I have installed vsftpd on Ubuntu Raring Ringtail, and made a few changes to the config file.
When I try to run with these changes, the service never starts.
Reverting to default config, the service then runs.
I got the changes from this guide: Howto: Easy FTP with vsftpd
I can't figure out the problem, as I don't know what half of it means...
looking at you config I can see a few minor issues that might be causing it not to start.
First I recommend you shrink down the config file to just the variables you need like the following.
listen=YES
listen_port=21
anonymous_enable=NO
local_enable=YES
write_enable=YES
dirmessage_enable=YES
use_localtime=YES
xferlog_enable=YES
connect_from_port_20=YES
chroot_local_user=YES
secure_chroot_dir=/var/run/vsftpd/empty
pam_service_name=vsftpd
rsa_cert_file=/etc/ssl/certs/ssl-cert-snakeoil.pem
rsa_private_key_file=/etc/ssl/private/ssl-cert-snakeoil.key
ssl_enable=YES
allow_anon_ssl=NO
force_local_data_ssl=YES
force_local_logins_ssl=YES
ssl_tlsv1=YES
ssl_sslv2=YES
ssl_sslv3=YES
syslog_enable=NO
vsftpd_log_file=/var/log/vsftpd.log
for information on what you can use go to https://security.appspot.com/vsftpd/vsftpd_conf.html
you might want to add a local_root=/folder/folder to aviod possible problems but its not required
remove
xferlog_enable=YES
some reason the default config has it on but the log location off!
its also important to note that xferlog_enabled and syslog_enable are for different logs. seen many people mix these settings and get nothing.
remove
pam_service_name=vsftpd
since you dont have guest_enable in you config file this setting does nothing. Plus other varaibles are needed for PAM to work see
How to setup virtual users for vsftpd with access to a specific sub directory?
remove
dirmessage_enable=YES
you need to provide the message_file variable for it to work
remove
listen_port=21 because 21 is the default anyway
use_localtime=YES because server time is more reliable
connect_from_port_20=YES this is not needed apart from in advanced configurations
also you might want to turn your logs
change
syslog_enable=NO
to
syslog_enable=YES
the resulting config file should be
listen=YES
anonymous_enable=NO
local_enable=YES
write_enable=YES
chroot_local_user=YES
secure_chroot_dir=/var/run/vsftpd/empty
rsa_cert_file=/etc/ssl/certs/ssl-cert-snakeoil.pem
rsa_private_key_file=/etc/ssl/private/ssl-cert-snakeoil.key
ssl_enable=YES
allow_anon_ssl=NO
force_local_data_ssl=YES
force_local_logins_ssl=YES
ssl_tlsv1=YES
ssl_sslv2=YES
ssl_sslv3=YES
syslog_enable=YES
vsftpd_log_file=/var/log/vsftpd.log
If that doesn't work remove the SSL settings and set a
run
sudo lsof -i | grep ftp
see if any service is using the listen to ftp. Stop that service. Now try to run vsftp service.
This is an old post now but my install was failing due to the ipv6 element. Not well documented online - uncomment the ipv6 line and change the value to =no
Hope this helps someone
to make vsftp log you have to set it on the config file . here you have how edit vsftp to make it log
after that try to start the service with /etc/init.d/vsftp start
and then check the log with cat /var/log/vsftp.log
finally post the log for better help :D
ssl_enable=YES allow_anon_ssl=NO force_local_data_ssl=YES force_local_logins_ssl=YES ssl_tlsv1=YES ssl_sslv2=YES ssl_sslv3=YES
Can you comment these out and try again? (maybe a problem in your ssl config) Also, put the log file somewhere else E.g. /tmp/vsftpd.log
– Fabby Nov 23 '14 at 19:18