HOWTO : Create a FTP server with user access (proftpd)

[t0bb3]

I have followed the howto, but when I run "sudo /etc/init.d/proftpd start" I get this message:

ProFTPd warning: cannot start neither in standalone nor in inetd/xinetd mode. Check your configuration.

This is what my proftpd.conf file looks like:

#
# /etc/proftpd.conf -- This is a basic ProFTPD configuration file.
# To really apply changes reload proftpd after modifications.
#

AllowOverwrite                  on
AuthAliasOnly                   on

# Choose here the user alias you want !!!!
UserAlias                       upload userftp

ServerName                      "htpc"
ServerType                      inetd
DeferWelcome                    on

MasqueradeAddress               my.ip.is.here
PassivePorts                    60000 60100 #this is a range, not just two ports

MultilineRFC2228                on
DefaultServer                   on
ShowSymlinks                    off

TimeoutNoTransfer               600
TimeoutStalled                  100
TimeoutIdle                     2200

DisplayFirstChdir               .message
ListOptions                     "-l"

RequireValidShell               off

TimeoutLogin 20

RootLogin                       on

# It's better for debugging purposes to create log files
ExtendedLog                     /var/log/ftp.log
TransferLog                     /var/log/xferlog
SystemLog                       /var/log/syslog.log

#DenyFilter                     \*.*/

# I don't choose to use /etc/ftpusers file (use it to ban users by
just writing their username in it)
UseFtpUsers                     off

# Allow to restart a download
AllowStoreRestart               on

# Port 21 is the standard FTP port, so don't use it for security
reasons (choose here the port you want)
Port                            2121

# To prevent DoS attacks, set the maximum number of child processes
# to 30.  If you need to allow more than 30 concurrent connections
# at once, simply increase this value.  Note that this ONLY works
# in standalone mode, in inetd mode you should use an inetd server
# that allows you to limit maximum number of processes per service
# (such as xinetd)
MaxInstances 8

# Set the user and group that the server normally runs at.
User                            nobody
Group                           nogroup

# Umask 022 is a good standard umask to prevent new files and dirs
# (second parm) from being group and world writable.
Umask                           022     022

PersistentPasswd                off

MaxClients                      8
MaxClientsPerHost               8
MaxClientsPerUser               8
MaxHostsPerUser                 8

# Display a message after a successful login
AccessGrantMsg                  "welcome to t0bb3's ftp server"
# This message is displayed for each access good or not
ServerIdent                     on       "HTPC ftp server"

# Set /home/FTP-shared directory as home directory
DefaultRoot                     /home/FTP-shared

# Lock all the users in home directory,
#    ***** really important *****
DefaultRoot                     ~

MaxLoginAttempts                3

#VALID LOGINS
<Limit LOGIN>
       AllowUser userftp
       DenyALL
</Limit>

<Directory /home/FTP-shared>
       Umask 022 022
       AllowOverwrite off

       <Limit MKD STOR DELE XMKD RNRF RNTO RMD XRMD>
               DenyAll
       </Limit>
</Directory>

<Directory /home/FTP-shared/download/*>
       Umask 022 022
       AllowOverwrite off

       <Limit MKD STOR DELE XMKD RNEF RNTO RMD XRMD>
               DenyAll
       </Limit>
</Directory>

<Directory> /home/FTP-shared/upload/>
       Umask 022 022
       AllowOverwrite on

       <Limit READ RMD DELE>
               DenyAll
       </Limit>

       <Limit STOR CWD MKD>
               AllowAll
       </Limit>
</Directory>

Do you see anything wrong?

[frodon]

Replace :

ServerType                      inetd

by :

ServerType 			standalone

and it should work.

By the way the "RootLogin on" option is not really secure, if you don't know why you use it i advice you to put it off.

[t0bb3]

But I choose inetd duing the install of the server. It said inetd would be more resource friendly if I only had a few connections every day, and it's basicly only I that connect to the ftp server. Why should I change to standalone?

I'll change the RootLogin option

[frodon]

Yes it's a little bit more resource friendly but standalone server is easier to use and if you don't have 20 users who use your server at the same time you won't see the difference.

Link : http://www.proftpd.org/localsite/Use...erverType.html

[t0bb3]

Thank you, it starts now

But why didn't it work with inetd as the servertype?

[t0bb3]

Reading the proftpd manual (http://www.proftpd.org/localsite/Use...nked/x430.html) I decided to give inetd another go. They all say inetd is better suited when there aren't that many connections.

When I choose inetd as the server type duing the initial install proftpd made the necessary changes to /etc/inetd.conf. So the server should have been ready for use as soon as I had installed it. I had missunderstood the whole

 sudo /etc/init.d/proftpd start
 sudo /etc/init.d/proftpd stop
 sudo /etc/init.d/proftpd restart

thing. It's only for when you run the server in standalone mode! I thought I should do that even when in inetd mode, but that was wrong.

Another nice thing about inetd mode is that you don't have to do anything special when you make changes to proftpd.conf. The server rereads that file for every new connection.

[t0bb3]

You can also define different access levels for each user, for exemple if you don't want a user to see or use a shared directory or if you just want to give him a read access. If some of you here are interrested, tell me and i will provide you some exemples.

YEs, I'd be very interested in this. Now that I finally got the FTP working (thanks to your advice), I'd like to setup different access levels for different users. If you could post a tutorial for that, that would be sweet.

Thanks!

I second this.
And I would also like to know how to set up virtual users

Thanks

[frodon]

This is a small exemple on how avoid user2 to enter in the download directory.
In this case 2 users have been created (userftp and user2) and each one have its own alias.
This exemple will allow userftp to see all the shared directory and avoid user2 to use the dowload directory, (i give you only the directory section) :

#VALID LOGINS
<Limit LOGIN>
AllowUser userftp
AllowUser user2
DenyALL
</Limit>

<Directory /home/FTP-shared>
Umask 022 022
AllowOverwrite off
        <Limit ALL>
		Order Allow,Deny
		AllowUser userftp
		AllowUser user2 
		Deny ALL
	</Limit>
	<Limit MKD STOR DELE XMKD RNRF RNTO RMD XRMD>
	DenyAll
	</Limit>
</Directory>

<Directory /home/FTP-shared/download/*>
Umask 022 022
AllowOverwrite off
        <Limit ALL>
		Order Allow,Deny
		AllowUser userftp
		Deny ALL
	</Limit>
	<Limit MKD STOR DELE XMKD RNEF RNTO RMD XRMD>
	DenyAll
	</Limit>
</Directory>

<Directory> /home/FTP-shared/upload/>
Umask 022 022
AllowOverwrite on
        <Limit ALL>
		Order Allow,Deny
		AllowUser userftp
		AllowUser user2 
		Deny ALL
	</Limit>
	<Limit READ RMD DELE>
      	DenyAll
    	</Limit>

    	<Limit STOR CWD MKD>
      	AllowAll
    	</Limit>
</Directory>

[jbinc1]

Hello frodon,

My ftp server has been running for a few weeks now thanks to your excellent HOWTO. Now I need some help speeding it up. Inside the nat I get great upload/download speeds. Over the internet I am limited to about 50 kbs. Any ideas?

[frodon]

It's because when you are inside the NAT the limit is the limit of the local network and when you are outside the NAT the limit is your internet connection speed wich is really lower than the local network speed.
Did you already reach a better upload rate with IRC, msn, or another share protocol ?