How to Set Up an FTP Server on Ubuntu Linux

This wikiHow teaches you how to set up and connect to an FTP server on a computer running Ubuntu Linux. FTP servers are useful in storing data from a computer and allowing others to browse through those files. To establish a connection from your computer, you need an FTP server. You also need to update to the latest version of Ubuntu.

Table of Contents

Install FTP framework

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You need to make sure that the Ubuntu version is the latest. Ubuntu versions 17.10 and later have a lot of different file paths than previous versions, so you need to update to the latest Ubuntu version: ^{[1] X Research Source}

Open Terminal
Type the command sudo apt-get upgrade and then press ↵ Enter .
Enter the password and press ↵ Enter .
Type y when it appears, then press ↵ Enter .
Wait for the upgrade to complete the installation, then restart your computer if prompted.

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Open Terminal. Click the Applications menu ⋮⋮⋮ , scroll down and click the Terminal icon to proceed.

You can also press Alt + Ctrl + T to open Terminal.

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Enter the VSFTPD install command. Type the command sudo apt-get install vsftpd into Terminal, then press ↵ Enter .

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Enter password. Type the password that you use to log in to the computer, then press ↵ Enter .

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Wait for VSFTPD to install. This will take about 5-20 minutes depending on your FTP setup and Internet connection, so please be patient.

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Install FileZilla. This is the program that you will use to access and upload data to the server. To install, do:

Enter the command sudo apt-get install filezilla
Re-enter your password if asked.
Wait for the installation to complete.

Configure FTP server

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Open the VSFTPD configuration file. Type the command sudo nano /etc/vsftpd.conf and press ↵ Enter . You will need to edit this file to enable (or disable) specific VSFTPD features.

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Allow local users to login to the FTP server. Use the arrow keys and scroll down to the # Uncomment this to allow local users to log in. , then remove the “#” sign from the local_enable=YES line below. ^{[2] X Research Source}

You can remove the “#” sign by using the arrow keys and selecting the letter before the pound sign (in this case, “l”) and then pressing the ← Backspace key.
Skip this step if the line local_enable=YES does not have a pound sign.

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Allow FTP to write commands. Scroll down to the heading # Uncomment this to enable any form of FTP write command. , then remove the “#” sign from the write_enable=YES line below.

Skip this step if the write_enable=YES line does not have a pound sign.

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Disable ASCII scrambling. Scroll down to the heading # ASCII mangling is a horrible feature of the protocp. , then remove the “#” sign from the following two lines:

ascii_upload_enable=YES
ascii_download_enable=YES

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Change the “chroot” setting. Scroll down to the # chroot) , then add the following lines:

user_sub_token=$USER
chroot_local_user=YES
chroot_list_enable=YES
If any of the lines above already exist, simply remove the “#” in front of them.

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Change the default “chroot” setting. Scroll down to the header (default fplows) , then add the following lines:

chroot_list_file=/etc/vsftpd.chroot_list
local_root=/home/$USER/Public_html
allow_writeable_chroot=YES
If any of the lines above already exist, simply remove the “#” in front of them.

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Enable the “ls recursive function” option. Scroll down to the heading # You may activate the "-R" option... , then remove the “#” sign from the ls_recurse_enable=YES line below.

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Save and exit the text editor. To proceed, you:

Press Ctrl + X
Enter y
Press Enter

Add username to chroot list

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Open the “chroot” text file. Type the command sudo nano /etc/vsftpd.chroot_list and press ↵ Enter .

You can skip and go to the last step in this section if you don’t need to specify who can access the FTP server.

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Enter password. Type the password you use to log in to Ubuntu and then press ↵ Enter . The text file “chroot” will open.

Skip this step if the system does not ask you to enter a password.

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Add the username to the list. Type in your username and press ↵ Enter , then repeat for the usernames that own the Home folder you want to access right on your server.

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Save the list. Press Ctrl + X , type y and then press ↵ Enter . Your list will be saved.

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Restart VSFTPD. Type the command sudo systemctl restart vsftpd and then press ↵ Enter . VSFTPD will restart to ensure that your changes have been saved. You should now be able to access the FTP server. ^{[3] X Research Sources}

Server Access

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Specify the address of the server. If you purchased an FTP server through a third-party service (for example, Bluehost), you’ll need to know the service’s IP address or a regular address to make the connection. ^{[4] X Research Sources}

If you’re keeping your own server on your computer and you’ll need your computer’s IP address, type the command ifconfig into the Terminal and see the “inet addr” number in the results.
- If “ifconfig” is not installed, you can enter the command sudo apt-get install net-tops into the Terminal to install it.

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Port forwarding on the router . Once you know the server IP address, you need to forward your router’s 21-slot port to it; make sure this port uses TCP protocol (not UDP or hybrid type).

The port forwarding process will vary depending on the router, you should refer to the relevant article or the router’s documentation for instructions.

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Open Filezilla. Type filezilla into Terminal and press ↵ Enter . After a while, FileZilla will open.

If you want to connect through Terminal, you can try entering the command ftp [address] . As long as the FTP server is working and you have Internet access, the system will try to connect to the server; however, you may not be able to upload files.

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Click File in the upper-left corner of the FileZilla window. A drop-down menu will appear.

Advice

Port 20 forwarding can solve some network problems if you are keeping your own server.
The process of connecting to an FTP server on Ubuntu 17 and later versions will be slightly different from previous versions, so you will need to update Ubuntu to version 17.10 (or higher) if you have not already done so.

Warning

FTP servers aren’t always secure, especially if you’re keeping your own server. Therefore, you should refrain from uploading personal/sensitive information to the FTP server.

Steps