How To CHMOD with FileZilla

Bring Me The Horizon · Nov 25, 2009

For all you who have heard about "CHMOD'ing" but aren't quite sure what It means or would like you memory refreshed, then look no farther then here for understanding how to Chmod files using the FileZilla FTP manager. I've chosen this program because It's one of the easiest, quickest and one of the most popular FTP managers around. Let's start with the basics.

*What is CHMOD?

Chmod is short for "Change Mode" which is a "command" to change different file's permissions.
FileZilla makes it a easy to Chmod because It's a built in command to change the file permissions,
unlike doing it by hand which requires some programming knowledge.

*Why Chmod?

Chmod on FileZilla is an important command because it is required to be able to read, write
and execute a file on your website.

Here's an example. I'm going to Chmod the "config.php" file of my website via FileZilla.

I would start by going into the file directory of my website and locating "config.php". Now the PHPBB3
forum I run is at the root of my website, therefore my whole website is the forum.
Notice how you also see the "Permissions" column which is what each file is chmod to.

Now, right click on the file and click "File Permissions".

Now, a small attributes box will pop up. This is where you can change the file permissions.

For a forum, chmod isn't that big of a deal because It's simple. You need to set a certain value
for different files usually before you install your forum to your website. Most of
the time it's 777 you have to chmod to, which is all file permissions are allowed.
Just set the numeric value and It'll do the rest itself.

*Security

There's alot of talk about whether certain values set are safe or not, especially "777" because that
allows all permissions for anyone. Here's why i believe it's a risk to chmod "777".

First off, whoever wants to change your files, would have to get INTO your server first. So that's not
hard to stop; just don't give out your password. Secondly, if you make your website completely safe by
making hard to guess passwords and securing everything then you'll be fine. If in fact a "hacker" does
break into your server, there's nothing you can do so make sure you take extra security measures
and not chmod to 777 if possible.

*Conclusion

Chmod is needed to install forums and for alot of other files too but I've only used it on forums.
This is just a simple guide on how to do that because
I know I've looked tons of times for guides on how to
do It and i finally found it after looking forever on some
random website. Hope you like my guide.