Users unable to upload files

[Deana]

Sir,
Can you verify the following for this server? Because I am unable to create a data directory for this training site? To create a data directory the following should be implemented.
Thanks, Deana

---------------------------------------------------------------------------

4. Create a data directory
Moodle will also need some space on your hard disk to store uploaded files, such as course documents and user pictures.

Create a directory for this purpose somewhere. For security, it's best that this directory is NOT accessible directly via the web. The easiest way to do this is to simply locate it OUTSIDE the web directory, otherwise protect it by creating a file in the data directory called .htaccess, containing this line:

deny from all
To make sure that Moodle can save uploaded files in this directory, check that the web server software (eg Apache) has permission to write to this directory. On Unix machines, this means setting the owner of the directory to be something like "nobody" or "apache".

On many shared hosting servers, you will probably need to restrict all file access to your "group" (to prevent other webhost customers from looking at or changing your files), but provide full read/write access to everyone else (which will allow the web server to access your files). Speak to your server administrator if you are having trouble setting this up securely.

[jason]

If you are using an FTP client to do this, there is usually some way of creating directories built in to it. WS_FTP, for example, has a button labeled MkDir. When you click it, you'll be prompted for a name and then the directory will be created. Make sure that the directory is outside of the public_html directory for the security reasons mentioned in the instructions.

To allow the server access to this file, you'll need to make it world readable and writeable. Look for an option called "Set permissions" or "CHMOD" in your FTP program (in WS_FTP, right click on the directory and select CHMOD). You'll likely get a grid of 9 checkboxes. All of them will need to be checked.

If you are using the command line through an SSH session, enter the following commands:

mkdir directory_name
chmod 777 directory_name

--Jason