How To Create Ftp Server In Ubuntu 12.04

How to Install and Configure vsftpd on Ubuntu 12.04 LTS

Posted on August 19, 2014 by

J. Mays

FTP (File Transfer Protocol) is probably the most popular method of uploading files to a server; a wide array of FTP servers, such as vsftpd, and clients exist for every platform.

Pre-Flight Check

These instructions are intended specifically for installing the vsfptd on Ubuntu 12.04 LTS.
I'll be working from a Liquid Web Core Managed Ubuntu 12.04 LTS server, and I'll be logged in as root.

Step 1: Install VSFTPD

Warning: FTP data is insecure; traffic is not encrypted, and all transmissions are clear text (including usernames, passwords, commands, and data). Consider securing your FTP connection with SSL/TLS.

First, you'll follow a simple best practice: ensuring the list of available packages is up to date before installing anything new.

apt-get update

Then let's install vsftpd and any required packages:

apt-get -y install vsftpd

Step 2: Configure VSFTPD

For a refresher on editing files with vim see: New User Tutorial: Overview of the Vim Text Editor

Let's edit the configuration file for vsftpd:

vim /etc/vsftpd.conf

Disallow anonymous, unidentified users to access files via FTP; change the anonymous_enable setting to NO:

anonymous_enable=NO

Allow local uses to login by changing the local_enable setting to YES:

local_enable=YES

If you want local user to be able to write to a directory, then change the write_enable setting to YES:

write_enable=YES

Local users will be 'chroot jailed' and they will be denied access to any other part of the server; change the chroot_local_user setting to YES:

chroot_local_user=YES

Exit and save the file with the command :wq .

Restart the vsftpd service:

service vsftpd restart

Then set the vsftpd service to start at boot:

update-rc.d vsftpd defaults

Step 3: Configure the User's Home Directory

With certain version of vsftpd you may receive the following error: 500 OOPS: vsftpd: refusing to run with writable root inside chroot().

Not to worry! Create a new directory for the user receiving the error(user2 in this case) that is a subdirectory of their home directory (/home/user2). For example:

Fix permissions for user2's home directory:

chmod a-w /home/user2/

Make a new directory for uploading files:

mkdir /home/user2/files chown user2:user2 /home/user2/files/

About the Author: J. Mays

As a previous contributor, JMays shares his insight with our Knowledge Base center. In our Knowledge Base, you'll be able to find how-to articles on Ubuntu, CentOS, Fedora and much more!