I changed my vsftpd.conf to see if I stop and restart my xinetd that vsftpd would pick up the changes but it didn't.

I have set anonymous_enable=NO
and then /etc/re.d/init.d/xinetd restart

but the ftp didn't pick up the change and i was still able to log in as anonymous.

I am assuming xinetd is not where i am suppose to restart the server to re-read the conf file?

Thanks for you help

Not if vsftpd is running in standalone mode.

Is there a script for vsftpd in /etc/rc.d/init.d?

what linux distro are you using? You are best off running vsftpd as a stnadalone server, rather than through xinetd. If you are using Red Hat linux issue the following commands
"chkconfig --level 35 vsftpd on" and then "restart vsftpd". If your /etc/vsftpd/vsftpd.conf is configured correctly you should be ok.

No, its not running in standalone mode and No, there isn't a script for vsftpd in /etc/rc.d/init.d - how do i create the script? if this what u think is causing the issue

Do a few things:

1) "rpm -qa | grep vsftpd" this confirms if the vsftpd rpm is installed.

2) "chkconfig --list | grep vsftpd"

Let me know the result of the following commands

I am using FC5 and vsftpd 2.0.4 installed it from the source code

rpm -q vsftpd
vsftd-2.0.4-1

chkconfig --list | grep vsftpd
vsftpd: on

so what happens when you type "service vsftpd restart"? I gave you the incoorect command before, sorry.

service vsftpd restart
vsftpd: unrecognized service

make sure you can restart another service, ie "service nfs restart" or "service sendmail restart". These are just a couple of examples, you can try any service. If these commands work ok, I would suggest you reinstall the vsftpd rpm, with the following commands
1 "rpm -e <vsftpd pacgage name>" you obtained this before by doing rpm -qa | grep vsftpd. This uninstalls vsftpd
2 "redhat-config-packages" and as long as you have the red hat cds to hand you can choose to reinstall the vsftpd rpm. If using fedora type "system-config-packages".