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wmarques
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FTP on ESXi 3.5??

I have been bangin my head against our VM server for a while now trying to enable FTP so that we can back up the virtual machine files to another location in case the ESXi server were to meet an untimely end. I do not have the consolidated back up option. I have read multiple documents about removing the # comment from the inetd.conf file and then restarting the services or rebooting the server. I have done all of this and still can not get the ftp to work. I have managed to connect to the console using SSH, but no luck with ftp. When I try to FTP it returns the following...... -ash: ftp: not found

Anyone have this problem?

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Try Trilead VM explorer. www.Trilead.com

Or have a look at it anyway, I have had success with it.

View solution in original post

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agomezp
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the reference for ftp and ssg is:

#ftp stream tcp nowait root /usr/sbin/tcpd in.ftpd

ssh stream tcp nowait root /sbin/dropbearmulti dropbear ++min=0,swap,group=shell -i

ssh no have problem, ftp not work the reason is /usr/sbin/tcpd don't exist in the esxi system.

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agomezp
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the reference for ftp and ssh is:

#ftp stream tcp nowait root /usr/sbin/tcpd in.ftpd

ssh stream tcp nowait root /sbin/dropbearmulti dropbear ++min=0,swap,group=shell -i

ssh no have problem, ftp not work the reason is /usr/sbin/tcpd don't exist in the esxi system.

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wmarques
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So is there a way to make it work, to create or install the tcpd that is missing? If not, is there another way to back up my files on the ESXi server?

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RParker
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So is there a way to make it work, to create or install the tcpd that is missing? If not, is there another way to back up my files on the ESXi server?

Not yet. You can hot clone them, but other than that your backup solutions for ESX 3i are limited..

You can use VCB but that requires a vCenter to work.

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Formatter
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Try Trilead VM explorer. www.Trilead.com

Or have a look at it anyway, I have had success with it.

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wmarques
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Thanks! That worked like a dream and then some. Very clever piece of software and FREE to boot!

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Formatter
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Glad to be able to help..

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dohmj
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This may not be an option, but you can use WinSCP using the SSH protocol to get VM's off your box. That is what I'm doing for single servers.

-JD-

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mhasle
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Hi,

Why don't you use the latest version of Veeam FastSCP.

The version 4.0 does support ESXi. It's not FTP, but you can transfert files easily to a windows host... and even schedule it.

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birnenschnitzel
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Ok,

all of the existing possibilites do not offer an adequate speed for transferring files between ESXi and other hosts. 7-8 MB was the fastest I could achieve and so I complied proftpd for ESX 3.5 U3. You can download a small packet at this location (sorry for the external link). You will find the file for the next few weeks and the installation instructions are as follows.

  • Enable SSH for console access to your ESXi. Infos are floating around the web

  • Extract the package

  • Copy proftpd to /sbin

  • Copy tcpd to /sbin

  • Copy proftpd.conf to /etc and adapt it to your needs. The provided file should work fine.

  • Edit /etc/inetd.conf according to the included /etc/inetd (include line for ftp)

  • Find inetd process id by "ps | grep inetd"

  • Send reload to inetd by "kill -HUP <inetd_pid>

Afterwards you should be able to logon to your ESXi via FTP as user root and enjoy uploading/downloading at speeds of 30MB/sec and up using GBit interfaces. Maybe an ESXi fan can offer a better mirror for this file for other users. ATTENTION! I take no responsibility for any damages to your servers. Take care for the growth of log files under /var/run and /var/log!

Best regards.

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s1xth
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I am going to try this in my lab environment this week...looks promising! Thanks for posting it!

http://www.virtualizationimpact.com http://www.handsonvirtualization.com Twitter: @jfranconi
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DSTAVERT
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I can provide a download for this. As soon as I get the file I will post a link. If it is amall enough it should be post-able here.

-- David -- VMware Communities Moderator
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s1xth
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I have tried to get this to work today and no go. I try to connect to the FTP and it wont connect. When you say edit the FTP line, I deleted the line and pasted in what was included in the conf file that was included in the package, is that correct?

http://www.virtualizationimpact.com http://www.handsonvirtualization.com Twitter: @jfranconi
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s1xth
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Never mind I figured it out! Smiley Happy I didnt put proftpd in the correct location, AND I had to change the permissions to ALL files that I copied over to include execute permissions, once I did this, restarted the process, I was able to log in. I am going to test some transfers now.

http://www.virtualizationimpact.com http://www.handsonvirtualization.com Twitter: @jfranconi
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s1xth
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I am getting 25 mb/s, and that is across a long distance, not server to server in a DC, this is to my workstation in another building. Amazing. SOOO much faster than anything else!!

Thank you!!!!!!!

http://www.virtualizationimpact.com http://www.handsonvirtualization.com Twitter: @jfranconi
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Dave_Mishchenko
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Thanks for providing this. I had a download link here as well as an oem.tgz file to enable this and SSH.

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s1xth
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Does anyone know if you can enable or find a way to do SITE-TO-SITE transfers? I enabled FTP on two servers, and I tried to FXP (site to site) between the two servers and it was a no go.....

http://www.virtualizationimpact.com http://www.handsonvirtualization.com Twitter: @jfranconi
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drewdown
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,

I was wondering the same thing, I just got this working on my test ESXi install and d/l speeds are right around 21MB/s but upload is about half that. Would be nice if you could FTP from ESXi host to another.

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s1xth
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Yeah it would SWEET, I am trying to figure out if proftpd supports fxp/site to site transfers. Maybe Dave will respond with a way to do it, or someone else. The ftp feature is great, and faster than scp or anything else, but if you want to move a VM from one host to another you have to first download it than upload it. Site to site would be awesome.

http://www.virtualizationimpact.com http://www.handsonvirtualization.com Twitter: @jfranconi
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