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What if I Can't Connect to FTP through cPanel?

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Last Updated: November 10, 2008 1:43 PM

If your FTP connection through cPanel fails, here are a few things you can do to troubleshoot the problem before calling customer support.

  1. Log into your server using SSH.
  2. At the command line, type su -. This gives you root access.

For more information on using root access on your server, see Accessing Your Virtual Dedicated Server Using SSH, or How Can I Log in as Root on my Virtual Dedicated Server?

Verify That the Issue Exists on the Server

Run the following command:

[root@host ~]# ftp localhost

If the response is as follows, the issue may be related to configuration changes to the server's IPTABLES or firewall configuration. If the server does not have a firewall and/or IPTABLES are not running, it is unlikely that the problem exists on the server. It's recommended to continue troubleshooting possible problems with your local computer or internet connection.

Connected to localhost(127.0.0.1).
220---------- Welcome to Pure-FTPd [TLS] ----------
220-You are user number 1 of 50 allowed.
220-Local time is now 07:20. Server port: 21.
220 You will be disconnected after 15 minutes of inactivity.
Name(localhost:user):

If you get this response, tt means that the FTP server is likely not running, or may be running, but the process has failed. Pure-ftpd runs as it's own process, try restarting the service.continue with these troubleshooting steps:

ftp:connect:Connection refused

Make Sure pure-ftpd is Running and Listening on Port 21

To verify that pure-ftpd is running and the server is listening on port 21.

[root@host ~]# service pure-ftpd status
pure-ftpd (pid 3302) is running...
+------+---------+-------+------+-------------------------------------------+ | PID | Login |For/Spd| What | File/IP | +------+---------+-------+------+-------------------------------------------+
[root@host ~]# lsof-i tcp:21
COMMAND PID USER FD TYPE DEVICE SIZE NODE NAME
pure-ftpd 3302 root 4u IPv4 574378144 TCP *:ftp (LISTEN)

Run the FTP localhost command again.

This is the most common server-side issue with pure-ftpd. If this procedure did not resolve the issue, you can view the log to find other possible reasons for the failure.

Check the Errors Log

If the issue is still not resolved, you can view the logs to see what else might be causing the problem.

To View the Errors Log

[root@host ~]# less /var/log/messages | grep pure-ftpd

NOTE: Coyping the text of an error into a search engine might produce possible solutions for problems that you are unsure how to resolve.