ProFTPd cannot start

AsadMoeen · 02-01-2011, 04:15 AM

Hello.

I run Debian 5 64-bit machine with 2 IP-addresses. I installed ProFTPd through init.d instead of standalone but when I start it, it gives the following error:

Code:

ProFTPd warning: cannot start neither in standalone nor in inetd/xinetd mode. Check your configuration.

If I select standalone as servertype through the config, it works good.

Previously, I had this same machine on the same OS with 1 IP-address. I installed ProFTPd and it worked well with init.d . Maybe the 2nd IP is causing it ?

How can I make it work through init.d without having this error ?

bathory · 02-01-2011, 04:39 AM

Hi,

Check /var/log/xinetd and/or /var/log/messages to see if you find any clues
Also take a look at this post to see if that's the case.

Regards

AsadMoeen · 02-01-2011, 05:41 AM

That is xinit.d . My case is different. It possibly just needs configuration because on a single IP, it works great. Maybe ProFTPd doesn't know which IP to run on and is confusing it.

bathory · 02-01-2011, 06:08 AM

Note that proftpd either stanalone, or through xinetd, by default will listen on any available interface, so check the logs to see why it cannot start
If you want to allow proftpd to bind only on a singe IP, you can use in /etc/xinetd.d/proftpd

Code:

bind x.x.x.x

AsadMoeen · 02-01-2011, 09:20 AM

I will try that but since both of you are referring to xinit.d so is that the same thing ?

bathory · 02-01-2011, 11:46 AM

There is no xinit.d. Proftpd can be started either from init.d (where you start proftpd using /etc/init.d/proftpd start), or through xinetd (where you start the xinetd service)
In the 1st case you use in proftpd.conf "ServerType standalone", while in the 2nd it's "ServerType inetd"

AsadMoeen · 02-01-2011, 11:11 PM

Ok. I've selected servertype init.d now

And for binding an IP I cannot find /etc/xinit.d directory.

The dir I see related is /etc/proftpd

bathory · 02-02-2011, 12:27 AM

So, if you're using

Code:

/etc/init.d/proftpd start

to start proftpd, then you can use the DefaultAddress directive in /etc/proftpd.conf to specify the IP address you want the server to listen:

Code:

DefaultAddress x.x.x.x

AsadMoeen · 02-02-2011, 03:29 AM

Hello.

No I'm not using servertype as standalone. I have it selected to inetd and that's why it doesn't start. So I am not using /etc/init.d/proftpd start to start the server because that's needed if servertype is standalone.

I want to run it as servertype inetd

But then it doesn't start and says:

ProFTPd warning: cannot start neither in standalone nor in inetd/xinetd mode. Check your configuration.

bathory · 02-02-2011, 07:12 AM

If you don't have /etc/xinetd, maybe you need to install the xinetd package first

Code:

sudo apt-get install xinetd

Then stop the proftpd service:

Code:

/etc/init.d/proftpd stop

Change "ServerType standalone" to "ServerType inetd" in proftpd/conf and start xinetd

Code:

/etc/init.d/xinetd restart