5 Configure Proftpd

Open /etc/proftpd/proftpd.conf and disable IPv6 by setting UseIPv6 to off:

vi /etc/proftpd/proftpd.conf

[...]
UseIPv6                         off
[...]

In the same file, add the following lines:

[...]
DefaultRoot ~


# The passwords in MySQL are encrypted using CRYPT
SQLAuthTypes            Plaintext Crypt
SQLAuthenticate         users groups


# used to connect to the database
# databasename@host database_user user_password
SQLConnectInfo  ftp@localhost proftpd password


# Here we tell ProFTPd the names of the database columns in the "usertable"
# we want it to interact with. Match the names with those in the db
SQLUserInfo     ftpuser userid passwd uid gid homedir shell

# Here we tell ProFTPd the names of the database columns in the "grouptable"
# we want it to interact with. Again the names match with those in the db
SQLGroupInfo    ftpgroup groupname gid members

# set min UID and GID - otherwise these are 999 each
SQLMinID        500

# create a user's home directory on demand if it doesn't exist
SQLHomedirOnDemand on

# Update count every time user logs in
SQLLog PASS updatecount
SQLNamedQuery updatecount UPDATE "count=count+1, accessed=now() WHERE userid='%u'" ftpuser

# Update modified everytime user uploads or deletes a file
SQLLog  STOR,DELE modified
SQLNamedQuery modified UPDATE "modified=now() WHERE userid='%u'" ftpuser

# User quotas
# ===========
QuotaEngine on
QuotaDirectoryTally on
QuotaDisplayUnits Mb
QuotaShowQuotas on

SQLNamedQuery get-quota-limit SELECT "name, quota_type, per_session, limit_type, bytes_in_avail, bytes_out_avail, bytes_xfer_avail, files_in_avail, files_out_avail, files_xfer_avail FROM ftpquotalimits WHERE name = '%{0}' AND quota_type = '%{1}'"

SQLNamedQuery get-quota-tally SELECT "name, quota_type, bytes_in_used, bytes_out_used, bytes_xfer_used, files_in_used, files_out_used, files_xfer_used FROM ftpquotatallies WHERE name = '%{0}' AND quota_type = '%{1}'"

SQLNamedQuery update-quota-tally UPDATE "bytes_in_used = bytes_in_used + %{0}, bytes_out_used = bytes_out_used + %{1}, bytes_xfer_used = bytes_xfer_used + %{2}, files_in_used = files_in_used + %{3}, files_out_used = files_out_used + %{4}, files_xfer_used = files_xfer_used + %{5} WHERE name = '%{6}' AND quota_type = '%{7}'" ftpquotatallies

SQLNamedQuery insert-quota-tally INSERT "%{0}, %{1}, %{2}, %{3}, %{4}, %{5}, %{6}, %{7}" ftpquotatallies

QuotaLimitTable sql:/get-quota-limit
QuotaTallyTable sql:/get-quota-tally/update-quota-tally/insert-quota-tally

RootLogin off
RequireValidShell off
[...]

Make sure that you replace the string password with the real password for the MySQL user proftpd in the line SQLConnectInfo!

Then open /etc/proftpd/modules.conf and comment out the LoadModule mod_sql_postgres.c line:

vi /etc/proftpd/modules.conf

[...]
#LoadModule mod_sql_postgres.c
[...]

Then restart Proftpd:

/etc/init.d/proftpd restart

6 Populate The Database And Test

To populate the database you can use the MySQL shell:

mysql -u root -p

USE ftp;

First we create an entry in the table ftpgroup. It contains the groupname, the groupid and the username of the ftp group/user we created at the end of step two (replace the groupid appropriately if you use another one than 2001):

INSERT INTO `ftpgroup` (`groupname`, `gid`, `members`) VALUES ('ftpgroup', 2001, 'ftpuser');

Now we are done with the table ftpgroup. We do not have to create further entries here. Whenever you create a new virtual ftp user, you do this in the tables ftpquotalimits and ftpuser. So let us create our first user exampleuser with a quota of 15MB and the password secret (we are still in the MySQL shell):

INSERT INTO `ftpquotalimits` (`name`, `quota_type`, `per_session`, `limit_type`, `bytes_in_avail`, `bytes_out_avail`, `bytes_xfer_avail`, `files_in_avail`, `files_out_avail`, `files_xfer_avail`) VALUES ('exampleuser', 'user', 'true', 'hard', 15728640, 0, 0, 0, 0, 0);

INSERT INTO `ftpuser` (`id`, `userid`, `passwd`, `uid`, `gid`, `homedir`, `shell`, `count`, `accessed`, `modified`) VALUES (1, 'exampleuser', 'secret', 2001, 2001, '/home/www.example.com', '/sbin/nologin', 0, '', '');

quit;

(Do not forget to replace the groud- and userid 2001 appropriately in the last INSERT statement if you are using other values than in this tutorial!)

Now open your FTP client program on your work station (something like WS_FTP or SmartFTP if you are on a Windows system or gFTP on a Linux desktop) and try to connect. As hostname you use server1.example.com (or the IP address of the system), the username is exampleuser, and the password is secret.

If you are able to connect - congratulations! If not, something went wrong.

Now, if you run

ls -l /home/

you should see that the directory /home/www.example.com (exampleuser's home directory) has been automatically created, and it is owned by ftpuser and ftpgroup (the user/group we created at the end of step two):

server1:~# ls -l /home/
total 12
drwxr-xr-x 2 administrator administrator 4096 2007-04-23 14:25 administrator
drwxr-xr-x 2 ftp           nogroup       4096 2007-04-23 14:50 ftp
drwxr-xr-x 2 ftpuser       ftpgroup      4096 2007-04-23 15:15 www.example.com