VSFTPD Unable to set write permissions on folder

Question

I've just set up my first FTP server with VSFTPD on cent os . I can connect to it fine using a user in the group ftp-users but I get read only access . I've tried several different CHMOD codes on the folder (even 777) all to no avail . This is the tutorial I used to set up the server http://tinyurl.com/73pyuxz hopefully you'll be able to see something I missed.

Thanks in advance .

Requested Config File :

    # Example config file /etc/vsftpd/vsftpd.conf
    #
    # The default compiled in settings are fairly paranoid. This sample file
    # loosens things up a bit, to make the ftp daemon more usable.
    # Please see vsftpd.conf.5 for all compiled in defaults.
    #
    # READ THIS: This example file is NOT an exhaustive list of vsftpd options.
    # Please read the vsftpd.conf.5 manual page to get a full idea of vsftpd's
    # capabilities.
    #
    # Allow anonymous FTP? (Beware - allowed by default if you comment this out).
    anonymous_enable=NO
    #
    # Uncomment this to allow local users to log in.
    local_enable=YES
    #
    # Uncomment this to enable any form of FTP write command.
    write_enable=YES
    #
    # Default umask for local users is 077. You may wish to change this to 022,
    # if your users expect that (022 is used by most other ftpd's)
    local_umask=022
    #
    # Uncomment this to allow the anonymous FTP user to upload files. This only
    # has an effect if the above global write enable is activated. Also, you will
    # obviously need to create a directory writable by the FTP user.
    #anon_upload_enable=YES
    #
    # Uncomment this if you want the anonymous FTP user to be able to create
    # new directories.
    #anon_mkdir_write_enable=YES
    #
    # Activate directory messages - messages given to remote users when they
    # go into a certain directory.
    dirmessage_enable=YES
    #
    # The target log file can be vsftpd_log_file or xferlog_file.
    # This depends on setting xferlog_std_format parameter
    xferlog_enable=YES
    #
    # Make sure PORT transfer connections originate from port 20 (ftp-data).
    connect_from_port_20=YES
    #
    # If you want, you can arrange for uploaded anonymous files to be owned by
    # a different user. Note! Using "root" for uploaded files is not
    # recommended!
    #chown_uploads=YES
    #chown_username=whoever
    #
    # The name of log file when xferlog_enable=YES and xferlog_std_format=YES
    # WARNING - changing this filename affects /etc/logrotate.d/vsftpd.log
    #xferlog_file=/var/log/xferlog
    #
    # Switches between logging into vsftpd_log_file and xferlog_file files.
    # NO writes to vsftpd_log_file, YES to xferlog_file
    xferlog_std_format=YES
    #
    # You may change the default value for timing out an idle session.
    #idle_session_timeout=600
    #
    # You may change the default value for timing out a data connection.
    #data_connection_timeout=120
    #
    # It is recommended that you define on your system a unique user which the
    # ftp server can use as a totally isolated and unprivileged user.
    #nopriv_user=ftpsecure
    #
    # Enable this and the server will recognise asynchronous ABOR requests. Not
    # recommended for security (the code is non-trivial). Not enabling it,
    # however, may confuse older FTP clients.
    #async_abor_enable=YES
    #
    # By default the server will pretend to allow ASCII mode but in fact ignore
    # the request. Turn on the below options to have the server actually do ASCII
    # mangling on files when in ASCII mode.
    # Beware that on some FTP servers, ASCII support allows a denial of service
    # attack (DoS) via the command "SIZE /big/file" in ASCII mode. vsftpd
    # predicted this attack and has always been safe, reporting the size of the
    # raw file.
    # ASCII mangling is a horrible feature of the protocol.
    #ascii_upload_enable=YES
    #ascii_download_enable=YES
    #
    # You may fully customise the login banner string:
    #ftpd_banner=Welcome to blah FTP service.
    #
    # You may specify a file of disallowed anonymous e-mail addresses. Apparently
    # useful for combatting certain DoS attacks.
    #deny_email_enable=YES
    # (default follows)
    #banned_email_file=/etc/vsftpd/banned_emails
    #
    # You may specify an explicit list of local users to chroot() to their home
    # directory. If chroot_local_user is YES, then this list becomes a list of
    # users to NOT chroot().
    #chroot_list_enable=YES
    # (default follows)
    #chroot_list_file=/etc/vsftpd/chroot_list
    #
    # You may activate the "-R" option to the builtin ls. This is disabled by
    # default to avoid remote users being able to cause excessive I/O on large
    # sites. However, some broken FTP clients such as "ncftp" and "mirror" assume
    # the presence of the "-R" option, so there is a strong case for enabling it.
    #ls_recurse_enable=YES
    #
    # When "listen" directive is enabled, vsftpd runs in standalone mode and 
    # listens on IPv4 sockets. This directive cannot be used in conjunction 
    # with the listen_ipv6 directive.
    listen=YES
    #
    # This directive enables listening on IPv6 sockets. To listen on IPv4 and IPv6
    # sockets, you must run two copies of vsftpd whith two configuration files.
    # Make sure, that one of the listen options is commented !!
    #listen_ipv6=YES

    pam_service_name=vsftpd
    userlist_enable=YES
    tcp_wrappers=YES

Solution

Check that you have write_enable=YES in your vsftpd.conf the default is no. If you make a change don't forget to restart vsftpd. If you have write_enable=YES configured then please update your question with your vsftpd.conf

Comments

[user9517]

Is there anything interesting in your logs /var/log/xferlog ?

[Frank Astin]

@lain several of these : Fri Jan 20 15:48:02 2012 1 86.160.193.72 0 /var/www/index.php a _ i r astin1 ftp 0 * i Fri Jan 20 16:18:23 2012 1 86.160.193.72 0 /var/www/index.php a _ i r astin1 ftp 0 * i

[Frank Astin]

Just had a look at apaches error log : could this have something to do with it Directory index forbidden by Options directive: /var/www/html/ that's the folder I'm trying to write to .

[Frank Astin]

Ignore that last comment , that error was before I'd installed the server .

[user9517]

Do the files in /var/www/html have the correct group ownership set ?

[Frank Astin]

I'm setting the permissions on the www dir like so : chmod 750 /var/www the chowning the group chown root:ftp-users /var/www . It also will not let me login via ftp with my root passwd.

[Frank Astin]

Hopefully this will help : I logged on with another user (not in the ftp group but with full su ) And it let me upload files to my home dir home/uername. But when I changed the home dir to var/www it would not .

[Frank Astin]

Yep write_enable is yes , updated the question with the config file .