My ProFTP server on a Ensim dedicated server I have with rackshack has been crashing about 20-40 times per day. Anyone know how I can figure out what is crashing it? I tried contacting support and they couldn't help... If anyone could help I would be verryyy greatful - thanks!

what does the logs say?

FWIW, I have the same problem. Except it dies whenever I add a new account, and then again on Sunday morning, when I assume maintenence is performed. If you find a resolution to this, please post it here.

The only error I was received was <Limit> or something was deprecated and I should use something new. And after that, it lists that proftp shutdown was not successful.

Thanks,

Brian

I tried looking in the xferlogs but they are empty. I may be looking in the wrong place... but I'm not sure any help would be appericiated since right now I am completely stuck.

Here's what my LogWatch says:
users.250host.com - received SIGHUP -- master server rehashing configuration file.
AllowChmod is deprecated, and will not work consistantly, use <Limit SITE_CHMOD> instead.
Fatal: include: Unable to include configuration file '/etc/proftpd/proftpd.conf.wp'.
proftpd shutdown failed
- AllowChmod is deprecated, and will not work consistantly, use <Limit SITE_CHMOD> instead.
proftpd startup succeeded
users.250host.com - ProFTPD 1.2.4 (release) (built Mon Apr 1 15:38:24 PST 2002) standalone mode STARTUP

Originally posted by Brian S
Fatal: include: Unable to include configuration file '/etc/proftpd/proftpd.conf.wp'.
proftpd shutdown failed

Is that file in your config somewhere? Why is it trying to include that file?

LCHwebHost, back up the config file and any other files that you need and reinstall it ;)

I don't know what logwatch is, but first off find the proftpd.conf file and find out where the real log is kept. /var/log/ftp.log ?
Find out what's in that /etc/proftpd/proftpd.conf.wp file and fix it - the log you posted says it the Allow_Chmod. Change that to Limit SITE_CHMOD and see what happens. Read rhge man pages and/or google to get the syntax.

<rant>
These damn GUI's disable anyone from even beginning to learn *nix by hiding configuration and logfiles, putting things in non-standard locations and generally mucking things up.
I installed a couple with the idea of offering servers and realized the customers would be GUI addicts for life, because there is no transition to real system understanding. I'd rather write some webmin scripts and teach over time but thats too expensive (at tleast for this crowd :) ) I'll stop now.
</rant>

PHB,

I do so love your rant! ;)

Control Panel should rank among the top 10 oxymorons

I have a CPanel server and a FreeBSD server which I manage from command line. Both me and my clients prefer the elegance and ease of a command line server

PHB,

FWIW, I'm an experienced Linux admin. If had a clue why it was doing this, I wouldn't have asked. Careful where you choose to rant. proftpd.conf is clearly there, as my members wouldn't have FTP access if it wasn't. LogWatch is one of those "damn" features that emails me the contents, categorized, of what's in my log files. The bit of information I gave you is the equivelent of what would have been spit into ftp.log on normal systems. The message that indicates the Ensim people didn't update their directives was there before ProFTP started with this quirk. I can change it, and will, but I'd willing be to bet money it won't make a difference. I was really hoping this was one of those Ensim quirks that someone had a quick answer for.

Any other suggestions?

Thanks,

Brian

Brian and LCH:

Have you tried running proftpd without shooting it to the background with various levels of verbosity? That's how I find quirks in proftpd.

proftpd -n -d 5

Might also want to make sure you didn't compile in anything extra that you don't use, like pam (you have to explicitly tell it not to include it with --disable-pam or something like that).

The 'proftpd -n -d 5' should show you the problem, though, given enough time. Maybe 5 is too much -- try a lower number if you get too much crap on your screen.

Maybe post the results when the server crashes and someone may know what's going on. :)

ls -l /etc/proftpd/proftpd.conf.wp
is it there? premissions?
is it somewhere else?
Why is it included from proftpd.conf.
What happens if you just comment it out ?
Usefull switch: proftpd --configtest

Update:

I might have this problem licked for now. I forced an update on all of the ensim RPMs related to proftpd and it seems to be working properly once again. Let's hope it stays that way. :)

Brian

Okay, so I guess it's not fixed.

I noticed that one of my IP-Based clients did not have FTP access any longer. That's when I realized, after you force a re-install, that you must go through and re-configure every IP site to re-add the include line to proftp.conf.wp.

Anyway, it's acting up again. I've narrowed it to what seems to be the the command '/etc/init.d/proftpd reread' directive, which is meant to reload the config file without diconnecting existing users. Plainly, it doesn't work. I modified the script in init.d to have it restart the server when the reread command is called. It now disconnects current users, but I had to restart it anyway whenever adding users.

However, all's not quite so well. When the server perfors maintenence, it still dies and does not restart. So I get a nice little Alertra emergency phone call or page at 8AM on Sunday morning to restart the server. :rolleyes:

Brian