I installed pure-ftpd (ftp server) from a rpm package. When i try to run it using

/usr/local/sbin/pure-ftpd &

As said in the documentation. I get the following error.

"Unable to start a standalone server: Address already in use"

If you dont know how to get it working but know whats happening great. If you know how to fix it even better! So Whats happening?

Ps, Im logged in as root

Try to start the server using -S string /usr/local/sbin/pure-ftpd -S your.ip.address:port &
see man page of pure-ftpd it will be useful to you

I've not used pure-ftpd but my first thought was perhaps it is trying to use the standard ftpd port and you're running ftpd already?

Do a "grep ftp /etc/services" to see ports assigned for ftp.

Then run an "lsof -i: <port> for each of the ports seen. This will show you if any of those ports is currently open for a process and give you the process name and PID.

Same error



# 21 is registered to ftp, but also used by fsp
ftp 21/tcp
ftp 21/udp fsp fspd
tftp 69/tcp
tftp 69/udp
sftp 115/tcp
sftp 115/udp
tftp-mcast 1758/tcp
tftp-mcast 1758/udp
venus-se 2431/udp # udp sftp side effect
codasrv-se 2433/udp # udp sftp side effectQ

Does it mean somthing is already running on port 21?

The 'grep' does not have much of a meaning. It only tells you which port-number is associated with a service.

My guess is that you already have a server-application that is using the ftp-port (probably another ftp-server). This is also what jlightner stated in his post.

You can try the commands below. If you get a connection, it proves that there's another server-application using the ftp-port. If you don't get a connection, there's either no server-app running that uses the ftp-port or a firewall blocks access to thid port (so in that case the btest is non-conclusive).

ftp localhost
ftp ip-address

The grep was to give you a list of ftp related ports on your server (assuming they are there - if the application requests a specific port number it doesn't have to be in /etc/services - it is just a lookup table).

The command that would let you know if the port is already in use is the lsof I mentioned:

For example:
lsof -i :21
Would show you any process that had port 21 in use.

lsof -i :115
Would show you any process that had port 115 in use.

Essentially you need to find out what port pure-ftp uses then run lsof -i :<port> to insure that port isn't already in use.

Mea culpa, mea culpa

I did not read your post properly

No problem. Though I am loathe to admit it there was at least one occasion in my life when I was wrong about something - it took me years to get over it. The flashbacks still bother me...

Thanks for the info...I was banging my head on this one too...and being a fairly new linux user I wasn't sure where or how to start troubleshooting this.

The info here will certainly be helpful for the future...and it's true about the MAN page...it was extremely helpful as the suggested line to run "... -S IPADDR:PORT" didn't work for me...but reading the MAN page I discovered that it should be IPADDR,PORT. So good information on all levels for a newbie...thanks.