Friday 29 October 2010

Vsftpd virtual users config

vsftpd has a very annoying inplementation and configuration compared to pureftpd and alike.

Part of the annoyance is treating virtual users as guest users and guest users as anonymous users! To fix this you can the anonymous umask to be wide open but this has obvious security concerns if you also have local users as I have.

The fix I found is to set the following to YES in the vsftpd.conf:

virtual_use_local_privs
If enabled, virtual users will use the same privileges as local users. By default, virtual users will use the same privileges as anonymous users, which tends to be more restrictive (especially in terms of write access).

Default: NO

This way only ftp user can mess with the files and no one has access to the ftp account. I recommend leaving hte local umask as default instead of 022 so others can't read.

Sunday 3 October 2010

Karen Durant - Travel Agent to Avoid!

I'm unsure if this woman aims to take money she is not entitled to on purpose or it is severe incompetence. On first calling her as I had not had a reply to an enquiry I had about accommodation I was due to book, I had a very rude and abrupt response from herself, and the man who first answered the phone sounded like he was defending a rather disorganised and stressful person.

Very close to the booking dates Karen Durant contacted me to say that the accommodation requested had already been booked by another! This is something of a habit for her and there are other reports on here illustrating my point! Even thought I confirmed it was available and speedily sent off her booking form with my credit cards in insecurely by email as per her request!

I was offered alternative accommodation but the be honest most of the accommodation I have seen on offer from Karen Durant is less favourable than a week in a Mosside estate flat! Tripadvisor is full of negativity for all of her properties I have been shown, which seems odd as she keeps these properties on her site! I'm sure a horse owner would soon ditch a loosing horse, but this is part of business she fails on hard!

When a refund was requested the time for refund was double that of the time to take payment and seemed come in 3 days after I chased Karen Durant again for payment! Not only was there a delay meaning I had to move funds to ensure I could pay for my other accommodation losing me money, it was also over £8 short! I emailed Karen Durant about this and had no response so have informed my bank to take this charge back and submitting them details explaining why that visa will review.

The 4u at the end of her domains says it all really. Just google phones4u/singlepoint complaints and you will see she seems to be emulating a lot of their style ;)

http://www.holidayaccommodation4u.com/
http://www.holidaycottages4u.com/
http://www.holidays4u.org/

Karen Durant
298 Nelson Road, Twickenham, Middlesex TW2 7BW
p: 02088933172 f: 02088938090
http://www.karen-durant.co.uk