Creating SFTP

[danielk]

I am creating FTP users throuh WHM/cpanel where I did not find any option to enable shell access. When I create a user I can able to access only the regular FTP using port 21


Please advice.

Thanks

[furquan]

If you want to enable SSH for a domain you can do that by modifying the account under "Modify an account" feature under "Account Functions".

The same can also be enabled while you are creating a new account.

[danielk]

I have enabled the shell acces to the domain by modifying the account but my intention is to have secure access to the FTP users who are accessing the domain.

I have cread few FTP users to respective home directories through the cpanel of the domain. But I am only able to access Normal FTP on port 21 which doesn't encrypt the information. I need some kind of Secure acecss like SFTP or FTPS to the FTP users.

Please advice.

[gvard]

Hello,

Enabling SSH is not needed for an account to access SFTP, as long as they know (and have access) to the SSH port. We use SFTP on users who don't have SSH access enabled with no problems.

[equens]

Hello Gvard, can you explain me how can I allow sftp access to users who don't have SSH access enabled?

Thanks a lot.

[Infopro]

Hello Gvard, can you explain me how can I allow sftp access to users who don't have SSH access enabled?

Thanks a lot.

It's enabled by default in cPanel now. You'll need to know the port, and setup your FTP client appropriately for the connection.

More here: Configure an FTP Client

[cPanelDon]

I have enabled the shell acces to the domain by modifying the account but my intention is to have secure access to the FTP users who are accessing the domain.

I have cread few FTP users to respective home directories through the cpanel of the domain. But I am only able to access Normal FTP on port 21 which doesn't encrypt the information. I need some kind of Secure acecss like SFTP or FTPS to the FTP users.

Please advice.

For add-on FTP users you may connect securely using FTPES, that is, FTP with Explicit SSL/TLS encryption; the same port 21 will be used for FTPES.

[John_Buehrer]

Hi, I successfully make these FTPES connections (using Cyberduck on Mac PPC) to a cPanel vendor site on port 21. Each individual user can have his/her own login account and restrictions to subdirectories. This setup meets my needs.

But my vendor says only the master account may open an SFTP account - not individual login accounts (eg, xxx@domain.com).

It's worthwhile to clarify this topic, to avoid having users spend time on FTP client configurations which won't work. (And if this should work, I need further discussions with my own cPanel hosting vendor.)

[John_Buehrer]

Hi, both my cPanel hosting service and myself have noticed buggy behavior when FTP-viewing empty folders using Cyberduck (iMac PPC) in FTPES FTP mode. The software seems to hang for a minute or so, give a spurious error message, then resume working. Other files and folders view fine.

Have others encountered this problem?
Is it possibly a local configuration error, at the hosting service?
I'm also checking this with the Cyberduck vendor.

[cPanelDavidG]

Hi, I successfully make these FTPES connections (using Cyberduck on Mac PPC) to a cPanel vendor site on port 21. Each individual user can have his/her own login account and restrictions to subdirectories. This setup meets my needs.

But my vendor says only the master account may open an SFTP account - not individual login accounts (eg, xxx@domain.com).

It's worthwhile to clarify this topic, to avoid having users spend time on FTP client configurations which won't work. (And if this should work, I need further discussions with my own cPanel hosting vendor.)

Correct, only the cPanel account can use SFTP (SSH File Transfer).

However, any FTP account can use FTPS (FTP over SSL/TLS). The FTPES just a type of FTPS.

[John_Buehrer]

... except when it doesn't work.

This is the nature of my FTPES / empty-folder question above. I'm in discussion with my cPanel hosting provided about this, but it's useful to know if other people have encountered problems with FTPES into cPanel software, or whether this is specific to my vendor. Thanks.

[crazyaboutlinux]

Correct, only the cPanel account can use SFTP (SSH File Transfer).

However, any FTP account can use FTPS (FTP over SSL/TLS). The FTPES just a type of FTPS.

When i use FTPS (FTP over SSL/TLS) i am unable to connect to FTP server

Status: Connecting to xxx.xxx.xx.xx:990...
Status: Connection attempt failed with "ECONNREFUSED - Connection refused by server".
Error: Could not connect to server

[Spiral]

I am creating FTP users throuh WHM/cpanel where I did not find any option to enable shell access. When I create a user I can able to access only the regular FTP using port 21

Common misconception ...

You DO NOT need to enable shell access to use SFTP

SFTP does indeed make use of the OpenSSH daemon and the same ports as SSH but does not require that the login have any shell access setup and the connection between the two really ends at authentication.

(This incidentally is one of the main reasons why it is a good idea to move the SSH port even if you don't have any users with shell access)

[cPanelDavidG]

I am unable to replicate this issue with:

- cPanel/WHM server running 11.25.1
- Running FTP Server: ProFTPd
- Then Running FTP Server: PureFTPd
- Using primary FTP account for a cPanel account
- Then using a secondary FTP account for a cPanel account
- FTP Client: CyberDuck on Mac OS with PPC architecture (not Intel) using FTPES

I didn't have any hanging nor delay, everything displayed as it should. The only issue I encountered was just that my test server had a self-signed certificate for FTP and I just needed to authorize it.

Nilesh, I tested using port 21 - you may want to try port 21 instead of port 990.

For everyone else, I recommend having someone take a look at the server logs to see what may be causing this issue.

[cyon]

Hi cPanelDavidG

We are having this issue with WHM 11.25.0, PureFTPd and a secondary FTP account (we are John_Buehrer's host).

Cyberduck works fine through FTPES, unless there's an empty folder. Browsing an empty folder gives us a "Listing directory failed (I won't open a connection to LOCAL_IP".

Filezilla does not work at all.