Let’s explore the steps to add VSFTPD on Debian. Bobcares, as a part of our Server Management Services, offers solutions to every query that comes our way.

How to add vsftpd on Debian?

VSFTPD (Very Secure FTP Daemon), an FTP protocol used to transport files to and from a remote network, is published under the GNU General Public License. In Linux/UNIX operating systems, it is a safe, dependable, and quick FTP server.

We have to run the following steps to add vsftpd on Debian.

Installing VSFTPD

• On the terminal, type the following command to update the repository index:

  $ sudo apt update

   
• Now install VSFTPD using the code:

  $ sudo apt install vsftpd

   
• Once the installation completes, confirm it using the code:

  $ vsftpd -versions

   

Enabling FTP through the firewall

• If the computer has a firewall installed, open ports 20 and 21 for FTP traffic. Run the command below in Terminal to see if a firewall is active:

  $ sudo ufw status

   
• An “active” status shows the firewall is running. So allow ports 20 and 21 and run the below command in Terminal:

  $ sudo ufw allow 20/tcp

  $ sudo ufw allow 21/tcp
• Run the below command to make sure the rules are added:

  $ sudo ufw status

FTP configuring

• Firstly, back up the VSFTPD configuration file before configuring it using the following command:

  $ sudo cp /etc/vsftpd.conf /etc/vsftpd.conf.orig

   
• Then edit the VSFTPD configuration file as follows:

  $ sudo nano /etc/vsftpd.conf

   
• Also, modify the configurations to match them as follows to continue the addition of VSFTPD on Debian:

  listen=YES

  listen_ipv6=NO
  
  connect_from_port_20=YES
  
  anonymous_enable=NO
  
  local_enable=YES
  
  write_enable=YES
  
  chroot_local_user=YES
  
  allow_writeable_chroot=YES
  
  secure_chroot_dir=/var/run/vsftpd/empty
  
  pam_service_name=vsftpd
  
  pasv_enable=YES
  
  pasv_min_port=40000
  
  pasv_max_port=45000
  
  userlist_enable=YES
  
  userlist_file=/etc/vsftpd.userlist
  
  userlist_deny=NO
• Finally, save and close the vsftpd.conf configuration file and continue with the steps to add VSFTPD on Debian.

Adding FTP user

• Use the following command to add a new user to continue with the addition of VSFTPD on Debian:

  $ sudo adduser username

   
• Then set the password for the new user:

  $ sudo passwd username

   
• Then include the user to the allowed FTP users list:

  $ echo "username" | sudo tee -a /etc/vsftpd.userlist

   

Restarting VSFTPD

• Now restart the VSFTPD service using the command:

  $ sudo systemctl restart vsftpd

   

Testing FTP access

• To test the FTP in the process of adding VSFTPD on Debian, we need an FTP client. Here it is Filezilla. Download using the command:

  $ sudo apt install filezilla

   
• Now run Filezilla using the command:

  $ filezilla

   
• To connect to the FTP server, we will require its IP address. We can find the IP address of the FTP server by entering the below command in Terminal:

  $ ip a

   
• On the Filezilla dashboard, provide the IP address, username, and password in the respective text fields.
• Finally, click Quick connect to the VSFTPD FTP server.

These steps successfully add VSFTPD on Debian.

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Conclusion

In this article, we come across the steps from our Tech team to add VSFTPD on Debian.