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Proftp refusing to start

Posted: 24 Feb 2012, 02:14
by DanielM
Hi.
I just noticed that my ftp wasn't working. Trying to start it I get the following:

Code: Select all

root@b3:~# /etc/init.d/proftpd start
Starting ftp server: proftpd - warning: unable to determine IP address of 'b3'
 - error: no valid servers configured
 - Fatal: error processing configuration file '/etc/proftpd/proftpd.conf'
 failed!
Is it just my B3 or is this something general? I can't find anything funny about my proftpd.conf and everything else on the server is working as it should. I have no idea when I tried ftp:ing anything last, this might have been broken since update to 2.4...

/Daniel

Re: Proftp refusing to start

Posted: 24 Feb 2012, 03:52
by Gordon
I think if you'd entered proftpd in the searchbox above this forum you would have found the answer for this. The issue is that proftpd verifies the name it should advertise by doing a DNS check. The quick fix for this is to add this name to the hosts file.

Now a second problem is that while there would normally not be an issue if you add this name to the localhost definition (i.e. 127.0.0.1), you cannot do this on the B3. This is because DNSmasq also reads the hosts file and thus would make it impossible for you to reach the FTP server yourself (you would actually be looking at your own workstation). Therefore you must add the name to a valid IP and since you want this to be a fixed IP this should be the LAN IP address.

Re: Proftp refusing to start

Posted: 24 Feb 2012, 07:36
by DanielM
Oops. You're right, I didn't search at all before asking :oops:

Anyway, after adding the LAN ip of the server to /etc/hosts everything works fine. Thanks!

/Daniel