How to run vsftpd service when a container starts

General
1

Dear All,

I am facing a problem while setting up a docker container for FTP server. Any help will be appreciated.

My requirement is to run a docker container with ftp service with out any intervention. ie, vsftp service should run when docker starts and I tried to create a container with below steps but service is not starting automatically.

Things I have done.

  1. Docker rhel image imported and installed vsftpd service and configured ftp service.
  2. Added entry in /etc/rc.local " /usr/sbin/vsftpd /etc/vsftpd/vsftpd.conf " to run the service at startup
  3. commit the image to new name
  4. Created a container using new image and I could see all the configuration but ftp service is failed to start.
  5. Tried execute the sh /etc/rc.local and service is started ( Note : execute permission were given to /etc/rc.local )
2

Please share the exact command you used to start your container. I can only assume that you did not specify a restart policy in your command.

Also a ftp server might not the best kind of service to containerize, see https://stackoverflow.com/a/60692544/3460948. You would need to publish a huge range of passv ports for the container, which is possible, but will add a huge delay while starting the container.

5

Thanks @meyay for your update.

I have installed vsftpd package on docker and configured user then allowed firewall port.

Container started using the below command

" docker run -it rhe_image.tar"

If I run vsftp after the container starts, It is working as expected but I want to start the vsftpd automatically when container starts.

To achieve this I have added below entry in /etc/rc.local but not working

" /usr/bin/vsftpd /etc/vsftpd/vsftpd.conf"

I am new to docker and not aware about restart policy.

Thanks for your time to review this question

7

How is:

the response to this:

?

I specificly asked for the exact(!) command and not for a similar or redacted command.

8

@meyay Sorry for the confusion.

Recreated the issue and these are the steps I followed.

We already saved a rhel image from our internet machine with name rhel.tar and moved to docker host which is not having internet connectivity.

“docker image load -i rhel.tar”

“docker run -it --name rhel_base_os -v /sonas/sdclib/rhelyumrepo/rhel7.9:/mnt -v /docker_storage:/docker_storage registry.redhat.io/rhel”

executed below commands inside docker

created yum repo on docker

“yum install net-tools iproute vsftpd”

“groupadd -g 207 opr”

“useradd -u 207 -g 207 -d /docker_storage/opr -m -s /bin/bash opr”

“passwd opr”

“chmod +x /etc/rc.d/rc.local”

added below line in /etc/rc.local

“/usr/sbin/vsftpd /etc/vsftpd/vsftpd.conf” -------> Got this from “/usr/lib/systemd/system/vsftpd.service”

Executed the following commands from docker host

“docker commit rhel_base_os rhel_ftp_server”

“docker run -it --name ftp_server1 rhel_ftp_server”

checked “ps -ef | grep vsftpd” but vsftpd service is not running.

9

You might want to search the forum for differences between (docker) containers and vms. You approach looks like you try to force vm patterns to the container world.

May I suggest to start of with a pre-existing image from Docker Hub, like fauria/vsftpd ? You can take a peek into its Dockerfile (in its github repo) and build up understanding on how to properly build an image…

Also, I’d like to suggest this fabulous free self-paced docker training: https://container.training/intro-selfpaced.yml.html. It helps a lot if you know at least the basics… knowledge beyond the basics doesn’t hurt either.

10

@meyay Sorry. I am new to docker and don’t have complete knowledge about docker.
Thanks for the link. I will go through this

11

Don’t be afraid of the number of slides, you can rush thru most of them within seconds. Perform all excercices to get a better understanding. Those are realy good training slides. Its definitly worth the time you spend to work them true!

Once you get a better understanding, things will get more clear :slight_smile:

12

Yeah no of pages are more it seems but contents are less in each slide and it can read fast.

Thanks for your guidance

13

@meyay
I have gone through the document. It was very helpful for me.

And I created a new container for ftp by using the rhel base image.

Now I am able to start a container which start ftp service automatically.

15

Thank you @dewggg1150