In our last tutorial on File Sharing, we discussed Network File System (NFS). Now, we will learn to install FTP (aka SFTP or Very SecureFTP) in this tutorial. But first, we must know what is FTP
The File Transfer Protocol (FTP) is a standard network protocol used to transfer computer files between a client and server on a computer network. It is built on a client-server model architecture and uses separate control and data connections between the client and the server.
Recommended Read: Simple Linux Backups with Rsync command
Also Read: Essential Linux Commands You Should Know
Since FTP is rather insecure, we must either use our FTP over SSL/TLS or we can use the best alternative to FTP i.e. VSFTP. It's designed to have the strongest protection against FTP vulnerabilities & can be used to share data globally.
Install FTP on Linux
VSFTP can be installed using the following command on Centos/RedHat
# yum install vsftpd -y
# yum install ftp -y (to connect to server)
Configuration
One thing to consider after installing VSFTP is that if we want anonymous-login on our ftp or not.
Firstly, we will discuss how to configure with anonymous disabled & later we will also discuss enabling anonymous-login. Now, let's move on to configuring VSFTP. Open configuration file for vsftp
# vi /etc/vsftpd/vsftpd.conf
then disable anonymous access, change the following parameter to no
anonymous_enable=NO
and change the following parameter to yes
local_enable=YES
Then, restart the server to implement changes
# service vsftpd restart
# chkconfig vsftpd on
That’s it, our secure FTP is ready. Now let's try to access it
Accessing FTP
Accessing VSFTP through the browser
ftp://192.168.1.100 or ftp://ftp.linux.com
Accessing VSFTP through Command line
ftp://192.168.1.100
To use VSFTP in the Command line, use the following commands
get filename to download a file
put filename to upload a file
bye to exit/quit ftp
So this completes our tutorial on how to install FTP on Linux, next up is configuring FTP anonymous access 'enabled'. If having any queries/comments, use the comment box down below.