trying to limit anonymous user to a directory, i added the line anon_root=/websites to the vsftpd which changed the root directory to /websites.

but i am having trouble getting the permissions right i guess. i have to users home directories in /websites aswell. i don't want the anonymous users to see in their home dirs. so i chmod the users home dir to 751, and the anonymous can see the directory, but not any files. which is fine, but now the user cannot see files either. any suggestions as to permissions or anything would be greatly appreciated...

i have to users home directories in /websites aswell. i don't want the anonymous users to see in their home dirs.
I'd suggest separating directories. If you have users in /websites/$username, why not make anonymous' home /websites/anonymous?

Absolutely... if you absolutely must allow anonymous users, treat them as you would any other account. They go to their own world, a more restrictive world, and are utterly confined to it.

thanks guys,
what i ended up doing was setting the anon-root to websites, then i chowned the home directories and chmoded aswell,i may have had to chgrp aswell, i forget. the anonymous users can no longer see what the aren't supposed too. just the stuff in the website directory. no need to make a seperate folder for anonymous user, that defeats the purpose of having stuff in the /websites directory.