This is driving my nuts because I know it has to be something very simple to fix but there is no centralized database that is noob friendly. If there is someone out there that has successfully got vsFTPd running on there computer please let me know how you did it because I can't get mine to do anything more than once. I downloaded vsFTPd and installed it according to the instructions in my book. I have it setup not to allow anonymous users. My computer's name is localhost.localdmin and I've ran a loopback ping to make sure everything working, and it did. My problem is that when I try to login locally as a regular user or as root I keep getting the following message:

"ftp: localhost: unknown host
ftp>"

Sometimes it will work, as it did when I first installed it, but lately it wont get past that message. I don't always have my computer connected to the internet, as it is not today but I should still be able to connect locally right? I've attached a copy of my config file so everyone can take a look at it. If the problem doesn't lay in the conf file the please give me other options. I'm a raw noob with big aspirations so please explain any answers in a manner that I will understand.

Dude, I don't think that your attachment worked. When it isn't working what happens if instead of using 'localhost'
you use '127.0.0.1' ?

Have you checked your host file?

/etc/hosts
127.0.0.1 localhost.localdomain localhost

Also, is ftp allowed in iptables? For testing turn off iptables.
service iptables stop


Check if vsftpd is running.
service vsftpd status
-No?: service vsftpd start
-Yes: From server type in: ftp localhost or ftp 127.0.0.1 or ftp <IP Address of server>

Hey Guys:

Sorry for not replying sooner but I got busy at work. I still don't see an attachment feature on this web site so I'll just post my vsftpd.conf file in the nude.

# Example config file /etc/vsftpd/vsftpd.conf
#
# The default compiled in settings are fairly paranoid. This sample file
# loosens things up a bit, to make the ftp daemon more usable.
# Please see vsftpd.conf.5 for all compiled in defaults.
#
# READ THIS: This example file is NOT an exhaustive list of vsftpd options.
# Please read the vsftpd.conf.5 manual page to get a full idea of vsftpd's
# capabilities.
#
# Allow anonymous FTP? (Beware - allowed by default if you comment this out).
anonymous_enable=NO
#
# Uncomment this to allow local users to log in.
local_enable=YES
#
# Uncomment this to enable any form of FTP write command.
write_enable=YES
#
# Default umask for local users is 077. You may wish to change this to 022,
# if your users expect that (022 is used by most other ftpd's)
local_umask=022
#
# Uncomment this to allow the anonymous FTP user to upload files. This only
# has an effect if the above global write enable is activated. Also, you will
# obviously need to create a directory writable by the FTP user.
#anon_upload_enable=NO
#
# Uncomment this if you want the anonymous FTP user to be able to create
# new directories.
#anon_mkdir_write_enable=NO
#
# Activate directory messages - messages given to remote users when they
# go into a certain directory.
#dirmessage_enable=YES
#
# Activate logging of uploads/downloads.
xferlog_enable=YES
#
# Make sure PORT transfer connections originate from port 20 (ftp-data).
connect_from_port_20=YES
#
# If you want, you can arrange for uploaded anonymous files to be owned by
# a different user. Note! Using "root" for uploaded files is not
# recommended!
#chown_uploads=YES
#chown_username=whoever
#
# You may override where the log file goes if you like. The default is shown
# below.
#xferlog_file=/var/log/vsftpd.log
#
# If you want, you can have your log file in standard ftpd xferlog format
xferlog_std_format=YES
#
# You may change the default value for timing out an idle session.
#idle_session_timeout=600
#
# You may change the default value for timing out a data connection.
#data_connection_timeout=120
#
# It is recommended that you define on your system a unique user which the
# ftp server can use as a totally isolated and unprivileged user.
#nopriv_user=ftpsecure
#
# Enable this and the server will recognise asynchronous ABOR requests. Not
# recommended for security (the code is non-trivial). Not enabling it,
# however, may confuse older FTP clients.
#async_abor_enable=YES
#
# By default the server will pretend to allow ASCII mode but in fact ignore
# the request. Turn on the below options to have the server actually do ASCII
# mangling on files when in ASCII mode.
# Beware that on some FTP servers, ASCII support allows a denial of service
# attack (DoS) via the command "SIZE /big/file" in ASCII mode. vsftpd
# predicted this attack and has always been safe, reporting the size of the
# raw file.
# ASCII mangling is a horrible feature of the protocol.
#ascii_upload_enable=YES
#ascii_download_enable=YES
#
# You may fully customise the login banner string:
ftpd_banner=You made it, bitches!!!
#
# You may specify a file of disallowed anonymous e-mail addresses. Apparently
# useful for combatting certain DoS attacks.
#deny_email_enable=YES
# (default follows)
#banned_email_file=/etc/vsftpd/banned_emails
#
# You may specify an explicit list of local users to chroot() to their home
# directory. If chroot_local_user is YES, then this list becomes a list of
# users to NOT chroot().
#chroot_list_enable=YES
# (default follows)
#chroot_list_file=/etc/vsftpd/chroot_list
chroot_local_user=YES
# You may activate the "-R" option to the builtin ls. This is disabled by
# default to avoid remote users being able to cause excessive I/O on large
# sites. However, some broken FTP clients such as "ncftp" and "mirror" assume
# the presence of the "-R" option, so there is a strong case for enabling it.
ls_recurse_enable=YES
#
# When "listen" directive is enabled, vsftpd runs in standalone mode and
# listens on IPv4 sockets. This directive cannot be used in conjunction
# with the listen_ipv6 directive.
listen=YES
#
# This directive enables listening on IPv6 sockets. To listen on IPv4 and IPv6
# sockets, you must run two copies of vsftpd whith two configuration files.
# Make sure, that one of the listen options is commented !!
#listen_ipv6=YES

pam_service_name=vsftpd
userlist_file=/etc/vsftpd/user_list_local
userlist_enable=YES
userlist_deny=NO
tcp_wrappers=YES

Here is my host file.

# Do not remove the following line, or various programs
# that require network functionality will fail.
::1 127.0.0.1 localhost.localdomain localhost

I verified that my vsftpd service is running and I restarted my iptables. I have to wait till I get home at 6pm today before I can put my laptop on the internet and see if this made a difference. If this actually works I'll give everyone who helped access to it. I don't really have anything but if I ever do....you're welcome to it.

All of us little guys who have created our own ftp servers need to hook up and create a super ftp server...

If this ftp server is on a cable modem or DSL and is behind a router (Linksys/netgear/etc) make sure to setup the port forwarding or else you wont be able to access it from the Internet.

Hey Nomb. I'm all for setting up a SUPER FTP!!! LOL!!! But before I can be a part of that I have to get this one up and running first. I assume that no one found any mistakes in my settings since no really spoke about it. I'm using my desktop as a gate way to the internet and it's running Norton Firewall on it. I haven't found a feature that lets me setup the port forwarding feature yet but I may just disconnect it and get a direct connection to my laptop for this to work. I'm using dial-up so running a viable FTP would be retarded but I'm just trying to learn here.

Its been a little while for this tread. Are we still talking about the unknown host error?