29.9. File Transfer Protocol (FTP)
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## 29.9. File Transfer Protocol (FTP)

Contributed by Murray Stokely.

### 29.9.1. Overview

The File Transfer Protocol (FTP) provides users with a simple way to transfer files to and from an FTP server. FreeBSD includes FTP server software, ftpd, in the base system. This makes setting up and administering an FTP server on FreeBSD very straightforward.

### 29.9.2. Configuration

The most important configuration step is deciding which accounts will be allowed access to the FTP server. A normal FreeBSD system has a number of system accounts used for various daemons, but unknown users should not be allowed to log in with these accounts. The `/etc/ftpusers` file is a list of users disallowed any FTP access. By default, it includes the aforementioned system accounts, but it is possible to add specific users here that should not be allowed access to FTP.

In some cases it may be desirable to restrict the access of some users without preventing them completely from using FTP. This can be accomplished with the `/etc/ftpchroot` file. This file lists users and groups subject to FTP access restrictions. The ftpchroot(5) manual page has all of the details so it will not be described in detail here.

To enable anonymous FTP access to the server, create a user named `ftp` on the FreeBSD system. Users will then be able to log on to the FTP server with a username of `ftp` or `anonymous` and with any password (by convention an email address for the user should be used as the password). The FTP server will call chroot(2) when an anonymous user logs in, to restrict access to only the home directory of the `ftp` user.

There are two text files that specify welcome messages to be displayed to FTP clients. The contents of the file `/etc/ftpwelcome` will be displayed to users before they reach the login prompt. After a successful login, the contents of the file `/etc/ftpmotd` will be displayed. Note that the path to this file is relative to the login environment, so the file `~ftp/etc/ftpmotd` would be displayed for anonymous users.

Once the FTP server has been configured properly, it must be enabled in `/etc/inetd.conf`. All that is required here is to remove the comment symbol “#” from in front of the existing ftpd line :

ftp stream tcp nowait root /usr/libexec/ftpd ftpd -l

As explained in Example 29.1, “Reloading the inetd Configuration File”, the inetd configuration must be reloaded after this configuration file is changed. Please refer to Section 29.2.2, “Settings” for details on enabling inetd on the system.

Alternatively, ftpd can also be started as a stand-alone server. In this case, it is sufficient to set the appropriate variable in `/etc/rc.conf`:

ftpd_enable="YES"

After setting the above variable, the stand-alone server will be started at the next reboot, or it can be started manually by executing the following command as `root`:

`#` `service ftpd start`

You can now log on to the FTP server by typing:

`%` `ftp localhost`

### 29.9.3. Maintaining

The ftpd daemon uses syslog(3) to log messages. By default, the system log daemon will put messages related to FTP in the `/var/log/xferlog` file. The location of the FTP log can be modified by changing the following line in `/etc/syslog.conf`:

ftp.info /var/log/xferlog

Be aware of the potential problems involved with running an anonymous FTP server. In particular, think twice about allowing anonymous users to upload files. It may turn out that the FTP site becomes a forum for the trade of unlicensed commercial software or worse. If anonymous FTP uploads are required, then verify the permissions so that these files can not be read by other anonymous users until they have been reviewed by an administrator.

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