[Info-vax] Need to set up a special purpose account

[Steven Schweda]

> Check the doc for ANONYMOUS FTP for whichever IP stack
> you're using... 

> I am using VMS  7.3-2.

   That says little about which IP software you're using.

>   I figured out how to enable anonymous ftp on the system.

   So you claim, but...

> As far as I can tell nothing works as the password.

   So you don't really appear to have enabled anonymous FTP
on your system.

   As usual, showing actual commands with their actual output
can be more helpful than vague descriptions or
interpretations.

> I even set the password on the ANONYMOUS account, and the
> password I set would not work.

   I suspect that no one ever uses that password.  Around
here, for example, where anonymous FTP works, AUTHORIZE says:

Username: ANONYMOUS                        Owner:  ANONYMOUS
[...]
Pwdlifetime:         90 00:00    Pwdchange:      (pre-expired) 
[...]

   That's with:

ALP $ tcpip show version 

  HP TCP/IP Services for OpenVMS Alpha Version V5.7 - ECO 5
  on a COMPAQ Professional Workstation XP1000 running OpenVMS V8.4    

but it was all set up long ago.

> I used tcpip$config.com to enable ftp.

   So, you're using some version of TCPIP, too?

>   That automatically set up the ANONYMOUS account, but I can
> figure out how to log into that account.

   Normally, one doesn't use that account interactively.  The
FTP server handles anonymous FTP itself, without doing the
usual VMS password checking.  (How could it?  It accepts
practically anything "as password.")

> [...] I like to set it up without a password so that
> multiple people can use it without knowing a password.

   Which means that anyone on the planet with Internet access
can access these files, too.  Is that what you want? 
Anonymous FTP typically allows anyone to read anything.  (It
may or may not allow some write access.)

   I'd expect TCPIP$CONFIG.COM to set up anonymous FTP
correctly (until you started playing around with the
ANONYMOUS account, at least).  If anonymous FTP access
doesn't work, then you may need to look at the log files to
try to see what the problem is.