NASA Headquarters

File Transfer Protocol (FTP) Server Policy

The NASA Headquarters Systems Operations Group operates a File Transfer
Protocol (FTP) service at <ftp://ftp.hq.nasa.gov/>. This service is
available for anonymous users as well as for registered, privileged
users. For anonymous use, there is no requirement for account
management. To use the system for privileged service, users must
complete and submit the account management form, NHQ Form 224, in the
Check In Check Out system. Users with privileged accounts can access
their home folder for "puts" and "gets" as well as "deletes."

To use the system for anonymous service, there is an "incoming" folder
at <ftp://ftp.hq.nasa.gov/incoming> that is set to allow anonymous FTP
"puts" of files by any user with no limit set on file size. There is an
outgoing folder called <ftp://ftp.hq.nasa.gov/shortterm> where users can
receive files placed there by the administrator. For anonymous access,
there is a "pub" folder that contains a hierarchy of lower-level
directories, all of which are accessible by any anonymous user.

[Anonymous access]{.underline}: Files located in "incoming" have a
resident lifetime of 7 days from placement into the directory. Once a
file is placed into "incoming," the individual placing the file should
notify both the intended recipient and the FTP Systems Administrator.
(The e-mail notification address for the FTP Systems Administrator is
<ftpadmin@hq.nasa.gov>). The notification should include the name of the
file, the approximate size, time of posting, and the intended recipient.
The recipient will be contacted by the FTP Systems Administrator for
guidance on where the file should be placed permanently.

[Privileged access]{.underline}: Privileged accounts on the FTP server
come with read, write, and delete privileges on the user's personal
folder. However, in order to facilitate the management of this system,
owners of these accounts will be requested to review files located in
their accounts that are older than 6 months. Privileged accounts which
have not been accessed in 6 months may be removed by the FTP Systems
Administrator. An effort will be made to contact owners prior to
deletion. Data that is removed will be archived on offline storage
media.

[Time-out limits for FTP accounts:]{.underline}

[Anonymous]{.underline}:

Incoming-Files will be deleted by the system after being resident for 7
days;

Short term-Files will be deleted by the system after being resident for
45 days or as instructed by the owner.

[Privileged Accounts]{.underline}:

Contents and account will be deleted following 6 months of inactivity;

See the [FTP Server page]{.mark} (need URL) on the ITCD Web site for
further guidance.

**[NOTICE]{.underline}:** with respect to classification of information,
[NASA Policy Guideline (NPG) 2810.1]{.mark} defines information
categories and appropriate locations for these categories of
information. Specifically, see
<http://nodis3.gsfc.nasa.gov/library/displayDir.cfm?Internal_ID=N_PG_2810_0001_&page_name=AppendixA>
for detailed instructions on what should not be placed on public
servers. The Headquarters FTP server
[ftp.hq.nasa.gov](ftp://ftp.hq.nasa.gov/) is a public server.