14.5. vsftpd Configuration Options

Although vsftpd may not offer the level of customization other widely available FTP servers have, it offers enough options to fill most administrator's needs. The fact that it is not overly feature-laden limits configuration and programmatic errors.

All configuration of vsftpd is handled by its configuration file, /etc/vsftpd/vsftpd.conf. Each directive is on its own line within the file and follows the following format:

<directive>=<value>

For each directive, replace <directive> with a valid directive and <value> with a valid value.

ImportantImportant
 

There must not be any spaces between the <directive>, equal symbol, and the <value> in a directive.

Comment lines must be preceded by a hash mark (#) and are ignored by the daemon.

For a complete list of all directives available, refer to the man page for vsftpd.conf.

ImportantImportant
 

For an overview of ways to secure vsftpd, refer to the chapter titled Server Security in the Red Hat Enterprise Linux Security Guide.

The following is a list of some of the more important directives within /etc/vsftpd/vsftpd.conf. All directives not explicitly found within vsftpd's configuration file are set to their default value.

14.5.1. Daemon Options

The following is a list of directives which control the overall behavior of the vsftpd daemon.

14.5.2. Log In Options and Access Controls

The following is a list of directives which control the login behavior and access control mechanisms.

14.5.3. Anonymous User Options

The following is a list of directives which control anonymous user access to the server. To use these options, the anonymous_enable directive must be set to YES.

14.5.4. Local User Options

The following is a list of directives which characterize the way local users access the server. To use these options, the local_enable directive must be set to YES.

14.5.5. Directory Options

The following is a list of directives which affect directories.

14.5.6. File Transfer Options

The following is a list of directives which affect directories.

14.5.7. Logging Options

The following is a list of directives which affect vsftpd's logging behavior.

ImportantImportant
 

To maintain compatibility with log files written by the older wu-ftpd FTP server, the xferlog_std_format directive is set to YES under Red Hat Enterprise Linux. However, this setting means that connections to the server are not logged.

To both log connections in vsftpd format and maintain a wu-ftpd-compatible file transfer log, set dual_log_enable to YES.

If maintaining a wu-ftpd-compatible file transfer log is not important, either set xferlog_std_format to NO, comment the line with a hash mark (#), or delete the line entirely.

14.5.8. Network Options

The following is a list of directives which affect how vsftpd interacts with the network.