The File Transfer Protocol (FTP) is a standard network protocol used to transfer computer files from one host to another host over a TCP-based network. It is built on a client-Server architecture and uses separate control and data connections between the client and the server. FTP users may authenticate themselves using a clear-text sign-in protocol, normally in the form of a username and password, but can connect anonymously if the server is configured to allow it.
ProFTPD is a FTP server for Unix/Linux servers and is very configurable and effective. It is free and open-sourced, released under the GPL license.
In this article we are going to explain how to install and configure Proftpd Server on a Debian Virtual Server.
UPDATE THE SYSTEM
Login to your server as user ‘root’ :
# ssh root@hostname
First make sure your Debian Virtual Server is fully up-to-date using the commands below:
# apt-get upgrade # apt-get update
INSTALL PROFTPD
# apt-get install proftpd
While installing, it will ask you to choose the usage type you want for your ProFTPD server, so feel free to choose the best mode that fits your needs.
ProFTPD can be run either as a service from inetd, or as a standalone server. Each choice has its own benefits. With only a few FTP connections per day, it is probably better to run ProFTPD from inetd in order to save resources. On the other hand, with higher traffic, ProFTPD should run as a standalone server to avoid spawning a new process for each incoming connection. 1. from inetd 2. standalone
In this tutorial we will run ProFTPD as a standalone server.
CONFIGURE PROFTPD SERVER
Before you start using it, edit the default configuration file for Debian servers ( /etc/proftpd/proftpd.conf ) using your favorite editor.
# vim /etc/proftpd/proftpd.conf
We suggest making the following changes:
Restart the ProFTPD server using this command:
# service proftpd restart
During the ProFTPD installation, a default “proftpd” user was created automatically. For security reasons you will need to create a password for it. Enter the following command:
# passwd proftpd
If you want to have anonymous login to your ProFTPD server, stop the daemon process and make a backup from your default proftpd configuration file. Then open /etc/proftpd/proftpd.conf using your favorite text editor:
# cp /etc/proftpd/proftpd.conf /etc/proftpd/proftpd.conf.backup # vim /etc/proftpd/proftpd.conf
Go to the bottom of this file and on the last line add the following statement:
Include /etc/proftpd/enabled_mod/*.conf
This will cause the server to parse and use all of the configuration files which end with .conf extension from the enabled_mod directory.
Save and close the file. Create enabled_mod and disabled_mod directories.
# mkdir -p /etc/proftpd/enabled_mod # mkdir -p /etc/proftpd/disabled_mod
All of the future configuration from now on will be stored in disabled_mod directory and can be activated by creating symbolic links accordingly to the enabled_mod directory.
Next thing that you need to do is to create anonymous configuration file module for Proftpd. Create a file named anonymous.conf:
# vim /etc/proftpd/disabled_mod/anonymous.conf
Add the following statements in the file.
To activate this module you need to create a symbolic link to enabled_mod directory, using the below command, and then restart the FTP daemon to apply changes.
# ln -s /etc/proftpd/disabled_mod/anonymous.conf /etc/proftpd/enabled_mod/ # service proftpd restart
That’s it. The ProFTPD server installation is now complete.
You can now use a free FTP solution such as FileZilla to login to your ProFTPD server using your server IP address/domain as hostname, ‘proftpd’ as username, the password that you created for it and the default port 21.
Since we configured ProFTPD for anonymous login, open a browser and type your server IP Address or domain name using FTP protocol and you should automatically be logged in as anonymous and retrieve directory structure.
ftp://your_IP_address ftp://your_domain_name
In FileZilla just select Anonymous on Logon Type and you will be automatically authenticated to server.
To disable Anonymous configuration on Proftpd Server, just delete anonymous.conf file from enabled_mod directory and restart the FTP daemon to apply changes.
rm /etc/proftpd/enabled_mod/anonymous.conf service proftpd restart
Of course you don’t have to do any of this if you use one of our Linux Virtual Server hosting services, in which case you can simply ask our expert Linux admins to install ProFTPD server for you.They are available 24×7 and will take care of your request immediately.
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