ftp guest server traffic in but not out

[kg026]

I'm running ESXI 4 with the network setup as below. Virtual machine WEB is my www and ftp server which is running RHEL5 with ProFTPD. My problem is getting the ftp server to work. I can log in to it using FileZilla or via command line "ftp web" and see files but if i use a internet browser I get "230 User test logged i. 215 UNIX Type: L8" and"The FTP server 230USer test logged in is currently unsupported."I get the same results accessing it internally and externally. My take on it is traffic is being allowed in but not back out which is probably a active/passive mode issue with the virtual networking. Can anyone please help?! Thanks in advance.

[golddiggie]

Did you properly configure the htpd service on the target VM/server? If you used a standard network connection (least amount of modifications possible) on the virtual network side, then I don't see it being an issue with ESXi. I'm actually running a web server and ftp server in my lab (one each). I split the two apart so that I didn't need to worry about either one using the space allocated for the other. Plus, I wanted clear seperation of the services.

Have you tried using the vsftpd client for ftp traffic instead of the proftpd? I use the vsftpd on my VM and it has never been an issue connecting. I've also set up production ftp (CentOS 5.x Linux) servers using the vsftpd and setting it up to be secure without issue.

For external traffic, you'll need to make sure the firewall is allowing that target port to forward to the IP of the server. This is another reason why I split the two services to two different VM's... Are you having trouble connecting to the web side or the ftp side of the server? Make sure your firewalls are set to allow traffic in both directions on the ports being used for ftp and web traffic. Try making a two new VM's with ftp on one, and web on the other. completely configure the services (edit the conf files for each) to fit your network. If you don't do that, I see that as being the issue. Also make sure the networking from within the VM's actually can get out to the web. IF they can, then that just confirms that it's a configuration of the guest OS that needs to be corrected. Not anything with ESX/ESXi...

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[kg026]

My httpd configuration should be correct. My website is up and I don't have anything ftp related in it. Sorry I don't understand what the httpd service has to do with ftp. I run ProfTPD using xinetd not standalone. I used the same versions and configuration files from my other web server which is its own physcial machine that i created this virtual machine to replace.

I will give vsftpd a try.

As for the port forwarding I have it setup but since I can't get it to work locally i'm not even going to worry about that at this point. I'm only having trouble with ftp internally and externally of course because it's not working internally. As I said though I can use FileZilla and the ftp command so i'm not sure what method Internet Explorer/Explorer uses that it's having trouble with. I have to have this working for my clients otherwise I would just use FileZilla.

Thanks

[golddiggie]

I would never recommend using IE for ftp traffic. Windows Explorer can be used, which I've had people use before but only when a true FTP client app isn't available to the end user.

Did you p2v this server or is this a fresh creation (as a new virtual server)? If this was a physical server that was converted over, try setting up a fresh VM. Use the same virtual network vSwitch you're using for the current VM that isn't working properly so that you can rule it out as (or confirm it is) the issue. I use the same vSwitch for all my VM traffic, with two active and two stand-by physical NIC's allocated. Never had any issue using either the web or ftp servers hosted with the configuration. Same as when I had just active NIC's allocated.

I do recall having to do some tweaking to get the CentOS 5.x guest to have both the security levels needed and allow traffic to flow in both directions. I do know that with everything in place, mac users had to use the sftp protocol in order to connect to the ftp server from outside the LAN.

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[kg026]

I don't recomend using Internet Explorer either but that's what 90% of our clients will use so I have to have that option.

This was a fresh install. I didn't do P2V becasue I wanted a clean install.

Well i'm glad to see you have it working with CentOS because that's what i'm using.

Thanks for hinting to try vsftpd! I think I might have figured it out. vsftpd works fine so I installed an older version of Proftpd and it seems to be working internally. I like proftpd because it's easier to setup in inetd mode which I use with a blockhost script to block people who attempt attacks. I'm going to open it to the outside world and see if it will work. I will post back my results! Thanks!

[kg026]

So it appears ProFTPD was the problem. Everything seems to be working now!

[golddiggie]

I suspected it was, but since I've not used that specific ftpd before I couldn't say for certain... I do know that the vsftpd works very well within virtual CentOS servers...

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[kg026]

Thought it was wierd because i could login but just wasn't getting a response back and i knew my config files were good. Must be a bug in the latest version. I used vsftpd for a couple years then switched to proftpd because i could never get tcp_wrappers to work in vsftpd which i need for my blockhost script to block all the attacks. I'm new to ESXI so I wasn't sure. Thanks for the help.