Well if you run this command (service vsftpd status), and its not recognized then that tells me ftp is not installed.

Yes ftp would not be installed on the server. However that should not stop filezilla on my windows 7 from connecting to the server machine isnt it?

I'm confused how would you connect to a ftp server if the ftp server is not even installed? Filezilla is a client to connect to a ftp server (Filezilla windows 7) doesn't mean anything if the ftp server is not running.

You would use Filezilla or windows 7 to connect to a ftp server they are nothing more than a ftp client.

If he is using sftp, then ssh might be handling the server connection

My .02.

Edit: and indeed, that appears to be the case per the topic.

This is the help page of Linode http://library.linode.com/networking/fi ... buntu-9.10

It says nothing about installing a ftp server. Also when the linode was initially configured, no ftp server was explicitly installed. And also if ftp server was the problem, login via putty through SSH should have been possible isnt it?

Run this command

service ssh status

I get the output

ssh start/running, process 9577

When you try to connect using putty you are putting in the wan ip of your Linode correct?

Yes... I have tried both ways... with the ip of the linode as well as the host name... putty waits for a while and gives a pop up Server unexpectedly closed the connection.

Run this command on your Linode and report back with its output.

grep -v "^#" /etc/ssh/sshd_config

Here is the output

IgnoreRhosts yes
RhostsRSAAuthentication no
HostbasedAuthentication no

PermitEmptyPasswords no

ChallengeResponseAuthentication no




X11Forwarding yes
X11DisplayOffset 10
PrintMotd no
PrintLastLog yes
TCPKeepAlive yes


AcceptEnv LANG LC_*

Subsystem sftp /usr/lib/openssh/sftp-server

UsePAM yes

==================================
Also the content of my sshd_Config file is as follows

Port 22
# Use these options to restrict which interfaces/protocols sshd will bind to
#ListenAddress ::
#ListenAddress 0.0.0.0
Protocol 2
# HostKeys for protocol version 2
HostKey /etc/ssh/ssh_host_rsa_key
HostKey /etc/ssh/ssh_host_dsa_key
#Privilege Separation is turned on for security
UsePrivilegeSeparation yes

# Lifetime and size of ephemeral version 1 server key
KeyRegenerationInterval 3600
ServerKeyBits 768

# Logging
SyslogFacility AUTH
LogLevel INFO



I also posted to the support again and they said it would be better to reconfigure the SSH, by looking at at the ssh config file from a good system and making the necessary changes.

Please look for this line and tell me what is says


# Change to no to disable tunnelled clear text passwords
PasswordAuthentication no



When you try to connect to your Linode using putty are you getting a error about public keys or no authentication method available.

No such error. When I reboot my linode I get the putty security warning about the rsa key.

The putty security alert as seen in the link below is all that I get, which I guess is normal.
http://library.linode.com/networking/using-putty

When I try via putty, all I can do is, enter the IP, following which it asks me for the login, which I mention as root, followed by the password prompt, which I enter. The cursor stops blinking there and after about 30 seconds I get the windows pop up alert saying "Server unexpectedly closed network connection"

Look for this line and report back.

# Authentication:
LoginGraceTime 120
PermitRootLogin no
StrictModes yes

There isnt any such line which says disable rootlogin, however there is another which reads
PermitRootLogin yes

========================================
I am also pasting the entire sshd_config file below.

# Package generated configuration file
# See the sshd_config(5) manpage for details

# What ports, IPs and protocols we listen for
Port 22
# Use these options to restrict which interfaces/protocols sshd will bind to
#ListenAddress ::
#ListenAddress 0.0.0.0
Protocol 2
# HostKeys for protocol version 2
HostKey /etc/ssh/ssh_host_rsa_key
HostKey /etc/ssh/ssh_host_dsa_key
#Privilege Separation is turned on for security
UsePrivilegeSeparation yes

# Lifetime and size of ephemeral version 1 server key
KeyRegenerationInterval 3600
ServerKeyBits 768

# Logging
SyslogFacility AUTH
LogLevel INFO


# Authentication:
LoginGraceTime 120
PermitRootLogin yes
StrictModes yes

RSAAuthentication yes
PubkeyAuthentication yes
#AuthorizedKeysFile %h/.ssh/authorized_keys

# Don't read the user's ~/.rhosts and ~/.shosts files
IgnoreRhosts yes
# For this to work you will also need host keys in /etc/ssh_known_hosts
RhostsRSAAuthentication no
# similar for protocol version 2
HostbasedAuthentication no
# Uncomment if you don't trust ~/.ssh/known_hosts for RhostsRSAAuthentication
#IgnoreUserKnownHosts yes

# To enable empty passwords, change to yes (NOT RECOMMENDED)
PermitEmptyPasswords no

# Change to yes to enable challenge-response passwords (beware issues with
# some PAM modules and threads)
ChallengeResponseAuthentication no

# Change to no to disable tunnelled clear text passwords
#PasswordAuthentication yes

# Kerberos options
#KerberosAuthentication no
#KerberosGetAFSToken no
#KerberosOrLocalPasswd yes
#KerberosTicketCleanup yes

# GSSAPI options
#GSSAPIAuthentication no
#GSSAPICleanupCredentials yes

X11Forwarding yes
X11DisplayOffset 10
PrintMotd no
PrintLastLog yes
TCPKeepAlive yes
#UseLogin no

#MaxStartups 10:30:60
#Banner /etc/issue.net

# Allow client to pass locale environment variables
AcceptEnv LANG LC_*

Subsystem sftp /usr/lib/openssh/sftp-server

# Set this to 'yes' to enable PAM authentication, account processing,
# and session processing. If this is enabled, PAM authentication will
# be allowed through the ChallengeResponseAuthentication and
# PasswordAuthentication. Depending on your PAM configuration,
# PAM authentication via ChallengeResponseAuthentication may bypass
# the setting of "PermitRootLogin without-password".
# If you just want the PAM account and session checks to run without
# PAM authentication, then enable this but set PasswordAuthentication
# and ChallengeResponseAuthentication to 'no'.
UsePAM yes

Hope this helps.