Q:

Configuring vsftpd with nginx on ubuntu

I have vsftpd installed on Ubuntu 12.04LTS along with nginx, php, and sql on an Amazon ec2 instance.  The web server is good to go, but I'm having trouble connecting to the FTP server.  I'm not quite sure how to set the privileges or what configuration options I might be missing. 
By default, the location of the web root is at /usr/share/nginx/www and it is owned by root:root.  The web server runs as user www-data in the group www-data.
I've opened port 21 and set the passive ports in the ec2 backend and ufw firewall.
In vsftpd.conf, I have:
...
anonymous_enable=NO
local_enable=YES
local_umask=0027
chroot_local_user=YES
pasv_enable=YES
pas_max_port=12100
pasv_min_port=12000
port_enable=YES
...

Now, I'm unsure how to create the FTP user that when I login, displays my web directory with write access.  I've tried it a few different ways, but I keep running into errors (either no connection, no write access, or very slow timeouts.)

A:

First, be sure to open ports 35000:36000 on the firewall to permit PASV FTP.
Then for your /etc/vsftpd.conf 
listen=YES
anonymous_enable=NO
local_enable=YES
local_umask=022
dirmessage_enable=YES
xferlog_enable=YES
connect_from_port_20=YES
hide_ids=YES
use_localtime=YES
nopriv_user=ftp
chroot_local_user=YES
secure_chroot_dir=/var/run/vsftpd
pam_service_name=vsftpd
guest_enable=YES
guest_username=ftp
user_config_dir=/etc/vsftpd_user_conf
ftpd_banner=My FTP Server
virtual_use_local_privs=YES
anon_upload_enable=NO
async_abor_enable=YES
pasv_min_port=35000
pasv_max_port=36000
pasv_enable=YES
port_enable=YES
write_enable=NO

Then to create a user, run,
/bin/htpasswd /etc/ftpd.passwd myusername

Then create the accompanying file in /etc/vsftpd_user_conf/myusername
guest_username=www-data
local_root=/usr/share/nginx/www
write_enable=yes

The user connects as the guest_username stated, so it allows you to have multiple FTP users with different access, but all the while, preserving important file-level owner permissions.
That will give you a nice simple, chrooted, secure, isolated and manageable FTP configuration.
You're welcome.

