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I'm still exploring server administration and networking (I'm an intern) and I've set up an FTP server at our company and set up a user account for all the workers here. Problem is I can connect one person every 15 minutes.

I connect one user then disconnect that user. Then if I try to reconnect(even using the same user), it will connect until it accepts to login, then it times out. I use FileZilla and this is what I get when connecting:

Status: Connecting to **********...
Status: Connection established, waiting for welcome message...
Response:   220 Welcome to ******* FTP service.
Command:    USER *******
Response:   331 Please specify the password.
Command:    PASS *******
Error:  Connection timed out
Error:  Could not connect to server

I use vsftpd and here is the config file:

# Example config file /etc/vsftpd/vsftpd.conf
#
# The default compiled in settings are fairly paranoid. This sample file
# loosens things up a bit, to make the ftp daemon more usable.
# Please see vsftpd.conf.5 for all compiled in defaults.
#
# READ THIS: This example file is NOT an exhaustive list of vsftpd options.
# Please read the vsftpd.conf.5 manual page to get a full idea of vsftpd's
# capabilities.
#
# Allow anonymous FTP? (Beware - allowed by default if you comment this out).
anonymous_enable=NO
#
# Uncomment this to allow local users to log in.
local_enable=YES
#
# Uncomment this to enable any form of FTP write command.
write_enable=YES
#
# Default umask for local users is 077. You may wish to change this to 022,
# if your users expect that (022 is used by most other ftpd's)
local_umask=022
#
# Uncomment this to allow the anonymous FTP user to upload files. This only
# has an effect if the above global write enable is activated. Also, you will
# obviously need to create a directory writable by the FTP user.
#anon_upload_enable=YES
#
# Uncomment this if you want the anonymous FTP user to be able to create
# new directories.
#anon_mkdir_write_enable=YES
#
# Activate directory messages - messages given to remote users when they
# go into a certain directory.
dirmessage_enable=YES
#
# The target log file can be vsftpd_log_file or xferlog_file.
# This depends on setting xferlog_std_format parameter
xferlog_enable=YES
#
# Make sure PORT transfer connections originate from port 20 (ftp-data).
connect_from_port_20=YES
#
# If you want, you can arrange for uploaded anonymous files to be owned by
# a different user. Note! Using "root" for uploaded files is not
# recommended!
#chown_uploads=YES
#chown_username=whoever
#
# The name of log file when xferlog_enable=YES and xferlog_std_format=YES
# WARNING - changing this filename affects /etc/logrotate.d/vsftpd.log
#xferlog_file=/var/log/xferlog
#
# Switches between logging into vsftpd_log_file and xferlog_file files.
# NO writes to vsftpd_log_file, YES to xferlog_file
xferlog_std_format=YES
#
# You may change the default value for timing out an idle session.
#idle_session_timeout=600
#
# You may change the default value for timing out a data connection.
#data_connection_timeout=120
#
# It is recommended that you define on your system a unique user which the
# ftp server can use as a totally isolated and unprivileged user.
#nopriv_user=ftpsecure
#
# Enable this and the server will recognise asynchronous ABOR requests. Not
# recommended for security (the code is non-trivial). Not enabling it,
# however, may confuse older FTP clients.
#async_abor_enable=YES
#
# By default the server will pretend to allow ASCII mode but in fact ignore
# the request. Turn on the below options to have the server actually do ASCII
# mangling on files when in ASCII mode.
# Beware that on some FTP servers, ASCII support allows a denial of service
# attack (DoS) via the command "SIZE /big/file" in ASCII mode. vsftpd
# predicted this attack and has always been safe, reporting the size of the
# raw file.
# ASCII mangling is a horrible feature of the protocol.
#ascii_upload_enable=YES
#ascii_download_enable=YES
#
# You may fully customise the login banner string:
ftpd_banner=Welcome to ********** FTP service.
#
# You may specify a file of disallowed anonymous e-mail addresses. Apparently
# useful for combatting certain DoS attacks.
#deny_email_enable=YES
# (default follows)
#banned_email_file=/etc/vsftpd/banned_emails
#
# You may specify an explicit list of local users to chroot() to their home
# directory. If chroot_local_user is YES, then this list becomes a list of
# users to NOT chroot().
#chroot_list_enable=YES
# (default follows)
#chroot_list_file=/etc/vsftpd/chroot_list
#
# You may activate the "-R" option to the builtin ls. This is disabled by
# default to avoid remote users being able to cause excessive I/O on large
# sites. However, some broken FTP clients such as "ncftp" and "mirror" assume
# the presence of the "-R" option, so there is a strong case for enabling it.
#ls_recurse_enable=YES
#
# When "listen" directive is enabled, vsftpd runs in standalone mode and 
# listens on IPv4 sockets. This directive cannot be used in conjunction 
# with the listen_ipv6 directive.
listen=YES
#
# This directive enables listening on IPv6 sockets. To listen on IPv4 and IPv6
# sockets, you must run two copies of vsftpd whith two configuration files.
# Make sure, that one of the listen options is commented !!
#listen_ipv6=YES

pam_service_name=vsftpd
userlist_enable=YES
tcp_wrappers=YES
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  • Need more details... What FTP server service are you running (Filezilla as well?), whats your config filelook like...
    – RomeNYRR
    Feb 22, 2012 at 14:17
  • VSFTPD and config is in post
    – Native
    Feb 22, 2012 at 14:24
  • You're vsftp.conf looks good. Were the timeout settings already commented out? If not have you restarted the VSFTPD service since the change? Can you reproduce the same behavior using a different FTP client? When you get the Connection timed out error can you run "telnet FTPHOST 21"; does it timeout as well? I'm going to assume you have IPTables running, have you added a rule to your chain to allow for FTP access?
    – RomeNYRR
    Feb 22, 2012 at 14:50
  • I didn't edit the timeout settings so those are the defaults. I've restarted the VSFTPD service and restarted server several times. I'll check for another FTP client. telneting works with a user, but it seems to take about a minute to login. yes, I have port 21 open in iptables.
    – Native
    Feb 22, 2012 at 15:05
  • I think I may have found the reason. It simply seems to take a very long time to connect. I increased the timeout time in filezilla from 20 seconds to 60 and it now seems to connect. Now I just have to find out why it's taking so long to connect.
    – Native
    Feb 22, 2012 at 15:27

2 Answers 2

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Glad it's working (somewhat) Are you connecting via Hostname or IP? Is the connection time the same for both? If it's different for hostname, could be a DNS issue. Also try using the regular FTP command line utility and see if you're getting the same behavior. Could just be something funky with Filezilla

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  • Connecting via IP, I've yet to set yup a hostname. Thanks for the help.
    – Native
    Feb 22, 2012 at 19:38
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max_clients=100
max_per_ip=100
#connect_from_port_20=YES

Are the differences between my and your setup / config. Is there a firewall blocking other ports? FTP May switch to a other port after connection was build up.

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