Ftp – How to Read a Pure FTPD log file

Maybe you've forgotten to set your puredb path in your pure-ftpd.conf file or specify the auth mode in the launching command using the -l option (see the man page for pure-ftpd).

I ended up working this out myself and thought I'd share the steps below...

If you're using the pureftp.passwd file to manage your virtual-users then follow these steps:

1. Backup pureftp.passwd first before making any changes. Mine was in /etc/pure-ftpd/.

   $ cd /etc/pure-ftpd/
   $ cp pureftp.passwd pureftp_backup.passwd

2. Open the pureftp.passwd file with your favourite editor e.g. nano or vi.

   $ nano pureftp.passwd

   The beginning should be similar to this:

   username1:@!#*HKnkasd ...
   username2:G(*asHJKY#$ ...

3. Edit the usernames and save the file.

4. Next you need to rebuild the pure-ftpd user database:

   $ pure-pw mkdb

5. Test the changes.

NOTE: Note you might need to prepend 'sudo' to the commands depending on your user access. Also you do not type the '$' sign in the above commands. It's purely indicative of your shell prompt.