FTP stands for File Transfer Protocol. It is a standard client-server network protocol for transferring files between computers.
All service files for the SysVinit system can be found under the '/etc/init.d/' directory, whereas the systemd files can be found under the '/usr/lib/systemd/system/' directory.
In this guide, we will show you how to start, stop, restart, enable and reload the vsftpd service.
Prerequisite: Make sure to have sudo privileges to run these commands except the status command.
What is vsftpd?
vsftpd stands for very secure FTP daemon. It is secure, stable and extremely fast. If you want to setup complicated FTP, then go with vsftpd.
It has ability to handle large numbers of connections efficiently and securely.
vsftpd is the default FTP server in most of the Linux distributions such as Redhat (RHEL), CentOS, Ubuntu, Debian, Fedora, openSUSE, etc,.
vsftpd supports many features such as Virtual IP configurations, Virtual users, Standalone or inetd operation, Powerful per-user configurability, Bandwidth throttling, Per-source-IP configurability, Per-source-IP limits, IPv6 and Encryption support through SSL integration.
1) Starting vsftpd
Use the following commands to start the vsftpd service in Linux.
For SysVinit Systems:
# service vsftpd start or # /etc/init.d/vsftpd start
For systemd Systems:
# systemctl start vsftpd or # systemctl start vsftpd.service
2) Stopping vsftpd service
Use the below commands to stop the vsftpd service in Linux.
For SysVinit Systems:
# service vsftpd stop or # /etc/init.d/vsftpd stop
For systemd Systems:
# systemctl stop vsftpd or # systemctl stop vsftpd.service
3) Restarting vsftpd service
Use the below commands to restart the vsftpd service in Linux. The restart option is a shorthand way of stopping and then starting vsftpd. This is the most efficient way for configuration changes to take effect after editing the configuration file for vsftpd.
For SysVinit Systems:
# service vsftpd restart or # /etc/init.d/vsftpd restart
For systemd Systems:
# systemctl restart vsftpd or # systemctl restart vsftpd.service
4) Reloading vsftpd
To force the vsftpd service to reload its configuration files, run the following command.
For SysVinit Systems:
# service vsftpd reload or # /etc/init.d/vsftpd reload
For systemd Systems:
# systemctl reload vsftpd or # systemctl reload vsftpd.service
5) Checking the status of vsftpd
Use the following commands to check the status of the vsftpd service. It shows whether the vsftpd service is running on your system or not.
For SysVinit Systems:
# service vsftpd status or # /etc/init.d/vsftpd status
For systemd Systems:
# systemctl status vsftpd or # systemctl status vsftpd.service
6) Enable vsftpd on boot
Use the following commands to enable the vsftpd service on boot. Once configured, the vsftpd service will start automatically when the system boots.
For SysVinit Systems:
# chkconfig vsftpd on
For systemd Systems:
# systemctl enable vsftpd or # systemctl enable vsftpd.service
The default configuration file is located at /etc/vsftpd.conf :
/etc/vsftpd/vsftpd.conf
Conclusion
In this tutorial, you learnt how to manage vsftpd service in Linux.
If you have any questions or feedback, feel free to leave a comment and we will get back to you.
