ok that worked and now my ftp server is finally functioning again but now i'm having another issue which i was originally trying to resolve. I was able to access the directory /var/* and see all the folders and files with my login that is part of the group wheel. Now when I goto /var there is nothing at all listed. I did make some changes to the chmod but I used the -R flag and set all the files and folders in /var to 777. I don't know if that had something to do with it. But heres my proftpd.conf if it might help.
ServerName "DurhamNetwork.CA"
ServerIdent on "FTP Server ready."
ServerAdmin root@localhost
ServerType standalone
DefaultServer on
AccessGrantMsg "User %u logged in."
#DisplayConnect /etc/ftpissue
#DisplayLogin /etc/ftpmotd
#DisplayGoAway /etc/ftpgoaway
DeferWelcome off
MasqueradeAddress durhamnetwork.ca
# Use this to excude users from the chroot
DefaultRoot ~ !wheel
# Do not perform ident nor DNS lookups (hangs when the port is filtered)
IdentLookups off
UseReverseDNS off
AuthPAMConfig proftpd
# 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.
Umask 022
# Default to show dot files in directory listings
ListOptions "-a"
# See Configuration.html for these (here are the default values)
#MultilineRFC2228 off
#RootLogin off
#LoginPasswordPrompt on
#MaxLoginAttempts 3
#MaxClientsPerHost none
#AllowForeignAddress off # For FXP
# Allow to resume not only the downloads but the uploads too
AllowRetrieveRestart on
AllowStoreRestart on
# 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 20
# Set the user and group that the server normally runs at.
User nobody
Group nobody
# Normally, we want users to do a few things.
<Global>
AllowOverwrite yes
<Limit ALL SITE_CHMOD>
AllowAll
</Limit>
</Global>
# Define the log formats
LogFormat default "%h %l %u %t "%r" %s %b"
LogFormat auth "%v [%P] %h %t "%r" %s"
# A basic anonymous configuration, with an upload directory.
<Anonymous ~ftp>
User ftp
Group ftp
AccessGrantMsg "Anonymous login ok, restrictions apply."
#
# # We want clients to be able to login with "anonymous" as well as "ftp"
UserAlias anonymous ftp
#
# # Limit the maximum number of anonymous logins
MaxClients 2 "Sorry, max %m users -- try again later"
#
# # Put the user into /pub right after login
DefaultChdir /home/ftp
#
# # We want 'welcome.msg' displayed at login, '.message' displayed in
# # each newly chdired directory and tell users to read README* files.
# DisplayLogin /welcome.msg
# DisplayFirstChdir .message
# DisplayReadme README*
#
# # Some more cosmetic and not vital stuff
# DirFakeUser on ftp
# DirFakeGroup on ftp
#
# # Limit WRITE everywhere in the anonymous chroot
# <Limit WRITE SITE_CHMOD>
# DenyAll
# </Limit>
#
# # An upload directory that allows storing files but not retrieving
# # or creating directories.
<Directory /home/ftp/*>
AllowOverwrite no
<Limit READ>
DenyAll
</Limit>
#
<Limit STOR>
AllowAll
</Limit>
</Directory>
#
# # Don't write anonymous accesses to the system wtmp file (good idea!)
WtmpLog off
#
# # Logging for the anonymous transfers
# ExtendedLog /var/log/proftpd/access.log WRITE,READ default
# ExtendedLog /var/log/proftpd/auth.log AUTH auth
#
</Anonymous>
<Directory /var/*>
AllowOverwrite on
<Limit ALL>
AllowAll
</Limit>
<Limit CDUP CWD LIST MDTM NLST PWD RNFR STAT XCUP XCWD XPWD>
AllowAll
</Limit>
<Limit READ>
AllowAll
</Limit>
<Limit WRITE>
AllowAll
</Limit>
AllowAll
<Limit DIR>
AllowAll
</Limit>
</Directory>
ProFTPD won't start!
