2 sftp questions

[Claude Jones]

I got sftp working, today. I have two questions I can't seem to answer:
1)   I first got it going by using the command line in a terminal 
window. For another reason, I happenned to be in root. I connected and 
was able to log in after clicking past the warning message about the 
unknown key and putting in my username and password. Later on, I 
discovered how to do this with gftp, also from root. Later on, when I 
tried to do this with my username, I couldn't get in, getting a message 
that the key couldn't be identified or something - so, my first question 
is, is it a good idea to be logging in as root, and if not, how do get 
past the warning? 

2)   Currently, I have the following two rules in iptables for ftp - do 
I really need the second?
#to allow SSH
iptables -A INPUT -p tcp --dport 22 -m state --state NEW -j ACCEPT
#to allow ftp?
iptables -A INPUT -p tcp -m state --state RELATED -j ACCEPT

-- 
Claude Jones
Bluemont, VA, USA