in reply to Re: [OT] FTP user permissions
in thread [OT] FTP user permissions

Everyone should be using sftp

Unfortunately, Plesk only allows SFTP for the system user.

When an FTP account is created in Plesk, it doesn't seem to create an account in the normal way. It appears to be some kind of alias. When I use id username I do not get username:username but instead the sub account and a Plesk defined group.

Instead, I have tried creating an SFTP account manually which works and gives access to the entire server. When I restrict access using a Match command in /etc/ssh/sshd_config, it goes back to being read only.

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Re^3: [OT] FTP user permissions
by NERDVANA (Priest) on Dec 19, 2024 at 02:41 UTC
    The manual option requires fiddling with some permissions on a normal OpenSSH system. Here're the relevant bits for the servers I manage:

    /etc/ssh/sshd_config 

    AllowGroups ... ssh-ftp-only ...

...

Match Group ssh-ftp-only
        ChrootDirectory %h
        ForceCommand internal-sftp -d upload
        PermitTTY no

    [download]
    Then add your user to that group, and set their shell to /usr/local/sbin/scponlyc if available.

    Then you need these permissions on their home directory: 

    drwxr-x--- 5 root   user     4096 Jun 12  2017 /home/user/
drwx------ 2 root   root     4096 Nov  7  2016 /home/user/.ssh
drwxr-xr-x 2 user   user     4096 Feb 27  2020 /home/user/upload

    [download]

    This is because letting them modify their own .ssh directory or create a /lib directory within their chrooted home would also let them escape the chroot, so ssh checks for those cases before letting them write anything.

    When they connect, the current directory will be the chroot's /upload directory, and that will be the only directory they can write.

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Re^3: [OT] FTP user permissions
by afoken (Chancellor) on Dec 17, 2024 at 09:36 UTC

    Unfortunately, Plesk only allows SFTP for the system user.

    When an FTP account is created in Plesk, it doesn't seem to create an account in the normal way. It appears to be some kind of alias. When I use id username I do not get username:username but instead the sub account and a Plesk defined group.

    What a mess. For me, that alone would be an argument not to use Plesk.

    Alexander

    --
    Today I will gladly share my knowledge and experience, for there are no sweeter words than "I told you so". ;-)
[reply]
      What a mess. For me, that alone would be an argument not to use Plesk

      For many years, I struggled with shared hosting. Much as I knew I really needed a better solution (read VPS) I was very concerned that having full access could easily mean I could break something! Also, if something is wrong, it's down to me to fix it...

      The move was forced on me when UK2 changed away from cPanel and broke every one of our sites because they stopped Perl working in the manner it previously was. So we decided to move, and over a weekend, I worked continuously to move all our essential production sites to a VPS. That VPS comes with Plesk. Although I could use a different management platform, it seems easier to use the one they provide.

      We don't currently have the luxury of a staging or test server so whatever I do has to be done without risking our production environment...

      There are two major issues that I haven't been able to sort out. FTP access and .htaccess files - as soon as I enable RewriteEngine On I get a 403 error, so we have lost all our SEO friendly vanity URLs.

      If my Linux knowledge was good enough, or I thought I could get it good enough, I might drop Plesk and configure the server manually but that's not an option.

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