...easy to use. Any suggestions? - JA Castillo

What kind of server? Should be able to restrict FTP access to certain users with most FTP servers - FFing Enigma (aka Tina)

Would have to check with the design firm who set-up our site. Server is not local and when I previously asked about separate access/passwords, it was inferred that a lot of back-end effort would be needed. - JA Castillo

Well, I can only speak from my experience, but the RHEL5 box we run has specific settings in the FTP server regarding who to allow FTP access. It does require an account on the box for the particular user, but creating a user and then granting them FTP access took all of about 2 minutes... - FFing Enigma (aka Tina)

... With that said, if they still give you grief about it why not consider a cloud file sharing solution? - FFing Enigma (aka Tina)

JA Castillo, you may need to consider not relying on your design firm to make hosting decisions for you. There are so many ways to solve this problem in an afternoon's worth of work... - Jason Wehmhoener

JA Castillo: speaking as a design firm who'd be likely to give that advice, it's code for "it's not worth it to us." That said, "cost effective" means something different to every person I've ever met. What's your actual budget? - Mark Trapp

You also mentioned "firm," what type of information is being transmitted? FTP isn't a secure medium at all, and you might be running into a legal problem if you are, say, a law firm by using FTP. - Mark Trapp

@Tina - a "cloud solution" is the direction I would like to go. FTP is a known quantity with the partners, thus their inquiry in such. I am hoping to direct them to other (better?) solutions. - JA Castillo

@Jason & @Mark - I have thought, "it's not worth it to us" was inferred, but they have been our first option, so I asked in good faith. Mark...we are Architecture & Landscape Architectural design office. - JA Castillo

The issue with cloud computing is that people know how to use FTP clients (generally). Cloud computing storage either requires a completely new client, or a web interface. Web interfaces don't have resume capabilities for uploads, which seriously hampers usage for large files. It also tends to be more expensive than just purchasing an FTP server. FTP servers are a one -time cost, cloud storage is perpetual. - Mark Trapp

Maybe http://drop.io to get you through the "right now" while you figure this out? - Ben Hedrington

@Mark - you are right. The benefit of the cloud (i.e. drop.io or similar), to me, is simplicity. - JA Castillo

@Ben - that's where I am heading. Only issue would be cost ("frugal" budgets nowadays!). - JA Castillo

I have set up a few companies to do this using EFTP (encrypted), it is simple and supports multi-users/groups. http://www.encrypted-ftp.com/index... Also, I see now that it's free for up to 100 users, before it was free up to 10 I believe. - cmiper

Perhaps an intermediate option would be a VPS with secure transfer enabled and WinSCP as the interface. - FFing Enigma (aka Tina)

How large are the files they want to share? If not too big, I'd go with a Google Site with a file cabinet. I may be biased though. ;) - EricaJoy

@Erica - first off would be a ton of site photos (750mb). Other, later files would be CAD files from engineers, surveyors, etc. I would estimate that some of those files would be 2 - 10 mb each. - JA Castillo