Starting up the sftp service

[linuxaid]

Hello,

I have been trying to start an sftp service on my redhat linux box version

Red Hat Enterprise Linux Server release 5.1 (Tikanga)

To no avail.

I don't have access to vsftpd which would appear easy otherwise.

So I am trying with sftp-server.

I tried adding Subsystem
Subsystem sftp /usr/libexec/openssh/sftp-server

in my sshd_config file.

But it doesn't appear to start even if I try to start sshd.

Anyone know how I can get it up and starting without restarting the server? or if there is any other way to get sftp access?

thanks a lot,
linuxaid

[Lazydog]

OK, you show nothing that shows it is not working.

What are you doing that makes you think it isn't running?
Examples please.

[Draciron]

SFTP should be handled by ssh. use the command scp too sftp files back and forth between a machine. So for example if you were moving files between a machine called gizmo and bebop. From gizmo you would use

scp somebody@bebop:/home/somebody/test.txt /home/somebody/

To send a file too the sftp server use

scp test.txt somebody@bebop:/home/somebody/test.txt

Using Krusader select tools --> new network connection and fill in user name and password. There are ways to do it from Nautalus and other file managers but the 2 pane display of Krusader really helps you keep which files are on what machine strait and you can have a dozen machines open at same time using Krusader and it's fairly easy to move files between them without getting confused as to what machine is doing what and whether your copying or moving and such.

WinSCP :: Download

From a windows machine install winSCP and connect that way. Same basic concept as Krusader but runs on windows.

On the Mac I like Fugu as an SFTP/SCP client.
Fugu (Mac) - Download

There are also Linux GUI's specifically written for SCP such as kscp. Pull up yumex or gnome yum or your favorite yum gui and do a search for SCP and you'll find a few others. I personally find Krusader to be much easier and powerful than any other I've tried. I use Krusader for my file management anyway so it's also convenient.

Some things to remember about scp. -r is recursive but do not use *.* if you want to grab hidden files and files that do not have an extension. use * with no dot if you want to grab everything. scp is a very powerful utility. Man page it and you'll find a ton of useful features that might help you.

If your moving quite a few files frequently I'd suggest using keys instead of password authentication. It's more secure.

Always remember to check your sshd configuration and make CERTAIN allowrootlogin is set to no. You can always su - after sshing in which takes mere seconds. If you allow root logins you are vulnerable to brute force hacks on your machine through SSH.

[linuxaid]

Thanks for the advice.

This became a bit embarrassing..... but after restarting the sshd service twice it began to work again, without me changing anything. Perhaps it was some kind of hang up.