File permissions change

[HOUCAD]

This is probably more of a Mac server issue but it mostly happens with Vectorworks files so I would like to hear if anyone has experienced the same problem and what the solution is.

We have all our project info and drawings on a server. When we are working on a set of drawings the file permissions keep changing. I am not really sure what specifically causes this as it does not happen all the time and is difficult to duplicate. I suspect it may have something to do with doing a save as on a drawing and I think the server does not recognize vectorworks as an authorized user when it saves a file.

Usually if I create a file on my desktop and move it to the server the permissions will be fine and everyone will be able to access them. As the file is worked on the permissions will change and everyone is locked out of the file. I have to go to the server and reset the permissions but this can happen several times a day and is very annoying.

Has anyone experienced this problem?

Is it specifically a Mac server issue?

How do I fix it?

[islandmon]

It probably has something to do with the way Apache is set-up to create new files & directories with permissions 644, 755.

The server is assigning 'root-wwwdata' or 'root-root' user-group permissions when it should be assigning 'User-wwwdata'. This is typical security protocol.

You can use sftp or ssh to change permissions but you need to have root privileges at login. Another way is to use a utility like webmin which can assign root 'file&directory' privileges to individual Users while still prohibiting access to other accounts and the server root directory structure.

Ask your admin about these options.

[HOUCAD]

We don't really have a network admin which is part of the problem. It is a small office with maybe 10 computers networked to a Mac OS X server. Is OSX server the same as apache?

I don't mess with the server myself but I will ask the boss if she knows the difference between the root and user protocols.

Thanks for the help.