Running FTP server on unlix-like OS: ProFTPD server

File Transfer Protocol (FTP) is a standard network protocol used to transfer files from one host to another host over a TCP-based network, such as the Internet or local nets. There are various ftp-services tou can run at your server among then proftpd, vsftpd, Pure-FTPd, ftpd(native, basic built-in service) and other. I used to run ProFTPD on my servers.

ProFTPD (short for Pro FTP daemon) is free and open-source software server, compatible to Unix-like systems and Microsoft Windows (via Cygwin). Along with vsftpd and Pure-FTPd, ProFTPD is among the most popular FTP servers in UNIX-like environments. ProFTPD provides simplicity, speed or security and flexibility. Primary design goal is to be a highly feature rich FTP server, exposing a large amount of configuration options.

ProFTPD can be easily installed on FreeBSD (via ports), Debian/Ubuntu (via apt-get), CentOS (via yum).

FreeBSD:

#
# cd /usr/ports/ftp/proftpd
# make install clean

# cd /usr/ports/ftp/proftpd

# make install clean

CentOS:

#
# yum update
# yum install proftpd

# yum update

# yum install proftpd

Debian, Ubuntu:

#
# apt-get update
# apt-get install proftpd

# apt-get update

# apt-get install proftpd

After installation ‘proftpd.conf’ will be created. Here next example. Core features: hide server version, allow login user without valid shell (sure, you do not create users for your web projects with valid shell 🙂 ), limit timeout, etc…

ServerName                      "unknown" # we don't want to ident our server
ServerIdent                     Off # we don't want to show server version
ServerType                      standalone
DefaultServer                   on
ScoreboardFile                  /var/run/proftpd/proftpd.scoreboard

# Don't show welcome message until user has authenticated
DeferWelcome                    off
 
MultilineRFC2228                on
ShowSymlinks                    on
 
TimeoutNoTransfer               600 # set timeouts
TimeoutStalled                  600 # set timeouts
TimeoutIdle                     1200 # set timeouts

DenyFilter                      \*.*/

# Log files
TransferLog                     /var/log/proftpd/xferlog
SystemLog                       /var/log/proftpd/proftpd.log


# Port 21 is the standard FTP port.
Port                            21

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

# 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
CommandBufferSize               512

# Set the user and group under which the server will run.
User                            nobody
Group                           nogroup

# To cause every FTP user to be "jailed" (chrooted) into their home
# Default root - user home dirs
# 
DefaultRoot                     ~

# Do not require valid shell
RequireValidShell               off 

# Enable automatic deletion of partially uploaded HiddenStores files
DeleteAbortedStores             on

# No root login
RootLogin                       off

# Attempts limit
MaxLoginAttempts                3 "to much tries..."

# Normally, we want files to be overwriteable.
AllowOverwrite                 on

# Bar use of SITE CHMOD by default
<Limit SITE_CHMOD>
  DenyAll
</Limit>

ServerName "unknown" # we don't want to ident our server

ServerIdent Off # we don't want to show server version

ServerType standalone

DefaultServer on

ScoreboardFile /var/run/proftpd/proftpd.scoreboard

# Don't show welcome message until user has authenticated

DeferWelcome off

MultilineRFC2228 on

ShowSymlinks on

TimeoutNoTransfer 600 # set timeouts

TimeoutStalled 600 # set timeouts

TimeoutIdle 1200 # set timeouts

DenyFilter \*.*/

# Log files

TransferLog /var/log/proftpd/xferlog

SystemLog /var/log/proftpd/proftpd.log

# Port 21 is the standard FTP port.

Port 21

# Umask 022 is a good standard umask to prevent new dirs and files

# from being group and world writable.

Umask 022

# 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

CommandBufferSize 512

# Set the user and group under which the server will run.

User nobody

Group nogroup

# To cause every FTP user to be "jailed" (chrooted) into their home

# Default root - user home dirs

DefaultRoot ~

# Do not require valid shell

RequireValidShell off

# Enable automatic deletion of partially uploaded HiddenStores files

DeleteAbortedStores on

# No root login

RootLogin off

# Attempts limit

MaxLoginAttempts 3 "to much tries..."

# Normally, we want files to be overwriteable.

AllowOverwrite on

# Bar use of SITE CHMOD by default

DenyAll

</Limit>