This guide will walk you through ProFTPd server installation and configuration, showing you how to customize your FTP server’s actions by walking you through ProFTPd configuration.
How To Install ProFTPd On Debian 9
Step 1: SSH into your Debian Installation
Step 2 : Install Updates
apt-get update
Step 3: Install Proftpd
apt-get install proftpd
How To Configure Virtual Users and Directories
Step 1: First, we need to add a line to the /etc/shells file
nano /etc/shells
Step 2: Then add the following line at the bottom
/bin/false
Step 3: Create the FTP directory
cd /home
mkdir /home/FTP
The FTP directory can be called anything you wish, but for now, we will call it FTP
Step 4: Create the directory for your virtual user
mkdir /home/FTP/<username>
Replace <username>
with what you would like your virtual user to be called
Step 5: Create the FTP virtual user
useradd <username> -p <password> -d /home/FTP/<username> -s /bin/false
Replace <username>
with what you would like your virtual user to be called and replace <password>
with your desired password
Step 6: Make sure to change the permissions of the file to 777
chmod 777 FTP
How To Configure The ProFTPd Config File To Lock Each User In Their Directory
If you’re going to have multiple users, don’t forget to add those directories into the FTP directory.
Step 1: Setting the DefaultRoot directory
nano /etc/proftpd/proftpd.conf
Step 2: Uncomment the DefaultRoot option. It will look like this at first
#DefaultRoot ~
Set it to this
DefaultRoot /home/FTP
Step 3: Set the directory per virtual user, at the bottom of this configuration file, add these lines.
<Directory /home/FTP/<username> <Limit ALL> DenyALL </Limit> <Limit DIRS READ WRITE> AllowUser <username> </Limit> </Directory> <Directory /home/FTP/<username> <Limit ALL> DenyALL </Limit> <Limit DIRS READ WRITE> AllowUser <username> </Limit> </Directory>
Be sure to do this with each user
Be sure to replace <username>
with the user(s) you created previously
Step 4: Starting the ProFTPd service
/etc/init.d/proftpd start
Related Articles
- Virtual Users vs. System Users – An overview of the difference between virtual service users and regular users