Hi All,

I'm having issues with my Linode Server running Debian 4.0. It is running and serving up webpages, but I can't FTP to it to access files and make edits.

When I reboot the system, it goes through the normal start up options, but hangs with the message "INIT: no more processes left in this runlevel" after "Running local boot scripts (/etc/rc.local)".

Linode Support recommended that I "boot with the "init=/bin/bash" configuration profile option, connect to lish, run: "mount -o remount,rw /" and then make any repairs to your config" but being a relative Linode Newbie, I'm not exactly sure how to do that.

I tried creating a recovery boot image using Fennix, but I got the same error. Any thoughts? Suggestions? Links to a detailed way of working through this? Any help is appreciated.

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We're all in for it; please shut the door.

You might want to try using scp to transfer files instead of FTP. Download WinSCP and away you go! Much more secure and easy to use than FTP.

What's the error your FTP client gives?

That doesn't really solve my current issue though does it? I still wont be able to connect using WinSCP.

_________________
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We're all in for it; please shut the door.

I simply get a "connection refused" error message.

_________________
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We're all in for it; please shut the door.

Do you have an FTP server installed? Is it running?

Try:

ps aux | grep ftp

as root.

If I'm remembering correctly, "INIT: no more processes left in this runlevel" is the last message that init outputs before a shutdown or reboot. Did you issue a reboot command from within your Linode? I haven't tried in a while, but I remember that not working on my Linode so I always issues reboots from Lish or the Linode Manager--that's the web interface. If you're getting the init error after a reboot command, try doing the reboots through the Linode Manager. If it's happening when you try to boot from the Linode Manager, it sounds like you're either booting into the wrong run level or you have something in your rc scripts issuing a shutdown--which would be really weird.

That said, I have to concur with anderiv - FTP is antiquated and insecure. SCP is much better and has the advantage that if you can SSH to your Linode, you can move files with SCP.

--James

I do have an FTP server installed, and I suspect that it's not running, which is why I can't connect. In the start-up process I see Apache fire up as it should, but not the FTP server, which is why I assumed webpages were still being served, but I couldn't access the Linode.

irgeek: Yes, I've issued restart commands from both the Linode Manager and from the console. Both end up the same. I should also note that this has been running fine for weeks now, and suddenly started having this issue, which makes it more perplexing.

I'm also on a Mac, so any suggestions for an SCP program that runs there?

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We're all in for it; please shut the door.

I use Cyberduck and SFTP (SSH File Transfer Protocol) to transfer files to/from my Linode on my Mac.

Ok. I use the same. And thats the very program thats giving me connection refused messages.

_________________
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We're all in for it; please shut the door.

You should be able to use SFTP even though your FTP server isn't running, SFTP works off SSH...

Ok. I've been using "FTP" in the generic sense, but I have been connecting via "SFTP" and I'm still not able to sign in. I'm getting an error from Cyberduck that says: "The SFTP Subsystem could not be initialized"

_________________
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We're all in for it; please shut the door.

SFTP uses SSH; check to be sure your OpenSSH server is running.

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Educational resources for parents and teachers: http://www.ClassHelper.org

Enable sftp in your /etc/ssh/sshd_config, it should be the last line and look something like this:
Subsystem sftp /usr/lib/ssh/sftp-server
If that is commented, uncomment it, or if it doesn't exist, add it in.

As for your FTP server:
* what FTP server do you have installed?
* Can you show me the output of netstat -tap | grep 21
* Double check your config settings.
* (Maybe) enable local account login