UNIX for Dummies Questions & Answers

Hi! I came across this site and was hoping someone could help me. I currently have a site that is hosted on a Virtual Dedicated Server running Fedora Core 4. This morning, while loading up files via Dreamweaver ftp I lost my connection. I contacted my hosting company and they said that I should reboot my server. I explained that I had just done this as my site was down most of the night. They said to try and restart the vsftp service via my control panel and that didn't work either. They then said do another reboot. Again, nothing. They pushed it to the Advanced Hosting Team and they told me that its a configuartion problem with vsftp and that I should find something on the internet to help me. Basically, if I don't pay for additional support they won't offer any help.

With all that said, I've looked all over the place to find help. I haven't touched unix/linux in years so trying to find logs and errors is a little beyond me. I barely remember how to use SSH. Please, any advice would be appriciated. I could always wipe the HD clean and restart my server, but that won't teach me anything. Can anyone help?

ssh into your server, type: ps -ef|grep vsftp to see if it is running, should come back with two lines if it is. One will be the vsftpd process the other will be the grep. If it is not running, then su to root: type: /etc/rc.d/init.d/vsftpd start if it errors out you will see the reason for the failure.

Thanks. I got it to work. It was the vsftpd.conf file. For some reason it got changed. I had to add listen=YES back into the file. Works great now, but the only problem is that now I can't ftp from my Dreamweaver app. I'm using WISE-FTP now, but I do miss having it all on one screen.

What errors did you encounter?

Well, it started after I had uploaded on file (no problems) then uploaded another file (lost connection). It was right after a server reboot. I couldn't start, stop, or restart vsftpd using any means. I finally read somewhere to try editing the vsftpd.conf file to add background=YES, listen=YES (or something like that, ref vsftpd man pages for proper background/listen settings).

After I added those I was able to stop, then restart vsftp using SSH and was able to finally perform ftp agin using IE ftp or Wise-FTP. Still can't connect with Dreamweaver, but I'm not too worried about it. I keep getting "can't establish connection, blah, blah, blah...." I just use Wise-FTP now. It's just a headache bouncing back and forth, but I'll live.

I have problem with my vsftpd too:
I have 2 the same linux boxes with opensuse 10.2 with vsftpd.
The vsftpd.sonf and ./xinetd.d/vsftpd are the same. My home linux box with works perfectly but the second doesn't. I looked for problems everywhere: /etc/ftpusers /etc/host.allow /etc/host.deny /var/log/messages ...
I use public accounts on 2 boxes. They are with equivalent privileges and are in the same folders /srv/ftp/public.
When I try to connect to the problematic vsftpd with Konqueror I become this"Could not enter folder", if I try with Firefox the error is: "425 Security. BAD IP connecting", with IE there is timeout error.

I don't have firewall. Any help will be great! Thanks in advance.

PS:
this was my try to make connection with fileziila client to vsftpd:
Connecting to ftp.xxxxxx.xx:9021 ...
Status: Connected with ftp.xxxxxx.xx:9021. Waiting for welcome message...
Response: 220 (vsFTPd 2.0.5)
Command: USER public
Response: 331 Please specify the password.
Command: PASS ******
Response: 230 Login successful.
Command: SYST
Response: 215 UNIX Type: L8
Command: FEAT
Response: 211-Features:
Response: EPRT
Response: EPSV
Response: MDTM
Response: PASV
Response: REST STREAM
Response: SIZE
Response: TVFS
Response: 211 End
Status: Connected
Status: Retrieving directory listing...
Command: PWD
Response: 257 "/"
Command: TYPE A
Response: 200 Switching to ASCII mode.
Command: PASV
Response: 227 Entering Passive Mode (192,169,99,11,242,161)
Command: LIST
Error: Transfer channel can't be opened. Reason: A connection attempt failed because the connected party did not properly respond after a period of time, or established connection failed because connected host has failed to respond.
Error: Could not retrieve directory listing
Command: TYPE I
Error: Timeout detected!
Status: Waiting to retry... (5 retries left)

Check permissions on that directory, try without passive. Double check to be sure that something like SeLinux or the iptables is not set and blocking connections. I'm short on time right now, will get back to this later.