I'm confused with the vsftpd configuration in ftp servers.

in one of the ftp servers ftp user names are stored in user_list file instead of virtual-user.txt

So in such case how do i add new users and load the db?

db4-utils has been used.

The user_list file is used by the 'userlist_enable' option to provide a list of denied users, unless 'userlist_deny' is set to NO then it means the opposite. This file is not where you create users, do it in the usual place - either local or virtual.

Well virtual-user.txt file isnt there at all....or is it that we need to create that ourselves?

And there are users along with their passwords in userlist file like the way we usually have in virtual-user.txt file.And i tried to ftp with those username and password and it worked. so i'm stuck with adding of new users now.
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And userlist option in vsftpd.conf is as follows:

userlist_enable=YES
userlist_deny=NO

or just adding the user over there ,i mean in the userlist file will add the new users unlike in virtual-user.txt file where we need to load the db as well.

will that not erase my other users?

Then I guess they were added as local users, if you run 'getent passwd' can you see the accounts?

ya i can see them when i run that...but the user mentioned in the userlist file cant be seen..

then can i add users to it then?

You'll need to add a local user via 'useradd'.

I'm not talking about the local user...ya for local user we can add by useradd..

I'm talking about the ftp users who are allowed to upload and have their own links in the web where the uploaded materials are..

Actually when i type that ftp address in web,it asks for password and only those users present in user_list are allowed to login there..

The other users added via useradd can login only through the terminal..

so i wanted to add new user to that user_list file and i even added to it,but i cant login with that username..so what should i do for it?actually if it's for virtual-users.txt,we use db_load ..... command so that the new user comes into play..

So i'm asking how should i do that with user_list file?

You didn't get what I said in my first post - this file is not used to authenticate users, just to determine those who are permitted or not permitted to log in.

ya i got that...

But my question is we have list of users along with their passwords in that file and if i were to add users to that file,how do i go about it?and ya 'useradd' doesnt add user to that file..