Issue: Getting ProFTPD to start at system boot

On older systems i've just added a file in /etc/init.d/rc5.d called S50ProFTPD (not necessarily 50, but whatever number is not taken) and in the file have the command to start proftpd. However, it is not working in SuSE 9.2.

I added the file S50ProFTPD and inside had one line "/usr/local/sbin/./proftpd" (which used to work) and it did not start the server.

There is supposed to be a line in /etc/inetd.conf but SuSE 9.2 got rid of that and added xinetd.conf. The line to add was "ftp stream tcp nowait root in.proftpd in.proftpd" which does not work in xinetd.conf.

So, how do I get this to start with the system?

Here is the proftpd.conf file:

# This is a basic ProFTPD configuration file (rename it to
# 'proftpd.conf' for actual use. It establishes a single server
# and a single anonymous login. It assumes that you have a user/group
# "nobody" and "ftp" for normal operation and anon.

ServerName "Reynacho's FTP Server"
ServerType inetd
DefaultServer on

# DeferWelcome doesn't show the type of server until after a successful login
DeferWelcome on
ServerIdent on "Serv-U FTP v.5.0.1a - Windows ME"
DisplayConnect /usr/local/etc/welcome.msg

# These two things help with the delayed logins that occure from behind a firewa
ll
UseReverseDNS off
IdentLookups off

# Allow FTP resuming
# Remember to set to off if you have an incoming ftp for upload
AllowStoreRestart on

# Port 21 is the standard FTP port.
Port 21

# Umask 022 is a good standard umask to prevent new dirs and files
# from being group and world writable.
#
# This is being set to 000 so that when I upload files that need to be readableto everyone
Umask 000

# To prevent DoS attacks, set the maximum number of child processes
# to 30. If you need to allow more than 30 concurrent connections
# at once, simply increase this value. Note that this ONLY works
# in standalone mode, in inetd mode you should use an inetd server
# that allows you to limit maximum number of processes per service
# (such as xinetd).
MaxInstances 5

# Set the user and group under which the server will run.
User nobody
Group nogroup

# To cause every FTP user to be "jailed" (chrooted) into their home
# directory, uncomment this line.
#DefaultRoot ~

# Normally, we want files to be overwriteable.
<Directory />
AllowOverwrite on
</Directory>

# Bar use of SITE CHMOD by default
<Limit SITE_CHMOD>
DenyAll
</Limit>

# Needed for NIS

PersistentPasswd off

<global>
RequireValidShell off
MaxLoginAttempts 3
PassivePorts 10200 10210
MaxClients 10
RootLogin off
ShowSymlinks off
</global>

# This allows for the frptop command to function
ScoreboardFile /usr/local/etc/proftpd.scoreboard

# Default root can be used to put users in a chroot environment
# As an example if you have a user foo and you want to put foo in /home/foo
# chroot environment you would do this:
#
# DefaultRoot /home/foo foo

DefaultRoot /srv/ftp/ friends
DefaultRoot /srv/ftp/ jake
DefaultRoot /srv/www/html/ www



This is my xinetd.conf file

#
# xinetd.conf
#
# Copyright (c) 1998-2001 SuSE GmbH Nuernberg, Germany.
# Copyright (c) 2002 SuSE Linux AG, Nuernberg, Germany.
#

defaults
{
log_type = FILE /var/log/xinetd.log
log_on_success = HOST EXIT DURATION
log_on_failure = HOST ATTEMPT
# only_from = localhost
instances = 30
cps = 50 10

#
# The specification of an interface is interesting, if we are on a firewall.
# For example, if you only want to provide services from an internal
# network interface, you may specify your internal interfaces IP-Address.
#
# interface = 127.0.0.1
}

includedir /etc/xinetd.d

ftp stream tcp nowait root in.proftpd in.proftpd

I believe you can replace xinetd with inetd on SuSE 9.2 if you so desire. Xinetd is "better", but more difficult to configure. Ideally, you could take the time to learn to configure Xinetd as that's the preferred method rather than running ftpd as a stand-alone daemon.

Try to use the Yast Runlevel Editor (Yast -> System) for placing the start/stop script and the Yast TFTP configuration module (Yast -> Network Services) for configuring the server. I know, this is not how purists like it, but it works better most of the time