Installing vsftpd FTP server on Red Hat Enterprise Linux 6

The following instructions install vsftpd 2.2.2-11.el6_4.1 and create a local user account named test with FTP access.

The initial directory for this user is set to /opt/receive so that the user may upload files there.

1. Install vsftpd using yum.

# yum install vsftpd

2. Start vsftpd automatically by the OS.

# chkconfig --levels 2345 vsftpd on

3. Modify the vsftpd config file.

# vi /etc/vsftpd/vsftpd.conf

Make the following changes:

idle_session_timeout=0
data_connection_timeout=0
user_config_dir=/etc/vsftpd/vsftpd_user_conf
userlist_deny=NO

4. Add the test user and set his password.

# useradd test
# passwd test

5. Edit the allowed FTP user list. Remove all users except the test user.

# vi /etc/vsftpd/user_list

6. Set the initial FTP directory for the test user.

# mkdir /etc/vsftpd/vsftpd_user_conf
# vi /etc/vsftpd/vsftpd_user_conf/test

Add the following line to the file:

local_root=/opt/receive

7. Make /opt/receive FTP directory globally writable.

# chmod -R go+w /opt/receive

8. Start the FTP server.

# /etc/init.d/vsftpd start

9. Using an FTP client, login as the test user and transfer a test file to the receive directory.

Note: The vsftpd FTP transfer log file is located at /var/log/xferlog.