CentOS7 FTP won't connect

Help! (Home for newbies)
1

I’ve been using Virtualmin for years now, and ever since around 2016 FTP will not function and this has happened on 9 servers so far.

Recently I had to relaunch a site that needs FTP to function, SFTP is not an option to it sadly and this is getting really frustrating as I’ve spent the past day trying fixes and nothing will work.

Does anybody have any idea? I’ve checked numerous threads here, trying random fixes/tweaks FTP is installed, it’s port appears to be open too but no clients connect. I’ve tried all the simple things like changing active/passive and so on.

I’m totally out of ideas here so any help would be super appreciated, thank you.

2

I will check if it works on mine in the morning…I don’t use ftp, nor do I provide that kind of access to my servers. however I was pretty sure ftps still works. So if you have it setup correctly and port 21 is open then it should work.

Who is your service provider?

3

I’ve experienced similar problems and finding the solution was really complex. 1st, my ISP provider changed my IP everytime when all active connections drop, and half the time my server wouldn’t accept sFTP. I often had to transfer files using my mother’s cell phone LTE connection, because she had a different ISP.
2nd, the FTP client itself. I have a Mac and I use Transmit. Transmit does bunch of security checks before shaking hands it seems, and half the time it would not work. Same ISP, same router, same computers and different clients and my co-worker can log in just fine. Meanwhile I couldn’t log in using the same client… It was really tricky.

One way to check what’s happening was to use https://ftptest.net/ or similar services.

Good luck.

4

Hi I have just turned on my ftp server in Webmin

Webmin>Proftp Server> Start Server (cause I don’t normally use it on my web hosting systems for clients).

This setup is as default from Virtualmin original install a few months ago.

Opened FileZilla>File>Site manager

added the following details:

  • protocol = FTP - File Transfer Protocol

  • Host = server external ip address

  • port =- left blank (it will then default to port 21)

  • Encryption = Only use Plain FTP (insecure)

  • login type = normal

  • user = one of the virtual server users (remember this user must have ftp access in virtualmin>edit users> (check that user login access = ftp and ssh)

  • password = users password

Transfer settings tab

  • transfer mode = Active

connected no problems.

What I would suggest is perhaps do the following…if you are able to, setup a cheap VPS somewhere. I can get a small one for like $5 month.

Install Virtualmin on this VPS

Don’t touch anything beyond the normal requirements for setting hostname and for getting through the virtualmin wizard.

Then create a new virtual server

Run some dns checks on it using mxtoolbox.com (see if the ports you require are open and responding)

see if you can connect to ftp (if you cant then something is seriously wrong and I would be starting to take a closer look at your service provider! )

My servers have run on Vultr and google cloud. The one I tested today is on Vultr’s network using Centos 7…so I know that one works.