Docker Pure-ftpd Server

Pull down with docker:

docker pull zyt717/docker-pure-ftpd

Often needing to run as sudo, e.g. sudo docker pull zyt717/docker-pure-ftpd

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My advice is to extend this image to make any changes.
This is because rebuilding the entire docker image via a fork can be slow as it rebuilds the entire pure-ftpd package from source.

Instead you can create a new project with a DOCKERFILE like so:

FROM zyt717/docker-pure-ftpd

# e.g. you could change the defult command run:
CMD /run.sh -c 30 -C 5 -l puredb:/etc/pure-ftpd/pureftpd.pdb -E -j -R 

Then you can build your own image, docker build --rm -t my-pure-ftp ., where my-pure-ftp is the name you want to build as

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Starting it

docker run -d --name ftpd_server -p 21:21 -p 30000-30009:30000-30009 -e "PUBLICHOST=localhost" -e "PASVPORT=30000:30009" zyt717/docker-pure-ftpd

Or for your own image, replace zyt717/docker-pure-ftpd with the name you built it with, e.g. my-pure-ftp

Operating it

docker exec -it ftpd_server /bin/bash

Example usage once inside

Create an ftp user: e.g. bob with chroot access only to /home/ftpusers/bob

pure-pw useradd bob -m -u ftpuser -d /home/ftpusers/bob

No restart should be needed.

More info on usage here: https://download.pureftpd.org/pure-ftpd/doc/README.Virtual-Users

Test your connection

From the host machine:

ftp -p localhost 21

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Our default pure-ftpd options explained

/usr/sbin/pure-ftpd # path to pure-ftpd executable
-c 50 # --maxclientsnumber (no more than 50 people at once)
-C 10 # --maxclientsperip (no more than 10 requests from the same ip)
-l puredb:/etc/pure-ftpd/pureftpd.pdb # --login (login file for virtual users)
-E # --noanonymous (only real users)
-j # --createhomedir (auto create home directory if it doesnt already exist)
-R # --nochmod (prevent usage of the CHMOD command)
-P $PUBLICHOST # IP/Host setting for PASV support, passed in your the PUBLICHOST env var
-p 30000:30009 # PASV port range

For more information please see man pure-ftpd, or visit: https://www.pureftpd.org/

Why so many ports opened?

This is for PASV support, please see: #5 PASV not fun :)

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Keep user database in a volume

You may want to keep your user database through the successive image builds. It is possible with Docker volumes.

Create a named volume:

docker volume create --name my-db-volume

Specify it when running the container:

docker run -d --name ftpd_server -p 21:21 -p 30000-30009:30000-30009 -e "PUBLICHOST=localhost" -v my-db-volume:/etc/pure-ftpd/passwd zyt717/docker-pure-ftpd

When an user is added, you need to use the password file which is in the volume:

pure-pw useradd bob -f /etc/pure-ftpd/passwd/pureftpd.passwd -m -u ftpuser -d /home/ftpusers/bob

(Thanks to the -m option, you don't need to call pure-pw mkdb with this syntax).

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Development (via git clone)

# Clone the repo
git clone https://github.com/stilliard/docker-pure-ftpd.git
cd docker-pure-ftpd
# Build the image
make build
# Run container in background:
make run
# enter a bash shell insdie the container:
make enter

Credits

Thanks for the help on stackoverflow with this! https://stackoverflow.com/questions/23930167/installing-pure-ftpd-in-docker-debian-wheezy-error-421

Development sponsored by ecommerce.co.uk