Yesterday I found a problem with proftpd, an FTP server, on Ubuntu v9.04. I confess I despaired of Linux for a while, then received a pleasant surprise.
The sequence of events:
Need File Transfer Protocol (FTP)? Install proftpd
A different FTP server is standard with Ubuntu (vsftpd) because it’s less of a security risk: it doesn’t use root privilege, so if a system is compromised using it the damage that can be done is limited. Unfortunately, vsftpd has very limited logging facilities.
By default, FTP logins involve transmitting usernames and passwords in cleartext.
The alternatives to using cleartext are FTPS and SFTP (background here), adding encyrption to FTP and using a whole new protocol respectively. I wanted to use FTPS, for simplicity.
Proftpd is a very widely used FTP server that, unlike vsftpd, supports FTPS. It’s in the Ubuntu Universe repository and so was simple to install.
Spend ages trying to get it to work with SSL/TLS encryption
I couldn’t find any instructions for Ubuntu v9.04 so I followed the instructions for Ubuntu 8.10 (here), checking them against those for Debian (here). When I failed to get it to work I spent ages searching for a solution. Finally, I found a thread in the Ubuntuforums, 4 months old, documenting that others had had the same problem and hadn’t solved it.
Argh! Thanks Linux for wasting my time!
Meanwhile, I had looked for and found a decent Windows FTP server that would do what I wanted, and did in 5 minutes–just as a benchmark for how easy it should be. In the past I’ve used mainly FileZilla and Serv-U. This time commercial products with free versions XLight and ZFTP server seemed the most attractive. I used the former.
The idea of running a Windows machine as a server doesn’t appeal to me at all (nor does it to the London Stock Exchange any more btw), but still whenever I have struggled with Linux I have heard the devil suggesting I cut my losses, that life is too short, that I should just … pay my Microsoft taxes.
Report the problem
The least I could do was report the problem: first on Ubuntu’s Launchpad site, then, after I discovered it existed, on the discussion forum for users of proftpd. Strangely, nobody had bothered to do this since the problem was first mentioned on the Ubuntuforums site.
My expectations of a solution were low (in the past I’ve given up on Ubuntu wireless problems and just waited 6 months for the next version), but I decided to wait a day before deciding on using my Vista PC with XLight as an FTP server.
Wow!
After one question and answer following my initial post on the proftpd forum I had a diagnosis and a solution.
The total elapsed time was about 4 hours. (The solution was a change to the configuration of proftpd to include a module that should, I think, have been included by default but which was omitted).
At one level this was a trivial incident. I’ve used online fora since the early days of CompuServe, long before Google. But I haven’t had an experience like this with Linux–because the solution to past problems was either already out there, findable with Google, or just too hard (like the wireless problems, which in fact I could have solved if I was willing to spend inordinate amounts of time on them).
Reflection
Surely nobody can believe that Linux will ever become popular while ordinary people need to enter commands like
openssl req -new -x509 -days 365 -nodes \
-out /etc/proftpd/ssl/proftpd.cert.pem \
-keyout /etc/proftpd/ssl/proftpd.key.pem
as I needed to in this case. But setting up a secure file sharing site at home is really not an extraordinary thing to want to do!
The choice facing most people, discounting paying for online services or systems expertise, is, broadly, using Microsoft software with its deserved reputation for insecurity, or using Linux which, even if it’s free, involves typing gibberish.
The seemingly obvious solution, a graphical user interface (GUI) for Linux server administration, is controversial, with some good arguments for and against. It’s one that would probably have led to the earlier discovery and resolution of the problem I encountered, but it’s not there yet.
The success of Linux server distributions even without a GUI is a testament to the strength of the product and the social production model, a glimpse of which I just experienced. I’m not sure it’s enough yet, but at least one Microsoft Corp. veteran has learned to love Linux.
Meanwhile, I’ve signed up for Ubuntu One — I just received an invitation. That, or something like it, may be the answer for many people to secure file sharing needs in future. I’d use DropBox now, but it’s too expensive still for the storage I need.
For now learning a little gibberish saves some money!
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