How to setup Vsftpd for anonymous downloads in Ubuntu

Run the following command to install the vsftpd package.

root@linuxhelp1:~# apt-get install vsftpd -y 
Reading package lists... Done
Building dependency tree       
Reading state information... Done
The following NEW packages will be installed:
  vsftpd
0 upgraded, 1 newly installed, 0 to remove and 85 not upgraded.
.
.
.
Processing triggers for systemd (229-4ubuntu7) ...
Processing triggers for ureadahead (0.100.0-19) ...
Processing triggers for man-db (2.7.5-1) ...
Setting up vsftpd (3.0.3-3ubuntu2) ...
Processing triggers for systemd (229-4ubuntu7) ...
Processing triggers for ureadahead (0.100.0-19) ...

Open the firewall for the vsftpd access and check the status of the firewall.

root@linuxhelp1:~# ufw enable 

Firewall is active and enabled on system startup

root@linuxhelp1:~# ufw status 
Status: active

Run the following command to allow the ftp, ftp-data on the firewall and check the status.

root@linuxhelp1:~# ufw allow ftp-data 
Rule added
Rule added (v6)
root@linuxhelp1:~# ufw allow ftp
Rule added
Rule added (v6)
root@linuxhelp1:~# ufw status 
Status: active

To Action From
-- ------ ----
20/tcp ALLOW Anywhere
21/tcp ALLOW Anywhere
20/tcp (v6) ALLOW Anywhere (v6)
21/tcp (v6) ALLOW Anywhere (v6)

Create a directory by running the following command.

root@linuxhelp1:~# mkdir -p /var/ftp/pub 

Set the owner and group permission by running the following command.

root@linuxhelp1:~# chown nobody:nogroup /var/ftp/pub 

Now Create a test file inside the directory.

root@linuxhelp1:~#  echo " Welcome To Vsftpd Test File"  | sudo tee /var/ftp/pub/test.txt 
Welcome To Vsftpd Test File

To configure the Anonymous access

Run the following command to configuring the anonymous access. Open vsftpd configuration file and make the changes as shown below.

root@linuxhelp1:~# vim /etc/vsftpd.conf 
#
# Allow anonymous FTP? (Disabled by default).
anonymous_enable=YES
#
# Uncomment this to allow local users to log in.
local_enable=NO
#

Then navigate to the bottom of the file and add the following lines into it.

#
# Point users at the directory we created earlier.
anon_root=/var/ftp/
#
# Stop prompting for a password on the command line.
no_anon_password=YES
#
# Show the user and group as ftp:ftp, regardless of the owner.
hide_ids=YES
#
# Limit the range of ports that can be used for passive FTP
pasv_min_port=40000
pasv_max_port=50000

Finally restart the vsftpd service by running the following command.

root@linuxhelp1:~# systemctl restart vsftpd
root@linuxhelp1:~# systemctl status vsftpd 
? vsftpd.service - vsftpd FTP server
   Loaded: loaded (/lib/systemd/system/vsftpd.service  enabled  vendor preset: enabled)
   Active: active (running) since Tue 2016-09-20 14:50:43 IST  29s ago
  Process: 48544 ExecStartPre=/bin/mkdir -p /var/run/vsftpd/empty (code=exited, status=0/SUCCESS)
 Main PID: 48548 (vsftpd)
   CGroup: /system.slice/vsftpd.service
           ??48548 /usr/sbin/vsftpd /etc/vsftpd.conf

Sep 20 14:50:42 linuxhelp1 systemd[1]: Starting vsftpd FTP server...
Sep 20 14:50:43 linuxhelp1 systemd[1]: Started vsftpd FTP server.

Open the browser and navigate to http://< IP_address> /

Click on pub, open test.txt . Then right-click to save the file.

Passive mode allows users to avoid changing local firewall configurations to permit the server and client to connect.

root@linuxhelp1:~# ftp -p 192.168.5.151 
When prompted for a username, you can enter either " ftp"  or " anonymous" . They’ re equivalent, so we’ ll use the shorter " ftp" :
Connected to 192.168.5.151.
220 (vsFTPd 3.0.3)
Name (192.168.5.151:root): ftp
After pressing enter, you should receive the following:
230 Login successful.
Remote system type is UNIX.
Using binary mode to transfer files.
ftp> 

Ensure that passive mode is working as expected:
ftp>  ls
227 Entering Passive Mode (192,168,5,151,175,245).
150 Here comes the directory listing.
drwxr-xr-x 2 ftp ftp 4096 Sep 20 14:43 pub
226 Directory send OK.

As the anonymous user, you should be able to transfer the file to your local machine with the get command as shown below.

ftp>  cd pub
250 Directory successfully changed.
ftp>  get test.txt
local: test.txt remote: test.txt
227 Entering Passive Mode (192,168,5,151,158,62).
150 Opening BINARY mode data connection for test.txt (28 bytes).
226 Transfer complete.
28 bytes received in 0.01 secs (2.9564 kB/s)

ftp>  put test.txt upload.txt
local: test.txt remote: upload.txt
227 Entering Passive Mode (192,168,5,151,187,129).
550 Permission denied.

root@linuxhelp1:~# ftp -p 192.168.5.151 
Connected to 192.168.5.151.
220 (vsFTPd 3.0.3)
Name (192.168.5.151:root): user1
530 This FTP server is anonymous only.
Login failed.