[Novices] public ftp access

[Steve Petersen]

Thanks again!

> vsftpd is probably your best option.  It allows you to lock users in
> their home directory, you can turn anonymous access on or off, etc.
> And as the name implies, it's "very secure".  :-)
> 
> Look through the config file (vsftpd.conf  either in /etc/
> or /etc/vsftpd/  directory)  It should be well commented.
> Go though it line by line and configure to your liking.
> Restart vsftpd after you've made any changes.

I've gotten pretty far with vsftpd earlier today, reading their man 
pages and their README and INSTALL, which come with FC3.  The INSTALL 
notes were the most helpful.  I set up a vsftpd.conf, I think, that 
blocked anonymous access (that's the only default I changed).  I added 
'listen=YES' to the last line, figuring I shouldn't go through xinetd or 
whatever (but not really informed enough to know why, just they 
recommend to do vsftpd standalone now).  I tried their "smoke test" for 
ftp to localhost and it worked fine.  But access from my home machine 
still doesn't work.

I think what's stumping me now is PAM.  I have no idea what that is, but 
the vsftpd INSTALL notes say it may block non-anonymous access.  So I 
just followed directions by rote, copying their vsftpd.pam from the doc 
directory into /etc/pam.d/ftp.  But reading the file itself, it seems to 
need an /etc/vsftpd_login file, and I have no idea what that format 
should be, and can't seem to find that info anywhere.  Am I close?!  Or 
do I now have to spend a great deal of time learning what the heck PAM 
is?  Or is PAM just a red herring?

Also, this is kind of embarrassing, but I don't know how to get the 
demon started with bootup.  I know I used to do that kind of thing.

(I'm sorry but there's *still* so much hard stuff to keep track of in 
linux!  I'm probably better informed about computer stuff than 99% of 
the US population, and probably more informed than a fair number of IT 
professionals... but I still get stumped pretty regularly by linux! 
Don't get me wrong, I still love it... I just selfishly wish the 
volunteer developers would spend more time making it easier.)

Thanks again for your help,
Steve