File sharing has become an important part of today’s digital world.
One of the quickest and easiest ways to transfer files is FTP (File Transfer Protocol).
But, nothing can be so annoying when you get an error like “530 this FTP server is anonymous only“.
Most probably this happens due to wrong configuration in FTP server, user permission problems and much more.
That’s why, we often get requests from our clients to solve the issues related to “530 this FTP server is anonymous only” as part of our Server Management Services.
Today, we’ll see how our Support Team figured out and solved the FTP problem.
A Quick Glance to “530 this FTP server is anonymous only”
First, let’s take a closer look at what anonymous FTP means and its benefits.
Anonymous File Transfer Protocol (AFTP) allows the public to log into an FTP server with a common username (usually “ftp” or “anonymous”) and any password to access the files on the server.
This is beneficial, especially in today’s business world for distributing large files to the public, without assigning a large number of username and password for FTP access.
But, what if you get an error like “530 this FTP server is anonymous only”. This error means that the FTP server supports anonymous FTP users only.
Now, it’s time to see the reasons that cause 530 FTP anonymous message.
Top 3 most common causes for “530 this FTP server is anonymous only”
From our experience in managing servers, we often see customers experiencing problems like “530 this FTP server is anonymous only”.
Let’s check the top 3 most common reasons one by one.
1. User permission denies
In most cases, this error happens when the user does not have permissions in FTP server.
Usually, this type of error is commonly seen in FTP server like vsftpd, (or very secure FTP daemon). This is because the user permission is disabled in the vsftpd configuration file.
That is, if the parameter “local_enable” is No, then the user could not log in and it results in “530 this FTP server is anonymous only” error.
2. Login failures
In certain cases, FTP servers will be setup with only anonymous access and any write attempt will be denied and logged. Usually, anonymous ftp user will have blank password too. As a result, when an anonymous ftp user tries to login by providing a password, it would also result in an error like “530 this FTP server is anonymous only: Login failed“.
3. Service not restart
When you made changes in the FTP configuration file and didn’t restart the services then error like “530 this FTP server is anonymous only” happens. In other words, it means that the changes were not applied , until the service restart.
Now, it’s time, to see the solutions provided by our Support Engineers to fix them.
How we nailed -“530 this FTP server is anonymous only”
Recently, one of our clients approached us with the problem in vsftpd stating that he couldn’t log in as a normal user even though he disabled anonymous user in the configuration file.
Our Technical Team fixed the issue using the following steps.
1. Initially, we checked the FTP logs /var/log/messages to identify if there was an error like “530 this FTP server is anonymous only”.
2. After checking, we found that the problem was valid with an actual error.
3. Next, we checked the settings in the configuration file /etc/vsftpd.conf and found the following
#local_enable=YES
#write_enable=YES4. By un-commenting both the parameters, it allows the local user to log in via FTP as well as the user can upload files.
5. After the changes, we saved the file.
6. Finally, we restarted the service to reflect the changes made in the configuration file.
[Problems with connecting as anonymous FTP user? We can fix it right away.]
Conclusion
To be more accurate, “530 this FTP server is anonymous only” error happens due to various reasons like disabled user permissions, incorrect password and many more. Today, we saw common causes for the error and how our Support Engineers nailed it.
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