Subject: Re: FTP server strangeness
From: Keary Suska (hierophant@pcisys.net)
Date: Thu Jan 17 2002 - 13:48:40 MST
on 1/17/02 12:21 PM, rbrandt@sbdsl.com purportedly said:
> Let me start by saying that I've learned only enough about Linux in
> the last 9 months to be dangerous...
Something very important to learn, although not making you less dangerous,
is to understand the syslog mechanism. Unlike most other OSes, Unix based
systems log just about everything that happens on your system. Most daemons
will also use syslog for logging by default. Look at your logs--they will
probably tell you exactly what's wrong, or at least give a good clue. They
also allow your fellow list members to help you.
> site; I used v 1.2.4-1. I guessed that since I don't use inetd that
> I would have to manually enter the settings for ProFTP in xinetd
> instead. So for the ftp entry in xinetd I changed the command line
> to /usr/sbin/in.proftpd instead of in.ftpd and hoped for the best.
Hoping doesn't work. Verifying where in.proftpd is, and making sure your
invocation calls it at its real location, works. inetd is unnecessary to run
proftpd. It can run in daemon mode with a single one line configuration
command. In any case, if you have no daemon running, it hasn't started. That
can mean many things. 1) Did you HUP inetd after configuring? 2) Is WU-FTPD
running in daemon mode? 3) did you try netstat -an to see if there is an FTP
server listening? What do your logs say.
> I'm not even sure how to diagnose. I looked through my list of
> running processes (using WebMin) and there do not appear to be any
> ftp daemons running while I try an log in.
Hopefully you have some ideas now. Another tip: learn how to use your Linux
command-line tools. Graphical tools like webmin or linuxconf should only be
used by those who know how to do it the hard way, but choose not to. Already
you see that your tool of choice does not help you much.
Also keep in mind that default configurations for newly installed software
may not work. They may also have severe security issues, such as anonymous
access for FTP servers. They may also assume certain configurations in the
system or with other software, which may or may not be in place.
Install, configure, and test. If you simply install and hope for the best
you are most likely to get the worst. You're not in Mac-land anymore, Toto.
Keary Suska
Esoteritech, Inc.
"Leveraging Open Source for a better Internet"
This archive was generated by hypermail 2a24 : Thu Jan 17 2002 - 14:03:32 MST