FTP issues...i'm going crazy!!!!

Question

Ok, so i i'm new to servers and i have osx snow server. I setup 2 sites (using ports 2424 & 2425).
i now want to setup an FTP. right now, i'm using ftp://96.23.40.187/. i basically left everything as is (root folder), and activated the ftp service. i created a new user (in usergroup) and gave him read & write access.
when i activate the anonymous login, the user (and the admin) has access to the ftp, but nowhere does it ask to login, although i assigned a username & password in the workgroup manager. if i disable the anonymous login, it says access denied, without asking for user & pass.
am i missing something??

Answer 1

I'm not sure if this is authentication or a firewall issue quite yet, and ftp is very vulnerable to problems with the firewalls.
As for troubleshooting this, have a look at the ftp server log file, and see what you find there. See if you see the connection, and connection details.
How familiar are you with IP networking and how ftp works at the protocol level?
ftp is rather weird here, and troubleshooting ftp usually involves knowing both how ftp establishes its connections, and how it authenticates access requests. For instance, using ftp requires opening up what is known as the ephemeral port range at all intervening firewalls (whichever way you have to open up the intervening firewalls depends on whether you're using active or passive ftp), and that it transmits your credentials in cleartext?
Put another way, ftp (which is older than IP networking itself, BTW) is largely incompatible with modern networks and modern network security. You may not be able to open up the intervening firewalls, too. If the ephemeral port path between the client and the server is blocked (the direction of the connection varies by active or passive transfer), ftp will start to work, and to fail.
When transferring files over the open Internet, it is usually easier to try sftp first here, and get that going. Easier. More secure, too.
There are good (free, GUI) sftp clients for Microsoft Windows. Among these is the FileZilla package.
Please post the ftp server configuration you're using here; what sharing you've enabled and what share points you are using, and whether read or read-write is enabled. This in Server Admin for the target Snow Leopard server box, in the ftp server settings.
Various browsers disallow specification of ftp credentials (username and password) in the address bar. Firefox still allows that AFAIK, but Microsoft IE won't. (Anonymous ftp is permissible here.) Safari (on Mac OS X) wants you to use Finder for ftp, or command-level ftp.
Try sftp. It's usually easier to deal with.