Hello everyone,
I am trying to set up my server so that files can be downloaded from the internet.
I am running Fedora 17.
I logged in as root and installed vsftpd using the following commands.

# yum install vsftpd

I modified the vsftpd.conf file so the following options are set

anonymous_enable=NO
ascii_upload_enable=YES
asci_download_enable=YES
chroot_local_user=YES
chroot_list_enable=YES
chroot_list_file=/etc/vsftpd/chroot_list
ls_recursive_enable=YES

Then I restarted vsftpd with the following commands
# systemctl restart vsftpd.service
# systemctl enable vsftpd.service

I entered the following commands to open up ports 20 and 21
#iptables -A INPUT -p tcp --dport 21 -j ACCEPT
#iptables -A INPUT -p tcp --dport 20 -j ACCEPT

I restarted the iptables
# systemctl restart iptables.service


When I type ftp://131.216.46.121 into the address bar of my browser on my PC, I get a "Connection has timed out" error.

Any suggestions would be appreciated.
thanks in advance

Restarting iptables without saving your rules, results in ports 20-21 closed.
So have a look here so see how to save your rules

Regards

If it still doesn't work try out ProFTPD. Never had big problems with it.

my suggestion is always not to use the antiquated/insecure ftp and instead turn on your ssh server to use sftp/scp.

Total shot in the dark question, do you have to open ports 20 and 21 because you have a firewall enabled?

Background, running vsFTP on an Ubuntu server and using it for multi user access.
Inside our vsftpd.conf file there is a command line, connect_from_port_20=YES so assuming ports 20 and 21 are not naturally blocked by a built in firewall.
Granted not familiar with Fedora but curious why you had to open the ports.

Other issue during our configuration was ensuring our remote users had the correct folder permissions, chmod 0755 and chown <name>:<group>. Assuming you are trying to access your own account, and your own home folder.