vsftpd is a lightweight, efficient FTP server written for security, supports both anonymous and non-anonymous FTP access, PAM authentication, bandwidth limiting, and the Linux sendfile() facility. This tutorial will explain how to easily install and setup ftp server in Ubuntu using vsftpd.

• 1. Install vsftpd

  Search and install vsftpd in Ubuntu Software Center, or execute this command in terminal(Ctrl+Alt+T):

  sudo apt-get install vsftpd

• 2. Once installed vsftpd, it creates ‘/srv/ftp’ as ftp HOME folder. You can change it by editing /etc/passwd,

  sudo gedit /etc/passwd

  find out this line (should at end):

  ftp:x:118:127:ftp daemon,,,:/src/ftp:/bin/false

  Change ‘/src/ftp’ to the directory you want to use as ftp HOME folder.

• 3. configure vsftpd

  Edit the configuration file /etc/vsftpd.conf with your favorite editor, here I use:

  sudo gedit /etc/vsftpd.conf

  remove # and set the value to what you want to enable

  • anonymous_enable=YES # allow anonymous visit
  • write_enable=YES # allow upload
  • anon_upload_enable=YES # allow anonymous upload
  • anon_mkdir_write_enable=YES # allow anonymous create folder
  • local_enable=YES # allow local user login

  …

• 4. After configure vsftpd, restart the service.

  In terminal, run this to restart vsftpd service:

  sudo /etc/init.d/vsftpd restart

Now open up a web browser and test it out