Hi everyone,

At the moment I am running some tests on a MySQL database. The
database resides on a box running on Slackware Linux, which in turn
runs in a VMWare session on Windows XP.

I can connect to the database just fine, and I have SSH access to the
Linux VM.

In order to do a few imports on the database, I need to get some files
over there. The easiest way would be using FTP (since that is the
default way of transfering files in the software I'm currently working
with).

After several hours of Googling, I'm still unable to find anything
that could help me to setup an FTP server on the aforementioned box.

My question now is the following: how can I setup an FTP server on
Linux Slackware? What do I need to do? Is there one installed by
default in the Slackware distribution, or do I need to download
something?

Please take into consideration that, while I am a bit familiar with
Linux, I am nowhere near an admin, so I'd like a fairly elaborate
guide if possible. Also, as far as I know there is no GUI on the
machine - only CLI.

Thanks in advance,

Yucan

In alt.os.linux.slackware joeym@gencom.be wrote:
> I can connect to the database just fine, and I have SSH access to the
> Linux VM.

Then sftp (safe-FTP) is easiest, as for that you only have to change
ONE line in your /etc/ssh/sshd_config (on the machine the ssh daemon
is running:
# override default of no subsystems
Subsystem sftp /usr/libexec/sftp-server
(the line should already be there, but may be commented out).

> In order to do a few imports on the database, I need to get some files
> over there. The easiest way would be using FTP (since that is the
> default way of transfering files in the software I'm currently working
> with).

For "real FTP" you will have to install the proftpd package, enable the
"ftp" line in the /etc/inetd.conf file, restart the Internet Daemon
to SEE that change and have a login with a valid shell ON that machine
(for anonymous FTP you need much more work).
Oh, and when you use a firewall you will have to open the ftp ports
(normally 20 and 21).
--
************************************************** ******************
** Eef Hartman, Delft University of Technology, dept. EWI/TW **
** e-mail: E.J.M.Hartman@math.tudelft.nl, fax: +31-15-278 7295 **
** snail-mail: P.O. Box 5031, 2600 GA Delft, The Netherlands **
************************************************** ******************

Hi,

<snip>
> Then sftp (safe-FTP) is easiest, as for that you only have to change
> ONE line in your /etc/ssh/sshd_config (on the machine the ssh daemon
> is running:
> # override default of no subsystems
> Subsystem sftp /usr/libexec/sftp-server
> (the line should already be there, but may be commented out).

Thanks for the information! The above line was already uncommented,
and I've also uncommented another line in inetd.conf (ftp stream tcp
nowait root /usr/sbin/tcpd proftpd).

By now, I'm able to ftp to the localhost, but after getting the
"connected" message, I immediately get a 421 error - 421 service not
available.

It seems I'm on the right track, but not quite there yet...

I've had a look at hosts.allow, and added my IP address, but I don't
know whether or not that is the correct way to do things.

Could you please elaborate on this? Thanks!

There is no firewall between me and the other box.

Thanks again,

Yucan

On 2007-06-18, yucan.etomer@gmail.com <yucan.etomer@gmail.com> wrote:

> Could you please elaborate on this? Thanks!

http://www.proftpd.org/docs/example-conf.html

nb

> > Could you please elaborate on this? Thanks!
>
> http://www.proftpd.org/docs/example-conf.html

A bit more information would be welcome - where do I need to put this
configuration file? I've made a guess and put it in /etc , but after
restarting inetd there was no change...

I still get the same error - 421 service not available.

Thanks!

Yucan

On Mon, 18 Jun 2007 02:30:25 -0700, joeym wrote:

> Hi everyone,
>
> At the moment I am running some tests on a MySQL database. The
> database resides on a box running on Slackware Linux, which in turn
> runs in a VMWare session on Windows XP.
>
> I can connect to the database just fine, and I have SSH access to the
> Linux VM.
>
<snip>
>
You can setup proftp and configure it (/etc/proftpd.conf) according to
your needs. You'll probably need to read some of proftpd's documentation
to configure it.

In lieu of that, there are some easier solutions:

1. Use ftp-over-ssh running on Windows VM. The putty set of applications
include this ftp-like program.

2. Use samba. Enabling samba on the Slackware server is pretty
straight-forward. You'll probably have to read a small amount of
documentation and setup the configuration file (/etc/samba/smb.conf).

Of the two choices, using ssh may be attractive because it is working
already.

--
Douglas Mayne

yucan.etomer@gmail.com wrote:

> I still get the same error - 421 service not available.

What do your system logs say? (look in the files in /var/log for things
relevant to ftp)

--
----------------------------------------------------------------------
Sylvain Robitaille syl@alcor.concordia.ca

Systems and Network analyst Concordia University
Instructional & Information Technology Montreal, Quebec, Canada
----------------------------------------------------------------------

On 18 jun, 16:15, Sylvain Robitaille <s...@alcor.concordia.ca> wrote:
> yucan.eto...@gmail.com wrote:
> > I still get the same error - 421 service not available.
>
> What do your system logs say? (look in the files in /var/log for things
> relevant to ftp)

I've had a look for log files relevant to ftp, but I can't seem to
find any. Nothing even remotely looks like that - no log for "ftp",
"inetd", "tcp", "httpd", etc...

The syslog however, had some lines complaining about the following
topics:
- an error in hosts.allow, which I fixed
- restart: no such file or directory (which is probably related to my
attempts to do an inetd restart)
- bind: address already in use

That last one doesn't make sense - there is nothing running on port
21!

Thanks,

Yucan

<snip>
> You can setup proftp and configure it (/etc/proftpd.conf) according to
> your needs. You'll probably need to read some of proftpd's documentation
> to configure it.

Which is what I'm trying to do at the moment

> In lieu of that, there are some easier solutions:
>
> 1. Use ftp-over-ssh running on Windows VM. The putty set of applications
> include this ftp-like program.

I'll have to look into this...

> 2. Use samba. Enabling samba on the Slackware server is pretty
> straight-forward. You'll probably have to read a small amount of
> documentation and setup the configuration file (/etc/samba/smb.conf).

Samba? Wouldn't that be a direct connection, instead of FTP? The
connection needs to be made via FTP, so Samba would not be an option
I'm afraid.

Thanks,

Yucan

yucan.etomer@gmail.com wrote:

> I've had a look for log files relevant to ftp, but I can't seem to
> find any. Nothing even remotely looks like that - no log for "ftp",
> "inetd", "tcp", "httpd", etc...

Look in your current logs for ftp-related entries.
"grep -rl ftpd /var/log" will probably help you find which logs to look
into.

> The syslog however, had some lines complaining about the following
> topics:
> - an error in hosts.allow, which I fixed
> - restart: no such file or directory (which is probably related to my
> attempts to do an inetd restart)

I would make sure of that, as there's some chance it's referring to
something else that's relevant to your problem. See if you can
duplicate it. If so, see if you can figure out what it's looking for
but can't find. Does the log entry say which file isn't being found?

> - bind: address already in use
>
> That last one doesn't make sense - there is nothing running on port
> 21!

"netstat -t -l" will help confirm that. That error message indicates
that something *is* listening on the port it (likely inetd in this case)
is trying to open. You need to figure out why the system believes
differently than you do.

--
----------------------------------------------------------------------
Sylvain Robitaille syl@alcor.concordia.ca

Systems and Network analyst Concordia University
Instructional & Information Technology Montreal, Quebec, Canada
----------------------------------------------------------------------