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

[frodon]

1What is the correct way to install it

For me the correct way to install it is to follow the instructions of the web site and just replace the final command (sudo make install) by :

sudo checkinstall -D

checkinstall is a tool (you can find it in synaptic) which allow you to create a .deb of the sources and install the software with all the needed informations to see it in synaptic and therefore uninstall it easily.
If you didn't use checkinstall and want to use it i think this command (in the gproftpd source directory) will uninstall gproftpd :

sudo make uninstall

[BlueIce]

It all looks good now.

thank you heaps for your help

[frodon]

For those who want to use the proftpd GUI, i updated the HOWTO with some short instructions and a .deb of the latest version.

After some tests, i found that gproftpd is not so bad but a little bit annoying for advanced users because the GUI is able to create directories and system users (you need to run it as root) and it's less secure (it's just my opinion )

[hen3rz]

Is there a way i can manage this server via php on my apache2 server?

[kasemodz]

alright mine is really wierd. I can get proftpd to start. However, when i try to access it from another computer, it asks for my username and password. I put it in and press enter. It searches for something then comes back with the login window, how do i fix this? Here is my proftpd config.

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

ServerName "OnDemand"
ServerType standalone
DeferWelcome off

MultilineRFC2228 on
DefaultServer on
ShowSymlinks on

TimeoutNoTransfer 600
TimeoutStalled 600
TimeoutIdle 1200

DisplayLogin welcome.msg
DisplayFirstChdir .message
ListOptions "-l"

DenyFilter \*.*/
DefaultRoot ~

# Uncomment this if you are using NIS or LDAP to retrieve passwords:
#PersistentPasswd off

# Uncomment this if you would use TLS module:
#TLSEngine on

# Uncomment this if you would use quota module:
#Quotas on

# Uncomment this if you would use ratio module:
#Ratios on

# Port 21 is the standard FTP port.
Port 21

# 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 30

# Set the user and group that the server normally runs at.
User admin


# Umask 022 is a good standard umask to prevent new files and dirs
# (second parm) from being group and world writable.
Umask 022 022
# Normally, we want files to be overwriteable.
AllowOverwrite on

# Delay engine reduces impact of the so-called Timing Attack described in
# http://security.lss.hr/index.php?pag...LSS-2004-10-02
# It is on by default.
#DelayEngine off

# A basic anonymous configuration, no upload directories.

# <Anonymous ~ftp>
# User ftp
# Group nogroup
# # We want clients to be able to login with "anonymous" as well as "ftp"
# UserAlias anonymous ftp
# # Cosmetic changes, all files belongs to ftp user
# DirFakeUser on ftp
# DirFakeGroup on ftp
#
# RequireValidShell off
#
# # Limit the maximum number of anonymous logins
# MaxClients 10
#
# # We want 'welcome.msg' displayed at login, and '.message' displayed
# # in each newly chdired directory.
# DisplayLogin welcome.msg
# DisplayFirstChdir .message
#
# # Limit WRITE everywhere in the anonymous chroot
# <Directory *>
# <Limit WRITE>
# DenyAll
# </Limit>
# </Directory>
#
# # Uncomment this if you're brave.
# # <Directory incoming>
# # # Umask 022 is a good standard umask to prevent new files and dirs
# # # (second parm) from being group and world writable.
# # Umask 022 022
# # <Limit READ WRITE>
# # DenyAll
# # </Limit>
# # <Limit STOR>
# # AllowAll
# # </Limit>
# # </Directory>
#
# </Anonymous>

[frodon]

I don't know what you want to do and you didn't use the guide as i see in your conf file so how could someone help you with so few informations ?
So how did you create your proftpd.conf file ? it seems really near from the default one, so what is your aim ?

hen3rz, i searched a little bit yesterday but i didn't find any informations on the topic. Maybe you could post your question in the server talk forum there's some server gurus in .

[kasemodz]

hey frodon since i couldn't get ftp working with the guide's conf I used this guide to install it. I just wanted to see if the ftp works by using nearly the default one. Here is the link btw. http://www.ubuntuguide.org/#ftpserver

Btw now that I'm thinking of it, I did install the gui version of ftp this guide talked about but I couldn't uninstall it. Then i installed proftpd. Do you think that could be the problem?

[frodon]

Btw now that I'm thinking of it, I did install the gui version of ftp this guide talked about but I couldn't uninstall it. Then i installed proftpd. Do you think that could be the problem?

Gproftpd is only a frontend for proftpd, so you need to have proftpd installed to use gproftpd.
To uninstall gproftpd, use this command if you used the .deb :

sudo dpkg -r gproftpd-8.2.2_8.2.2-1_i386.deb

You should also be able to uninstall it with synaptic.
When i asked you what is your aim, i meant what is your need about ftp server. Do you just want to share some files with friend or with everybody ? do you wish a secure server ?

I ask you that because in your conf file you don't share any directories so i have no idea about what you're trying to do.

[kasemodz]

Gproftpd is only a frontend for proftpd, so you need to have proftpd installed to use gproftpd.
To uninstall gproftpd, use this command if you used the .deb :

sudo dpkg -r gproftpd-8.2.2_8.2.2-1_i386.deb

You should also be able to uninstall it with synaptic.
When i asked you what is your aim, i meant what is your need about ftp server. Do you just want to share some files with friend or with everybody ? do you wish a secure server ?

I ask you that because in your conf file you don't share any directories so i have no idea about what you're trying to do.

um frodon, my aim is just to setup a ftp server so i can access it on my land. I'll be uploading stuff to it and downloading.

[linuxfan]

t0bb3:

Thanks for your additional tip! I too had the same problem and was wondering what was wrong with inetd install type. Will try tonite once I get back from work.

Cheers