FTP Using SSH Tunnel

I have a linux server with vsftpd enabled via xinetd. I would like to
access using FTP through an SSH tunnel using PuTTY. I have forwarded
both ports 20 and 21.

However, I still get the following. Can anyone suggest some things to
try? I cannot change my ftp client because I eventually need to use ftp
within a development tool, which has the same problem.

C:\ftp localhost
Connected to 3A3A84.
220 (vsFTPd 1.2.1)
User (3A3A84:(none)): buck
331 Please specify the password.
Password:
230 Login successful.
ftp> dir
500 Illegal PORT command.
425 Use PORT or PASV first.
ftp> get .bashrc
425 Use PORT or PASV first.
ftp>

> I have a linux server with vsftpd enabled via xinetd. I would like to
> access using FTP through an SSH tunnel using PuTTY. I have forwarded
> both ports 20 and 21.

FTP isn't easily tunneled, because of the way the protocol works--
another port is allocated as part of the handshake. (At least, I think
that's right.) To get around it you need a specialized ftp+ssh tool,
such as SecureFX, which understands the exchange and automatically
tunnels the newly allocated port; or else, a different protocol, namely
SFTP, part of SSH2. In PuTTY, use PSFTP or PSCP.

> However, I still get the following. Can anyone suggest some things to
> try? I cannot change my ftp client because I eventually need to use ftp
> within a development tool, which has the same problem.

http://www.onsight.com/faq/ssh/ssh-faq-5.html#ss5.6

I think you need to use PSFTP or PSCP instead of ftp. PSFTP is a drop-
in replacement for ftp; you won't have to bother tunneling it through
PuTTY, because it already uses ssh. If your development tool is really
too dumb to be able to change its ftp client, you could always copy the
psftp executable on top of ftp; it should work transparently the same.

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Buck Turgidson wrote:
> I have a linux server with vsftpd enabled via xinetd. I would like to
> access using FTP through an SSH tunnel using PuTTY. I have forwarded
> both ports 20 and 21.
>
> However, I still get the following. Can anyone suggest some things to
> try? I cannot change my ftp client because I eventually need to use ftp
> within a development tool, which has the same problem.
>
> C:\ftp localhost
> Connected to 3A3A84.
> 220 (vsFTPd 1.2.1)
> User (3A3A84:(none)): buck
> 331 Please specify the password.
> Password:
> 230 Login successful.
> ftp> dir
> 500 Illegal PORT command.
> 425 Use PORT or PASV first.
> ftp> get .bashrc
> 425 Use PORT or PASV first.
> ftp>

Forget FTP, use scp instead.

For Windoze, get WinSCP to complement yout PuTTY.

HTH

Tauno Voipio
tauno voipio (at) iki fi

On 2004-09-14, Buck Turgidson <jc_va@hotmail.com> wrote:

> I have a linux server with vsftpd enabled via xinetd. I would like to
> access using FTP through an SSH tunnel using PuTTY.

Don't bother with ftp. PuTTY includes both an scp (pscp.exe) and an sftp
client (psftp.exe) you can use for file transfers via ssh. They work just
like the OpenSSH scp and sftp clients.

--

-John (john@os2.dhs.org)