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I'm working on a server running Red Hat Enterprise 6.2. I installed proftpd 1.3.3g using yum. Proftpd starts without any error messages, and it appears to be listening on port 21.

I would post an image that demonstrates this, but I'm still a new user so I'm not yet allowed to post images. When I run:

ps -ef | grep [PID]

I see:

nobody   [PID]   1   0   17:36 ?  00:00:00 proftpd: (accepting connections)

The command:

netstat -na | grep :21

shows:

tcp     0      0 :::21               :::*                     LISTEN

However, when I try to establish an FTP connection on port 21 using server's IP with Filezilla, it always times out. There is no response from the server whatsoever. I can immediately thereafter establish an SFTP connection on port 22 without a problem. Thus I can access the server via SSH and SFTP, but not FTP via proftpd.

I'm using the default configuration--I am currently using the default proftpd.conf. I have tried various edits to the file in my troubleshooting efforts, but I have not observed any change in behavior and I reset the proftpd.conf file to the original after each effort.

There appears to be no log information written by proftpd. I checked /var/log/proftpd/ and the directory was empty.

When I restart the proftpd service, which I've done plenty of times, it always gives [OK] for both the shutdown and startup.

So basically, I'm having trouble finding any leads as to what the problem could be.

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1 Answer 1

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Maybe a firewall is blocking your connection? Run iptables -nvL on server and look if 21 port is closed. Othewise try to connect to your server locally by ftp program.

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  • Thanks for the answer galadog! unfortunately I can't post images, but here's the output of that command: Chain INPUT: pkts bytes target prot opt in out source destination 0 0 ACCEPT tcp -- * * 0.0.0.0/0 0.0.0.0/0 tcp dpt:21
    – DeeDee
    Feb 20, 2012 at 16:57
  • To follow up on the above: I had made some edits to iptables after reading some howtos on other forums. There was no change in behavior after specifically adding these parameters
    – DeeDee
    Feb 20, 2012 at 17:00
  • Info from iptables means that there was no packets to server. Something blocks them before.
    – galadog
    Feb 20, 2012 at 17:04
  • Thanks! It's good to know that there's a possible source of the problem. Any suggestions on where I should look from here?
    – DeeDee
    Feb 20, 2012 at 17:09
  • I tried to telnet in using port 21, but it timed out. Your saying this: "Info from iptables means that there was no packets to server. Something blocks them before." helped me isolate the problem. Cheers!
    – DeeDee
    Feb 20, 2012 at 18:02

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