are a selection of sub-pages which can be accessed from the icons on the left hand side of the interface. Once you have selected the required icon, the appropriate pages will be displayed in main part of the interface.
If you make any changes to an area of the settings, you will notice that the Save button at the bottom of the dialog becomes enabled. By clicking the Save button, you can quickly save any changes you make. If there is a problem with your configuration, you will be informed of the problem and the save action will not complete. If you have made a change and then attempt to jump to another unrelated area in the settings, you will be asked if you want to save the changes. Until you have either saved the changes or discarded it, you will not be able to leave that area of the settings. If you wish to restore the settings back to their original installation state, you can click on the 'Reset' button.