Ftp, linux, and memory on dedicated server

[brakkar]

Hello,
I will be running a dedicated server, with a red hat linux and 256 Mo of RAM.

I know this is not much ram, but this serve will only be used for FTP non anonymous access. So there will be a limited amount of simultaneous users, BUT, they will upload and download very large files on the ftp (up to 700 megas).

I wish to know if the ram of the server is an issue in this ftp case? Does the server has to load the entire file in ram once a user choose to download it with ftp? Or does it just load the small portion of the file as the user downloads?

Basically, how does FTP / Memory / linux works?

Thanks in advance,
Brakkar

[mcavic]

256 megs should be fine for a small server, regardless of the size of the files. It doesn't need to load the whole file at once. But, the quality of your Internet connection will be the bigger issue.