configuring ftp server (ubuntu)

  • Hi,

    Can anyone advise on how best to configure ftp (ubuntu / vsftpd) to enable the ftp within wordpress for upgrades etc?

    I’ve installed ftp and created an ftp user with /var/www/html/wordpress as home directory (can login ok with filezilla) but how can I safely allow that user write permission in the wordpress dir so that the ftp access wordpress needs to modify files etc will work?

    Should I allow write access to the server group and then add the user to that group? Is that how to do it? I can’t think of any other way.

    Sure would appreciate some guidance as I haven’t found anything so far.

    Thanks

Viewing 3 replies - 1 through 3 (of 3 total)
  • Moderator Yui

    (@fierevere)

    永子

    If you cant run PHP under user’s account (php-fpm pools, mpm-itk, suphp, …)
    then you have 2 choices.

    1. Bad choice.
    Make php exec user (www-data likely) own all WordPress files,
    it will not need FTP, but can be insecure

    2. A bit better choice
    Make user own all files, but it will still need write access to /wp-content/uploads/
    PHP user will need read access to all other files.

    It will be much better if you can run PHP not as common user (www-data) but under user that owns the website, using their own account.
    You can start with those manuals:
    https://zoomadmin.com/HowToInstall/UbuntuPackage/apache2-mpm-itk
    https://www.howtoforge.com/running-vhosts-under-separate-uids-gids-with-apache2-mpm-itk-on-ubuntu-9.04
    and/or Google for “mpm-itk ubuntu howto”

    Thread Starter Bperth

    (@bperth)

    Thank you for your reply.

    I’m using Ubuntu on Virtual Box so I have admin access to everything. It’s just a test server on a LAN.

    So far I’ve just chowned the /var/www/html/wordpress to www-data to get it wordpress to work but I have no idea how secure/insecure this is. I’m guessing it’s not a very safe way to set up a production server.

    I’ve installed vsftpd and configured an ftp user with home dir /var/www/html/wordpress. I can access with filezilla. If I use this user and try to use any of the wordpress admin panel commands requiring ftp access it fails with a cannot write error, presumably a permissions problem.

    What is the best way to configure permissions for Apache, PHP & FTP so that the ftp features within the wordpress admin panel will work.

    Thank you for the link. I’d like to see a basic explanation of best security/permissions practices for setting up a LAMP Web server.

    Thank you

    Moderator Yui

    (@fierevere)

    永子

    just chowned the /var/www/html/wordpress to www-data to get it wordpress to work but I have no idea how secure/insecure this is

    If you run ONE site for ONE user – its secure enough.

    If you run multiple sites for multiple users – its insecure.

    This is true for production server (VPS or dedicated) too.

Viewing 3 replies - 1 through 3 (of 3 total)
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