STANDALONE SERVER

  /usr/sbin/ftpd.pl -S

You may want to add this to your local start-up files so that the server starts automatically when you boot the machine.

To stop the server, do:

  killall ftpd.pl

(Note: "Azazel" points out that the above is a Linux-ism. Solaris administrators may get a nasty shock if they type "killall" as "root"! Just kill the parent "ftpd.pl" process by hand instead).

RUNNING FROM INETD

  ftp stream tcp nowait root /usr/sbin/tcpd ftpd.pl

(This assumes that you have the "tcp-wrappers" package installed to provide basic access control through "/etc/hosts.allow" and "/etc/hosts.deny". This access control is in addition to any access control which you may configure through "/etc/ftpd.conf".)

After editing this file you will need to inform "inetd":

  killall -HUP inetd

RUNNING FROM XINETD

Create the file "/etc/xinetd.d/net-ftpserver" containing:

 # default: on
 # description: Net::FTPServer, a secure, \
 #              extensible, configurable FTP server.
 #
 service ftp
 {
        socket_type             = stream
        wait                    = no
        user                    = root
        server                  = /usr/sbin/ftpd.pl
        log_on_success          += DURATION USERID
        log_on_failure          += USERID
        disable                 = no
 }

Check any other possible FTP server configurations to ensure they are all disabled (ie. "disable = yes" in all other files).

Restart "xinetd" using:

 /etc/init.d/xinetd restart

CONFIGURATION

Simple configuration options can also be given on the command line using the "-o" option. Command line configuration options override those from the configuration file.

<Include filename>

Use the <Include filename> directive to include the contents of "filename" directly at the current point within the configuration file.

You cannot use <Include> within a <Host> section, or at least you can but it won't work the way you expect.

<IncludeWildcard wildcard>

Include all files matching "wildcard" at this point in the file. The files are included in alphabetical order.

You cannot use <IncludeWildcard> within a <Host> section, or at least you can but it won't work the way you expect.

debug

Run with debugging. Equivalent to the command line "-d" option.

Default: 0

Example: "debug: 1"

port

The TCP port number on which the FTP server listens when running in daemon mode (see "daemon mode" option below).

Default: The standard ftp/tcp service port from "/etc/services"

Example: "port: 8021"

daemon mode

Run as a daemon. If set, the FTP server will open a listening socket on its default port number, accept new connections and fork off a new process to handle each connection. If not set (the default), the FTP server will handle a single connection on stdin/stdout, which is suitable for use from inetd.

The equivalent command line options are "-s" and "-S".

Default: 0

Example: "daemon mode: 1"

run in background

Run in the background. If set, the FTP server will fork into the background before running.

The equivalent command line option is "-S".

Default: 0

Example: "run in background: 1"

error log

If set, then all warning and error messages are appended to this file. If not set, warning and error messages get sent to STDERR and to syslog.

Having an error log is highly recommended.

Default: (not set, warnings and errors go to syslog)

Example: "error log: /var/log/ftpd.errors"

rotate log files

If set, and if the log file names contain a '%' directive, then the server will check if a new log file is needed whenever the system accepts a new connection. This implements a log rotation feature for long-running servers.

If not set, then any '%' directive will be evaluated only when the log files gets created.

Default: (not set, log file name evaluated only once)

Example: "rotate log files: 1"

maintainer email

Maintainer's email address.

Default: root@hostname

Example: "maintainer email: bob@example.com"

class

Assign users into classes. One or more "class" directives can be added to the configuration file to aggregate individual users into larger groups of users called classes.

By default all anonymous users are in class "anonymous" and every other user is in class "users".

The configuration file can contain zero or more "class" directives. The format of the class directive is either:

 class: CLASSNAME USERNAME[,USERNAME[,...]]
    

or:

 class: CLASSNAME { perl code ... }
    

Examples of the first form are:

 class: staff rich
 class: students ann,mary,pete
    

User "rich" will be placed into class "staff", and users "ann", "mary" and "pete" will be placed into class "students".

Examples of the second form are:

 class: family { /jones$/ }
 class: friends { $_ ne "jeff" }
    

Any username ending in "jones" (eg. "rjones", "timjones") will be in class "family". Any other user except "jeff" will be placed in class "friends". Note that the Perl code must be surrounded by "{...}" and must return a boolean true or false value. The username is available as $_. The Perl code is arbitrary: it might, for example, use an external file or database lookup in order to work out if a user belongs to a class.

"class" directives are evaluated in the order in which they appear in the configuration file until one matches the username.

Default: Anonymous users are assigned to class "anonymous" and everyone else is assigned to class "users".

timeout

Timeout on control connection. If a command has not been received after this many seconds, the server drops the connection. You may set this to zero to disable timeouts completely (although this is not recommended).

Default: 900 (seconds)

Example: "timeout: 600"

limit memory

limit nr processes

limit nr files

Resource limits. These limits are applied to each child process and are important in avoiding denial of service (DoS) attacks against the FTP server.

 Resource         Default   Unit
 limit memory       16384   KBytes  Amount of memory per child
 limit nr processes    10   (none)  Number of processes
 limit nr files        20   (none)  Number of open files
    

To instruct the server not to limit a particular resource, set the limit to "-1".

Example:

 limit memory:       32768
 limit nr processes:    20
 limit nr files:        40

 limit nr processes:    -1
    

max clients

Limit on the number of clients who can simultaneously connect. If this limit is ever reached, new clients will immediately be closed. It will not even ask the client to login. This feature works in daemon mode only.

Default: 255

Example: "max clients: 600"

max clients message

Message to display when ``max clients'' has been reached.

You may use the following % escape sequences within the message for internal variables:

 %x  ``max clients'' setting that has been reached
 %E  maintainer email address (from ``maintainer email''
     setting above)
 %G  time in GMT
 %R  remote hostname or IP address if ``resolve addresses''
     is not set
 %L  local hostname
 %T  local time
 %%  just an ordinary ``%''
    

Default: Maximum connections reached

Example: "max clients message: Only %x simultaneous connections allowed. Please try again later."

resolve addresses

Resolve addresses. If set, attempt to do a reverse lookup on client addresses for logging purposes. If you set this then some clients may experience long delays when they try to connect. Not recommended on high load servers.

Default: 0

Example: "resolve addresses: 1"

require resolved addresses

Require resolved addresses. If set, client addresses must validly resolve otherwise clients will not be able to connect. If you set this then some clients will not be able to connect, even though it is probably the fault of their ISP.

Default: 0

Example: "require resolved addresses: 1"

change process name

Change process name. If set (the default) then the FTP server will change its process name to reflect the IP address or hostname of the client. If not set then the FTP server will not try to change its process name.

Default: 1

Example: "change process name: 0"

greeting type

Greeting type. The greeting is printed before the user has logged in. Possible greeting types are:

    full     Full greeting, including hostname and version number.
    brief    Hostname only.
    terse    Nothing
    text     Display greeting from ``greeting text'' option.
    

The SITE VERSION command can also reveal the version number. You may need to turn this off by setting "allow site version command: 0" below.

Default: full

Example: "greeting type: text"

greeting text

Greeting text. If the "greeting type" is set to "text" then this contains the text to display.

Default: none

Example: "greeting text: Hello. I'll be your server today."

welcome type

Welcome type. The welcome is printed after a user has logged in. Possible welcome types are:

    normal   Normal welcome message: ``Welcome <<username>>.''
    text     Take the welcome message from ``welcome text'' option.
    file     Take the welcome message from ``welcome file'' file.
    

Default: normal

Example: "welcome type: text"

welcome text

If "welcome type" is set to "text", then this contains the text to be printed after a user has logged in.

You may use the following % escape sequences within the welcome text to substitute for internal variables:

 %E  maintainer's email address (from ``maintainer email''
     setting above)
 %G  time in GMT
 %R  remote hostname or IP address if ``resolve addresses''
     is not set
 %L  local hostname
 %m  user's home directory (see ``home directory'' below)
 %T  local time
 %U  username given when logging in
 %u  currently a synonym for %U, but in future will be
     determined from RFC931 authentication, like wu-ftpd
 %%  just an ordinary ``%''
    

Default: none

Example: "welcome text: Welcome to this FTP server."

welcome file

If "welcome type" is set to "file", then this contains the file to be printed after a user has logged in.

You may use any of the % escape sequences defined in "welcome text" above.

Default: none

Example: "welcome file: /etc/motd"

home directory

Home directory. This is the home directory where we put the user once they have logged in. This only applies to non-anonymous logins. Anonymous logins are always placed in "/", which is at the root of their chrooted environment.

You may use an absolute path here, or else one of the following special forms:

 %m   Use home directory from password file or from NSS.
 %U   Username.
 %%   A single % character.
    

For example, to force a user to start in "~/anon-ftp" when they log in, set this to "%m/anon-ftp".

Note that setting the home directory does not perform a chroot. Use the "root directory" setting below to jail users into a particular directory.

Home directories are relative to the current root directory.

In the anonymous read-only (ro-ftpd) personality, set home directory to "/" or else you will get a warning whenever a user logs in.

Default: %m

Examples:

 home directory: %m/anon-ftp
 home directory: /
    

root directory

Root directory. Immediately after logging in, perform a chroot into the named directory. This only applies to non-anonymous logins, and furthermore it only applies if you have a non-database VFS installed. Database VFSes typically cannot perform chroot (or, to be more accurate, they have a different concept of chroot - typically assigning each user their own completely separate namespace).

You may use %m and %U as above.

For example, to jail a user under "~/anon-ftp" after login, do:

  home directory: /
  root directory: %m/anon-ftp
    

Notice that the home directory is relative to the current root directory.

Default: (none)

Example: "root directory: %m/anon-ftp"

time zone

Time zone to be used for MDTM and LIST stat information.

Default: GMT

Examples:

 time zone: Etc/GMT+3
 time zone: Europe/London
 time zone: US/Mountain
    

local address

Local addresses. If you wish the FTP server (in daemon mode) to only bind to a particular local interface, then give its address here.

Default: none

Example: "local address: 127.0.0.1"

allow anonymous

Allow anonymous access. If set, then allow anonymous access through the "ftp" and "anonymous" accounts.

Default: 0

Example: "allow anonymous: 1"

anonymous password check

anonymous password enforce

Validate email addresses. Normally when logging in anonymously, you are asked to enter your email address as a password. These options can be used to check and enforce email addresses in this field (to some extent, at least -- you obviously can't force someone to enter a true email address).

The "anonymous password check" option may be set to "rfc822", "no browser", "trivial" or "none". If set to "rfc822" then the user must enter a valid RFC 822 email address as password. If set to "no browser" then a valid RFC 822 email address must be entered, and various common browser email addresses like "mozilla@" and "IEverUser@" are refused. If set to "trivial" then we just check that the address contains an @ char. If set to "none", then we do no checking. The default is "none".

If the "anonymous password enforce" option is set and the password fails the check above, then the user will not be allowed to log in. The default is 0 (unset).

These options only have effect when "allow anonymous" is set.

Example:

 anonymous password check: rfc822
 anonymous password enforce: 1
    

allow proxy ftp

Allow proxy FTP. If this is set, then the FTP server can be told to actively connect to addresses and ports on any machine in the world. This is not such a great idea, but required if you follow the RFC very closely. If not set (the default), the FTP server will only connect back to the client machine.

Default: 0

Example: "allow proxy ftp: 1"

allow connect low port

Allow the FTP server to connect back to ports < 1024. This is rarely useful and could pose a serious security hole in some circumstances.

Default: 0

Example: "allow connect low port: 1"

passive port range

What range of local ports will the FTP server listen on in passive mode? Choose a range here like "1024-5999,49152-65535". The special value 0 means that the FTP server will use a kernel-assigned ephemeral port.

Default: 49152-65535

Example: "passive port range: 0"

ftp data port

Which source port to use for active (non-passive) mode when connecting to the client for PORT mode transfers. The special value 0 means that the FTP server will use a kernel-assigned ephemeral port. To strictly follow RFC, this should be set to "ftp-data(20)". This may be required for certain brain-damaged firewall configurations. However, for security reasons, the default setting is intentionally set to 0 to utilize a kernel-assigned ephemeral port. Use this directive at your own risk!

SECURITY PRECAUTIONS:

1) Unfortunately, to use a port < 1024 requires super-user privileges. Thus, low ports will not work unless the FTP server is invoked as super-user. This also implies that all processes handling the client connections must also remain super-user throughout the entire session. It is highly discouraged to use a low port.

 http://cr.yp.to/ftp/security.html
 (See "Connection laundering" section)
    

2) There sometimes exists a danger of needing to connect to the same remote host:port. Using the same IP/port on both sides will cause connect() to fail if the old socket is still being broken down. This condition will not occur if using an ephemeral port.

 http://groups.google.com/groups?selm=fa.epucqgv.1l2kl0e@ifi.uio.no
 (See "unable to create socket" comment)
    

3) Many hackers use source port 20 to blindly circumvent certain naive firewalls. Using an ephemeral port (the default) may help discourage such dangerous naivety.

 man nmap
 (See the -g option)
    

Default: 0

Example: "ftp data port: ftp-data"

max login attempts

Maximum number of login attempts before we drop the connection and issue a warning in the logs. Wu-ftpd defaults this to 5.

Default: 3

Example: "max login attempts: 5"

pam authentication

Use PAM for authentication. Required on systems such as Red Hat Linux and Solaris which use PAM for authentication rather than the normal "/etc/passwd" mechanisms. You will need to have the "Authen::PAM" Perl module installed for this to work.

Default: 0

Example: "pam authentication: 1"

pam application name

If PAM authentication is enabled, then this is the PAM application name. I have used "ftp" as the default which is the same name that wu-ftpd chooses. FreeBSD users will want to use "ftpd" here.

Default: ftp

Example: "pam application name: ftpd"

password file

Only in the "Full" personality, this allows you to specify a password file which is used for authentication. If you enable this option, then normal PAM or "/etc/passwd" is bypassed and this password file is used instead.

Each line in the password file has the following format:

 username:crypted_password:unix_user[:root_directory]
    

Comments and blank lines are ignored.

For example, a line with:

 guest:ab01FAX.bQRSU:rich:/home/rich/guest-uploads
    

would allow someone to log in as "guest" with password 123456. After logging in, the FTP server will assume the identity of the real Unix user "rich", and will chroot itself into the "/home/rich/guest-uploads" directory.

(Note that because ordinary PAM/"passwd" is bypassed, it would no longer be possible for a user to log in directly with the username "rich").

Crypted passwords can be generated using the following command:

 perl -e 'print crypt ("123456", "ab"), "\n"'
    

Replace 123456 with the actual password, and replace "ab" with two random letters from the set "[a-zA-Z0-9./]". (The two random letters are the so-called salt and are used to make dictionary attacks against the password file more difficult - see crypt(3)).

The user's home directory comes from the real Unix password file (or nsswitch-configured source) for the real Unix user. You cannot use password files to override this, and so if you are using the optional "root_directory" parameter, it would make sense to add "home directory: /" into your configuration file.

Anonymous logins are not affected by the "password file" option. Use the "allow anonymous" flag to control whether anonymous logins are permitted in the "Full" back-end.

Password files are not the height of security, but they are included because they can sometimes be useful. In particular if the password file can be read by untrusted users then it is likely that those same users can run the crack program and eventually find out your passwords. Some small additional security is offered by having the password file readable only by root (mode 0600). In future we may offer MD5 or salted SHA-1 hashed passwords to make this harder.

A curious artifact of the implementation allows you to list the same user with multiple different passwords. Any of the passwords is then valid for logins (and you could even have the user map to different real Unix users in different chrooted directories!)

Default: (none)

Example: "password file: /etc/ftpd.passwd"

pidfile

Location of the file to store the process ID (PID). Applies only to the deamonized process, not the child processes.

Default: (no pidfile created)

Example: "pidfile: /var/run/ftpd.pid"

client logging

Location to store all client commands sent to the server. The format is the date, the pid, and the command. Following the pid is a "-" if not authenticated the username if the connection is authenticated. Example of before and after authentication:

 [Wed Feb 21 18:41:32 2001][23818:-]USER rob
 [Wed Feb 21 18:41:33 2001][23818:-]PASS 123456
 [Wed Feb 21 18:41:33 2001][23818:*]SYST
    

Default: (no logging)

Examples:

 client logging: /var/log/ftpd.log
 client logging: /tmp/ftpd_log.$hostname
    

xfer logging

Location of transfer log. The format was taken from wu-ftpd and ProFTPD xferlog. (See also "man xferlog")

Default: (no logging)

Examples:

 xfer logging: /var/log/xferlog
 xfer logging: /tmp/xferlog.$hostname
    

hide passwords in client log

If set to 1, then password ("PASS") commands will not be logged in the client log. This option has no effect unless client logging is enabled.

Default: 0 (PASS lines will be shown)

Example: "hide passwords in client log: 1"

enable syslog

Enable syslogging. If set, then Net::FTPServer will send much information to syslog. On many systems, this information will be available in /var/log/messages or /var/adm/messages. If clear, syslogging is disabled.

Default: 1

Example: "enable syslog: 0"

ident timeout

Timeout for ident authentication lookups. A timeout (in seconds) must be specified in order to enable ident lookups. There is no way to specify an infinite timeout. Use 0 to disable this feature.

Default: 0

Example: "ident timeout: 10"

access control rule

user access control rule

retrieve rule

store rule

delete rule

list rule

mkdir rule

rename rule

chdir rule

Access control rules.

Access control rules are all specified as short snippets of Perl script. This allows the maximum configurability -- you can express just about any rules you want -- but at the price of learning a little Perl.

You can use the following variables from the Perl:

 $hostname      Resolved hostname of the client [1]
 $ip            IP address of the client
 $user          User name [2]
 $class         Class of user [2]
 $user_is_anonymous  True if the user is an anonymous user [2]
 $pathname      Full pathname of the file being affected [2]
 $filename      Filename of the file being affected [2,3]
 $dirname       Directory name containing file being affected [2]
 $type          'A' for ASCII, 'B' for binary, 'L8' for local 8-bit
 $form          Always 'N'
 $mode          Always 'S'
 $stru          Always 'F'
    

Notes:

[1] May be undefined, particularly if "resolve addresses" is not set.

[2] Not available in "access control rule" since the user has not logged in at this point.

[3] Not available for "list directory rule".

Access control rule. The FTP server will not accept any connections from a site unless this rule succeeds. Note that only $hostname and $ip are available to this rule, and unless "resolve addresses" and "require resolved addresses" are both set $hostname may be undefined.

Default: 1

Examples:

 (a) Deny connections from *.badguys.com:

     access control rule: defined ($hostname) && \
                          $hostname !~ /\.badguys\.com$/

 (b) Only allow connections from local network 10.0.0.0/24:

     access control rule: $ip =~ /^10\./
    

User access control rule. After the user logs in successfully, this rule is then called to determine if the user may be permitted access.

Default: 1

Examples:

 (a) Only allow ``rich'' to log in from 10.x.x.x network:

     user access control rule: $user ne "rich" || \
                               $ip =~ /^10\./

 (b) Only allow anonymous users to log in if they come from
     hosts with resolving hostnames (``resolve addresses'' must
     also be set):

     user access control rule: !$user_is_anonymous || \
                               defined ($hostname)

 (c) Do not allow user ``jeff'' to log in at all:

     user access control rule: $user ne "jeff"
    

Retrieve rule. This rule controls who may retrieve (download) files.

Default: 1

Examples:

 (a) Do not allow anyone to retrieve ``/etc/*'' or any file anywhere
     called ``.htaccess'':

     retrieve rule: $dirname !~ m(^/etc/) && $filename ne ".htaccess"

 (b) Only allow anonymous users to retrieve files from under the
     ``/pub'' directory.

     retrieve rule: !$user_is_anonymous || $dirname =~ m(^/pub/)
    

Store rule. This rule controls who may store (upload) files.

In the anonymous read-only (ro-ftpd) personality, it is not possible to upload files anyway, so setting this rule has no effect.

Default: 1

Examples:

 (a) Only allow users to upload files to the ``/incoming''
     directory.

     store rule: $dirname =~ m(^/incoming/)

 (b) Anonymous users can only upload files to ``/incoming''
     directory.

     store rule: !$user_is_anonymous || $dirname =~ m(^/incoming/)

 (c) Disable file upload.

     store rule: 0
    

Delete rule. This rule controls who may delete files or rmdir directories.

In the anonymous read-only (ro-ftpd) personality, it is not possible to delete files anyway, so setting this rule has no effect.

Default: 1

Example: "delete rule: 0"

List rule. This rule controls who may list out the contents of a directory.

Default: 1

Example: "list rule: $dirname =~ m(^/pub/)"

Mkdir rule. This rule controls who may create a subdirectory.

In the anonymous read-only (ro-ftpd) personality, it is not possible to create directories anyway, so setting this rule has no effect.

Default: 1

Example: "mkdir rule: 0"

Rename rule. This rule controls which files or directories can be renamed.

Default: 1

Example: "rename rule: $pathname !~ m(/.htaccess$)"

Chdir rule. This rule controls which directories are acceptable to a CWD or CDUP.

Example: "chdir rule: $pathname !~ m/private/"

chdir message file

Change directory message file. If set, then the first time (per session) that a user goes into a directory which contains a file matching this name, that file will be displayed.

The file may contain any of the following % escape sequences:

 %C  current working directory
 %E  maintainer's email address (from ``maintainer email''
     setting above)
 %G  time in GMT
 %R  remote hostname or IP address if ``resolve addresses''
     is not set
 %L  local hostname
 %m  user's home directory (see ``home directory'' below)
 %T  local time
 %U  username given when logging in
 %u  currently a synonym for %U, but in future will be
     determined from RFC931 authentication, like wu-ftpd
 %%  just an ordinary ``%''
    

Default: (none)

Example: "chdir message file: .message"

allow rename to overwrite

Allow the rename (RNFR/RNTO) command to overwrite files. If unset, then we try to test whether the rename command would overwrite a file and disallow it. However there are some race conditions with this test.

Default: 1

Example: "allow rename to overwrite: 0"

allow store to overwrite

Allow the store commands (STOR/STOU/APPE) to overwrite files. If unset, then we try to test whether the store command would overwrite a file and disallow it. However there are some race conditions with this test.

Default: 1

Example: "allow store to overwrite: 0"

alias

Define an alias "name" for directory "dir". For example, the command "alias: mirror /pub/mirror" would allow the user to access the "/pub/mirror" directory directly just by typing "cd mirror".

Aliases only apply to the cd (CWD) command. The "cd foo" command checks for directories in the following order:

 foo in the current directory
 an alias called foo
 foo in each directory in the cdpath (see ``cdpath'' command below)
    

You may list an many aliases as you want.

Alias names cannot contain slashes (/).

Although alias dirs may start without a slash (/), this is unwise and it's better that they always start with a slash (/) char.

General format: "alias: name dir"

cdpath

Define a search path which is used when changing directories. For example, the command "cdpath: /pub/mirror /pub/sites" would allow the user to access the "/pub/mirror/ftp.cpan.org" directory directly by just typing "cd ftp.cpan.org".

The "cd foo" command checks for directories in the following order:

 foo in the current directory
 an alias called foo (see ``alias'' command above)
 foo in each directory in the cdpath
    

General format: "cdpath: dir1 [dir2 [dir3 ...]]"

allow site version command

SITE VERSION command. If set, then the SITE VERSION command reveals the current Net::FTPServer version string. If unset, then the command is disabled.

Default: 1

Example: "allow site version command: 0"

allow site exec command

SITE EXEC command. If set, then the SITE EXEC command allows arbitrary commands to be executed on the server as the current user. If unset, then this command is disabled. The default is disabled for obvious security reasons.

If you do allow SITE EXEC, you may need to increase the per process memory, processes and files limits above.

Default: 0

Example: "allow site exec command: 1"

enable archive mode

Archive mode. If set (the default), then archive mode is enabled, allowing users to request, say, "file.gz" and get a version of "file" which is gzip-compressed on the fly. If zero, then this feature is disabled. See the section ARCHIVE MODE elsewhere in this manual for details.

Since archive mode is implemented using external commands, you need to ensure that programs such as "gzip", "compress", "bzip2", "uuencode", etc. are available on the $PATH (even in the chrooted environment), and you also need to substantially increase the normal per-process memory, processes and files limits.

Default: 1

Example: "enable archive mode: 0"

archive zip temporaries

Temporary directory for generating ZIP files in archive mode. In archive mode, when generating ZIP files, the FTP server is capable of either creating a temporary file on local disk containing the ZIP contents, or can generate the file completely in memory. The former method saves memory. The latter method (only practical on small ZIP files) allows the server to work more securely and in certain read-only chrooted environments.

(Unfortunately the ZIP file format itself prevents ZIP files from being easily created on the fly).

If not specified in the configuration file, this option defaults to using "/tmp". If there are local users on the FTP server box, then this can lead to various "tmp" races, so for maximum security you will probably want to change this.

If specified, and set to a string, then the string is the name of a directory which is used for storing temporary zip files. This directory must be writable, and must exist inside the chrooted environment (if chroot is being used).

If specified, but set to "0" or an empty string, then the server will always generate the ZIP file in memory.

In any case, if the directory is found at runtime to be unwritable, then the server falls back to creating ZIP files in memory.

Default: "/tmp"

Example: "archive zip temporaries: "

Example: "archive zip temporaries: /var/ziptmp"

site command

Custom SITE commands. Use this command to define custom SITE commands. Please read the section LOADING CUSTOMIZED SITE COMMANDS in this manual page for more detailed information.

The "site command" command has the form:

"site command: cmdname file"

cmdname is the name of the command (eg. for SITE README you would set cmdname == "readme"). file is a file containing the code of the site command in the form of an anonymous Perl subroutine. The file should have the form:

 sub {
   my $self = shift;            # The FTPServer object.
   my $cmd = shift;             # Contains the command itself.
   my $rest = shift;            # Contains any parameters passed by the user.

      :     :
      :     :

   $self->reply (RESPONSE_CODE, RESPONSE_TEXT);
 }
    

You may define as many site commands as you want. You may also override site commands from the current personality here.

Example:

 site command: quota /usr/local/lib/ftp/quota.pl
    

and the file "/usr/local/lib/ftp/quota.pl" contains:

 sub {
   my $self = shift;            # The FTPServer object.
   my $cmd = shift;             # Contains "QUOTA".
   my $rest = shift;            # Contains parameters passed by user.

   # ... Some code to compute the user's quota ...

   $self->reply (200, "Your quota is $quota MB.");
 }
    

The client types "SITE QUOTA" and the server responds with:

 "200 Your quota is 12.5 MB.".
    

<Host hostname> ... </Host>

<Host hostname> ... </Host> encloses commands which are applicable only to a particular host. "hostname" may be either a fully-qualified domain name (for IP-less virtual hosts) or an IP address (for IP-based virtual hosts). You should read the section VIRTUAL HOSTS in this manual page for more information on the different types of virtual hosts and how to set it up in more detail.

Note also that unless you have set "enable virtual hosts: 1", all <Host> sections will be ignored.

enable virtual hosts

Unless this option is uncommented, virtual hosting is disabled and the <Host> sections in the configuration file have no effect.

Default: 0

Example: "enable virtual hosts: 1"

virtual host multiplex

IP-less virtual hosts. If you want to enable IP-less virtual hosts, then you must set up your DNS so that all hosts map to a single IP address, and place that IP address here. This is roughly equivalent to the Apache "NameVirtualHost" option.

IP-less virtual hosting is an experimental feature which requires changes to clients.

Default: (none)

Example: "virtual host multiplex: 1.2.3.4"

Example <Host> section. Allow the dangerous SITE EXEC command on local connections. (Note that this is still dangerous).

 <Host localhost.localdomain>
   ip: 127.0.0.1
   allow site exec command: 1
 </Host>
    

Example <Host> section. This shows you how to do IP-based virtual hosts. I assume that you have set up your DNS so that "ftp.bob.example.com" maps to IP 1.2.3.4 and "ftp.jane.example.com" maps to IP 1.2.3.5, and you have set up suitable IP aliasing in the kernel.

You do not need the "ip:" command if you have configured reverse DNS correctly AND you trust your local DNS servers.

 <Host ftp.bob.example.com>
   ip: 1.2.3.4
   root directory: /home/bob
   home directory: /
   user access control rule: $user eq "bob"
   maintainer email: bob@bob.example.com
 </Host>

 <Host ftp.jane.example.com>
   ip: 1.2.3.5
   root directory: /home/jane
   home directory: /
   allow anonymous: 1
   user access control rule: $user_is_anonymous
   maintainer email: jane@jane.example.com
 </Host>
    

These rules set up two virtual hosts called "ftp.bob.example.com" and "ftp.jane.example.com". The former is located under bob's home directory and only he is allowed to log in. The latter is located under jane's home directory and only allows anonymous access.

Example <Host> section. This shows you how to do IP-less virtual hosts. Note that IP-less virtual hosts are a highly experimental feature, and require the client to support the HOST command.

You need to set up your DNS so that both "ftp.bob.example.com" and "ftp.jane.example.com" point to your own IP address.

 virtual host multiplex: 1.2.3.4

 <Host ftp.bob.example.com>
   root directory: /home/bob
   home directory: /
   user access control rule: $user eq "bob"
 </Host>

 <Host ftp.jane.example.com>
   root directory: /home/jane
   home directory: /
   allow anonymous: 1
   user access control rule: $user_is_anonymous
 </Host>
    

log socket type

Socket type for contacting syslog. This is the argument to the "Sys::Syslog::setlogsock" function.

Default: unix

Example: "log socket type: inet"

listen queue

Length of the listen queue when running in daemon mode.

Default: 10

Example: "listen queue: 20"

tcp window

Set TCP window. See RFC 2415 Simulation Studies of Increased Initial TCP Window Size. This setting only affects the data socket. It's not likely that you will need to or should change this setting from the system-specific default.

Default: (system-specific TCP window size)

Example: "tcp window: 4380"

tcp keepalive

Set TCP keepalive.

Default: (system-specific keepalive setting)

Example: "tcp keepalive: 1"

command filter

Command filter. If set, then all commands are checked against this regular expression before being executed. If a command doesn't match the filter, then the command connection is immediately dropped. This is equivalent to the "AllowFilter" command in ProFTPD. Remember to include "^...$" around the filter.

Default: (no filter)

Example: "command filter: ^[A-Za-z0-9 /]+$"

restrict command

Advanced command filtering. The "restrict command" directive takes the form:

 restrict command: "COMMAND" perl code ...
    

If the user tries to execute "COMMAND", then the "perl code" is evaluated first. If it evaluates to true, then the command is allowed to proceed. Otherwise the server reports an error back to the user and does not execute the command.

Note that the "COMMAND" is the FTP protocol command, which is not necessarily the same as the command which users will type in on their FTP clients. Please read RFC 959 to see some of the more common FTP protocol commands.

The Perl code has the same variables available to it as for access control rules (eg. $user, $class, $ip, etc.). The code must not alter the global $_ variable (which contains the complete command).

Default: all commands are allowed by default

Examples:

Only allow users in the class "nukers" to delete files and directories:

 restrict command: "DELE" $class eq "nukers"
 restrict command: "RMD" $class eq "nukers"
    

Only allow staff to use the "SITE WHO" command:

 restrict command: "SITE WHO" $class eq "staff"
    

Only allow "rich" to run the "SITE EXEC" command:

 allow site exec command: 1
 restrict command: "SITE EXEC" $user eq "rich"
    

command wait

Go slow. If set, then the server will sleep for this many seconds before beginning to process each command. This command would be a lot more useful if you could apply it only to particular classes of connection.

Default: (no wait)

Example: "command wait: 5"

no authentication commands

The list of commands which a client may issue before they have authenticated themselves is very limited. Obviously "USER" and "PASS" are allowed (otherwise a user would never be able to log in!), also "QUIT", "LANG", "HOST" and "FEAT". "HELP" is also permitted (although dubious). Any other commands not on this list will result in a 530 Not logged in. error.

This list ought to contain at least "USER", "PASS" and "QUIT" otherwise the server won't be very functional.

Some commands cannot be added here -- eg. adding "CWD" or "RETR" to this list is likely to make the FTP server crash, or else enable users to read files only available to root. Hence use this with great care.

Default: USER PASS QUIT LANG HOST FEAT HELP

Example: "no authentication commands: USER PASS QUIT"

<Perl> ... </Perl>

Use the <Perl> directive to write Perl code directly into your configuration file. Here is a simple example:

 <Perl>
 use Sys::Hostname;
 $config{'maintainer email'} = "root\@" . hostname ();
 $config{port} = 8000 + 21;
 $config{debug} = $ENV{FTP_DEBUG} ? 1 : 0;
 </Perl>
    

As shown in the example, to set a configuration option called "foo", you simply assign to the variable $config{foo}.

All normal Perl functionality is available to you, including use of "require" if you need to run an external Perl script.

The <Perl> and </Perl> directives must each appear on a single line on their own.

To assign multiple configuration options with the same name, use an array ref:

 <Perl>
 my @aliases = ( "foo /pub/foo",
                 "bar /pub/bar",
                 "baz /pub/baz" );
 $config{alias} = \@aliases;
 </Perl>
    

You cannot use a <Perl> section within a <Host> section. Instead, you must simulate it by assigning to the %host_config variable like this:

 <Perl>
 $host_config{'localhost.localdomain'}{ip} = "127.0.0.1";
 $host_config{'localhost.localdomain'}{'allow site exec command'}= 1;
 </Perl>
    

The above is equivalent to the following ordinary <Host> section:

 <Host localhost.localdomain>
   ip: 127.0.0.1
   allow site exec command: 1
 </Host>
    

You may also assign to the $self variable in order to set variables directly in the "Net::FTPServer" object itself. This is pretty hairy, and hence not recommended, but you dig your own hole if you want. Here is a contrived example:

 <Perl>
 $self->{version_string} = "my FTP server/1.0";
 </Perl>
    

A cleaner, but more complex way to do this would be to use a personality.

The <Perl> directive is potentially quite powerful. Here is a good idea that Rob Brown had:

 <Perl>
 my %H;
 dbmopen (%H, "/etc/ftpd.db", 0644);
 %config = %H;
 dbmclose (%H);
 </Perl>
    

Notice how this allows you to crunch a possibly very large configuration file into a hash, for very rapid loading at run time.

Another useful way to use <Perl> is to set environment variables (particularly $PATH).

 <Perl>
 $ENV{PATH} = "/usr/local/bin:$ENV{PATH}"
 </Perl>
    

Here's yet another wonderful way to use <Perl>. Look in "/usr/local/lib/ftp/" for a list of site commands and load each one:

 <Perl>

 my @files = glob "/usr/local/lib/ftp/*.pl";
 my @site_commands;

 foreach (@files)
  {
    push @site_commands, "$1 $_" if /([a-z]+)\.pl/;
  }

 $config{'site command'} = \@site_commands;

 </Perl>
    

To force a particular version of Net::FTPServer to be used, include the following code in your configuration file:

  <Perl>
  die "requires Net::FTPServer version >= 1.025"
    unless $Net::FTPServer::VERSION !~ /\..*\./ &&
           $Net::FTPServer::VERSION >= 1.025;
  </Perl>
    

LOADING CUSTOMIZED SITE COMMANDS

SITE commands are unregulated by RFCs. You may define any commands and give them any names and any function you wish. However, over time various standard SITE commands have been recognized and implemented in many FTP servers. "Net::FTPServer" also implements these. They are:

  SITE VERSION      Display the server software version.
  SITE EXEC         Execute a shell command on the server (in
                    C<Net::FTPServer> this is disabled by default!)
  SITE ALIAS        Display chdir aliases.
  SITE CDPATH       Display chdir paths.
  SITE CHECKMETHOD  Implement checksums.
  SITE CHECKSUM
  SITE IDLE         Get or set the idle timeout.
  SITE SYNC         Synchronize hard disks.

The following commands are found in "wu-ftpd", but not currently implemented by "Net::FTPServer": SITE CHMOD, SITE GPASS, SITE GROUP, SITE GROUPS, SITE INDEX, SITE MINFO, SITE NEWER, SITE UMASK.

So when you are choosing a name for a SITE command, it is probably best not to choose one of the above names, unless you are specifically implementing or overriding that command.

Custom SITE commands have to be written in Perl. However, there is very little you need to understand in order to write these commands -- you will only need a basic knowledge of Perl scripting.

As our first example, we will implement a "SITE README" command. This command just prints out some standard information.

Firstly create a file called "/usr/local/lib/site_readme.pl" (you may choose a different path if you want). The file should contain:

  sub {
    my $self = shift;
    my $cmd = shift;
    my $rest = shift;

    $self->reply (200,
                  "This is the README file for mysite.example.com.",
                  "Mirrors are contained in /pub/mirrors directory.",
                  "       :       :       :       :       :",
                  "End of the README file.");
  }

Edit "/etc/ftpd.conf" and add the following command:

site command: readme /usr/local/lib/site_readme.pl

and restart the FTP server (check your system log [/var/log/messages] for any syntax errors or other problems). Here is an example of a user running the SITE README command:

  ftp> quote help site
  214-The following commands are recognized:
  214-    ALIAS   CHECKMETHOD     EXEC    README
  214-    CDPATH  CHECKSUM        IDLE    VERSION
  214 You can also use HELP to list general commands.
  ftp> site readme
  200-This is the README file for mysite.example.com.
  200-Mirrors are contained in /pub/mirrors directory.
  200-       :       :       :       :       :
  200 End of the README file.

Our second example demonstrates how to use parameters (the $rest argument). This is the "SITE ECHO" command.

  sub {
    my $self = shift;
    my $cmd = shift;
    my $rest = shift;

    # Split the parameters up.
    my @params = split /\s+/, $rest;

    # Quote each parameter.
    my $reply = join ", ", map { "'$_'" } @params;

    $self->reply (200, "You said: $reply");
  }

Here is the "SITE ECHO" command in use:

  ftp> quote help site
  214-The following commands are recognized:
  214-    ALIAS   CHECKMETHOD     ECHO    IDLE
  214-    CDPATH  CHECKSUM        EXEC    VERSION
  214 You can also use HELP to list general commands.
  ftp> site echo hello how are you?
  200 You said: 'hello', 'how', 'are', 'you?'

Our third example is more complex and shows how to interact with the virtual filesystem (VFS). The "SITE SHOW" command will be used to list text files directly (the user normally has to download the file and view it locally). Hence "SITE SHOW readme.txt" should print the contents of the "readme.txt" file in the local directory (if it exists).

All file accesses must be done through the VFS, not by directly accessing the disk. If you follow this convention then your commands will be secure and will work correctly with different back-end personalities (in particular when ``files'' are really blobs in a relational database).

  sub {
    my $self = shift;
    my $cmd = shift;
    my $rest = shift;

    # Get the file handle.
    my ($dirh, $fileh, $filename) = $self->_get ($rest);

    # File doesn't exist or not accessible. Return an error.
    unless ($fileh)
      {
        $self->reply (550, "File or directory not found.");
        return;
      }

    # Check it's a simple file.
    my ($mode) = $fileh->status;

    unless ($mode eq "f")
      {
        $self->reply (550,
                      "SITE SHOW command is only supported on plain files.");
        return;
      }

    # Try to open the file.
    my $file = $fileh->open ("r");

    unless ($file)
      {
        $self->reply (550, "File or directory not found.");
        return;
      }

    # Copy data into memory.
    my @lines = ();

    while (defined ($_ = $file->getline))
      {
        # Remove any native line endings.
        s/[\n\r]+$//;

        push @lines, $_;
      }

    # Close the file handle.
    unless ($file->close)
      {
        $self->reply (550, "Close failed: ".$self->system_error_hook());
        return;
      }

    # Send the file back to the user.
    $self->reply (200, "File $filename:", @lines, "End of file.");
  }

This code is not quite complete. A better implementation would also check the "retrieve rule" (so that people couldn't use "SITE SHOW" in order to get around access control limitations which the server administrator has put in place). It would also check the file more closely to make sure it was a text file and would refuse to list very large files.

Here is an example (abbreviated) of a user using the "SITE SHOW" command:

  ftp> site show README
  200-File README:
  200-README
  200-======
  200-
  200-Biblio@Tech Net::FTPServer - A full-featured, secure, extensible
  [...]
  200-Copyright (C) 2000-2003 Richard Jones <rich@annexia.org> and other contributors.
  200 End of file.

STANDARD PERSONALITIES

  Full    The complete read/write anonymous/authenticated FTP
          server which serves files from a standard Unix filesystem.

  RO      A small read-only anonymous-only FTP server similar
          in functionality to Dan Bernstein's publicfile
          program.

  DBeg1   An example FTP server which serves files to a PostgreSQL
          database. This supports files and hierarchical
          directories, multiple users (but not file permissions)
          and file upload.

The standard Full personality will not be explained here.

The RO personality is the Full personality with all code related to writing files, creating directories, deleting, etc. removed. The RO personality also only permits anonymous logins and does not contain any code to do ordinary authentication. It is therefore safe to use the RO personality where you are only interested in serving files to anonymous users and do not want to worry about crackers discovering a way to trick the FTP server into writing over a file.

The DBeg1 personality is a complete read/write FTP server which stores files as BLOBs (Binary Large OBjects) in a PostgreSQL relational database. The personality supports file download and upload and contains code to authenticate users against a "users" table in the database (database ``users'' are thus completely unrelated to real Unix users). The DBeg1 is intended only as an example. It does not support advanced features such as file permissions and quotas. As part of the schoolmaster.net project Bibliotech Ltd. have developed an even more advanced database personality which supports users, groups, access control lists, quotas, recursive moves and copies and many other features. However this database personality is not available as source.

To use the DBeg1 personality you must first run a PostgreSQL server (version 6.4 or above) and ensure that you have access to it from your local user account. Use the "initdb", "createdb" and "createuser" commands to create the appropriate user account and database (please consult the PostgreSQL administrators manual for further information about this -- I do not answer questions about basic PostgreSQL knowledge).

Here is my correctly set up PostgreSQL server, accessed from my local user account ``rich'':

  cruiser:~$ psql
  Welcome to the POSTGRESQL interactive sql monitor:
    Please read the file COPYRIGHT for copyright terms of POSTGRESQL

     type \? for help on slash commands
     type \q to quit
     type \g or terminate with semicolon to execute query
   You are currently connected to the database: rich

  rich=> \d
  Couldn't find any tables, sequences or indices!

You will also need the following Perl modules installed: DBI, DBD::Pg.

Now you will need to create a database called ``ftp'' and populate it with data. This is how to do this:

  createdb ftp
  psql ftp < doc/eg1.sql

Check that no ERRORs are reported by PostgreSQL.

You should now be able to start the FTP server by running the following command (not as root):

  ./dbeg1-ftpd -S -p 2000 -C ftpd.conf

If the FTP server doesn't start correctly, you should check the system log file [/var/log/messages].

Connect to the FTP server as follows:

  ftp localhost 2000

Log in as either rich/123456 or dan/123456 and then try to move around, upload and download files, create and delete directories, etc.

SUBCLASSING THE Net::FTPServer CLASSES

Typically by overriding the hooks in the "Net::FTPServer" class you can change the basic behaviour of the FTP server - turning it into an anonymous read-only server, for example.

By overriding the hooks in "Net::FTPServer::DirHandle" and "Net::FTPServer::FileHandle" you can create virtual filesystems: serving files into and out of a database, for example.

The current manual page contains information about the hooks in "Net::FTPServer" which may be overridden.

See Net::FTPServer::DirHandle(3) for information about the methods in "Net::FTPServer::DirHandle" which may be overridden.

See Net::FTPServer::FileHandle(3) for information about the methods in "Net::FTPServer::FileHandle" which may be overridden.

The most reasonable way to create your own personality is to extend one of the existing personalities. Choose the one which most closely matches the personality that you want to create. For example, suppose that you want to create another database personality. A good place to start would be by copying "lib/Net/FTPServer/DBeg1/*.pm" to a new directory "lib/Net/FTPServer/MyDB/" (for example). Now edit these files and substitute "MyDB" for "DBeg1". Then examine each subroutine in these files and modify them, consulting the appropriate manual page if you need to.

VIRTUAL HOSTS

Normal (IP-based) virtual hosting is carried out as follows:

 * For each FTP site, allocate a separate IP address.
 * Configure IP aliasing on your normal interface so that
   the single physical interface responds to multiple
   virtual IP addresses.
 * Add entries (A records) in DNS mapping each site's
   name to a separate IP address.
 * Add reverse entries (PTR records) in DNS mapping each
   IP address back to the site hostname. It is important
   that both forward and reverse DNS is set up correctly,
   else virtual hosting may not work.
 * In /etc/ftpd.conf you will need to add a virtual host
   section for each site like this:

     <Host sitename>

       ip: 1.2.3.4
       ... any specific configuration options for this site ...

     </Host>

   You don't in fact need the "ip:" part assuming that
   your forward and reverse DNS are set up correctly.
 * If you want to specify a lot of external sites, or
   generate the configuration file automatically from a
   database or a script, you may find the <Include filename>
   syntax useful.

There are examples in "/etc/ftpd.conf". Here is how IP-based virtual hosting works:

 * The server starts by listening on all interfaces.
 * A connection arrives at one of the IP addresses and a
   process is forked off.
 * The child process finds out which interface the
   client connected to and reverses the name.
 * If:
     the IP address matches one of the "ip:" declarations
     in any of the "Host" sections,
   or:
     there is a reversal for the name, and the name
     matches one of the "Host" sections in the configuration
     file,
   then:
     configuration options are read from that
     section of the file and override any global configuration
     options specified elsewhere in the file.
 * Otherwise, the global configuration options only
   are used.

IP-less virtual hosting is an experimental feature. It requires the client to send a "HOST" command very early on in the command stream -- before "USER" and "PASS". The "HOST" command explicitly gives the hostname that the FTP client is attempting to connect to, and so allows many FTP sites to be multiplexed onto a single IP address. At the present time, I am not aware of any FTP clients which implement the "HOST" command, although they will undoubtedly become more common in future.

This is how to set up IP-less virtual hosting:

 * Add entries (A or CNAME records) in DNS mapping the
   name of each site to a single IP address.
 * In /etc/ftpd.conf you will need to list the same single
   IP address to which all your sites map:

     virtual host multiplex: 1.2.3.4

 * In /etc/ftpd.conf you will need to add a virtual host
   section for each site like this:

     <Host sitename>

       ... any specific configuration options for this site ...

     </Host>

Here is how IP-less virtual hosting works:

 * The server starts by listening on one interface.
 * A connection arrives at the IP address and a
   process is forked off.
 * The IP address matches "virtual host multiplex"
   and so no IP-based virtual host processing is done.
 * One of the first commands that the client sends is
   "HOST" followed by the hostname of the site.
 * If there is a matching "Host" section in the
   configuration file, then configuration options are
   read from that section of the file and override any
   global configuration options specified elsewhere in
   the file.
 * If there is no matching "Host" section then the
   global configuration options alone are used.

The client is not permitted to issue the "HOST" command more than once, and is not permitted to issue it after login.

VIRTUAL HOSTING AND SECURITY

Make sure your default global configuration is secure. If you are using IP-less virtual hosting, this is particularly important, since if the client never sends a "HOST" command, the client gets the global configuration. Even with IP-based virtual hosting it may be possible for clients to sometimes get the global configuration, for example if your local name server fails.

IP-based virtual hosting always takes precedence above IP-less virtual hosting.

With IP-less virtual hosting, access control cannot be performed on a per-site basis. This is because the client has to issue commands (ie. the "HOST" command at least) before the site name is known to the server. However you may still have a global "access control rule".

ARCHIVE MODE

Archive mode is enabled by default. However, it will not work unless you substantially increase the per-process memory, processes and files limits. The reason for this is that archive mode works by forking external programs such as "gzip" to perform the compression. For the same reason you may also need to ensure that at least "gzip", "compress", "bzip2" and "uuencode" programs are available on the current $PATH, particularly if you are using a chrooted environment.

To disable archive mode put "enable archive mode: 0" into the configuration file.

The following file extensions are supported:

 .gz      GZip compressed.      Requires gzip program on PATH.
 .Z       Unix compressed.      Requires compress program on PATH.
 .bz2     BZip2 compressed.     Requires bzip2 program on PATH.
 .uue     UU-encoded.           Requires uuencode program on PATH.
 .tar     Tar archive.          Requires Perl Archive::Tar module.
 .zip     DOS ZIP archive.      Requires Perl Archive::Zip module.
 .list    Return a list of all the files in this directory.

File extensions may be combined. Hence ".tar.gz", ".tar.bz2" and even ".tar.gz.uue" will all work as you expect.

Archive mode is, of course, extensible. It is particularly simple to add another compression / filter format. In your personality (or in a <Perl> section in the configuration file) you need to add another key to the "archive_filters" hash.

  $ftps->{archive_filters}{".foo"} = &_foo_filter;

The value of this key should be a function as defined below:

  \%filter = _foo_filter ($ftps, $sock);

The filter should return a hash reference (undef if it fails). The hash should contain the following keys:

  sock      Newly opened socket.
  pid       PID of filter program.

The "_foo_filter" function takes the existing socket and filters it, providing a new socket which the FTP server will write to (for the data connection back to the client). If your filter is a Unix program, then the simplest thing is just to define "_foo_filter" as:

  sub _foo_filter
  {
    return $_[0]->archive_filter_external ($_[1], "foo" [, args ...]);
  }

The "archive_filter_external" function takes care of the tricky bits for you.

Adding new generators (akin to the existing tar and ZIP) is more tricky. I suggest you look closely at the code and consult the author for more information.