Linux administration

How to setup FTP server on Ubuntu 16.04

Introduction

If you need to upload files on a server or give access to your employee/colleague so they would set up your website, an FTP-server will be the best solution.

Installation

All commands during the FTP-server installation are to be performed by a root user:

sudo su -

VSFTPD is a popular FTP-server that is located in Ubuntu standard repository. To install it, run the command:

apt-get install vsftpd

After the process is completed, an FTP can be considered installed.

Settings

After installation, the first thing you need to do is to configure the FTP-server to fit your needs using the file located in /etc/vsftpd.conf. The file is quite detailed and understandable, yet we recommend that you change some of the settings:

/etc/vsftpd.conf
listen=YES
listen_ipv6=NO
anonymous_enable=NO
local_enable=YES
write_enable=YES
chroot_local_user=YES
local_umask=022
force_dot_files=YES

Before starting an FTP-server, add the line /usr/sbin/nologin to the file /etc/shell, so the users could connect to the FTP without shell access:

echo "/usr/sbin/nologin" >> /etc/shell

Now you can start the FTP-server:

service vsftpd start

Add some changes to the file /etc/hosts.allow, prohibit access from all IP-addresses except for those that you are going to use to connect to the FTP-server:

/etc/hosts.allow
vsftpd : 127.0.0.1 : allow
vsftpd : allowed_IP_adress : allow
vsftpd : ALL : deny

Add a user, prohibit ssh connection, create a home directory.

After the user is created, change the password:

useradd user_name --shell /usr/sbin/nologin --home-dir /path_to_directory
passwd user_name

If you need to add a new user who needs to edit the files of the existing user, then you need to create a new user using the same UID and GID.

useradd user_name -o -u UID_client -g GID_client --shell /usr/sbin/nologin --home-dir /path_to_directory
passwd user_name

To check the UID and GID run the command:

id user_name