Ubuntu – VSFTPD installed, but I can’t restart/stop it

My router (fritz.box, germany) had to be configured unlocking the higher ports in same wa outgoing as ingoing! (above: this "pasv_min.. and ...max" here inserted/prescribed by debian-vsftpd):

Adding a range of unblocked ports in the Fritz!Box-Router with the corresponding button:
"Other Applications" -> "Portokoll": TCP, von Port: 13450, bis Port: 13500 (or high-ports within a range ~50), "an Computer": RasPi, "an IP_Adresse": (outgreyed, the internal LAN-IP-Adress for my "RasPi" given by the fritz.box-router) -> and here it comes: "an Port" (=the same range!): 13450, "bis Port": 13450, and this is working fine with vsftpd and FTPS (AUTH TLS / SSL-Tranfer with OpenSSL + strong DES-CBC3-SHA cipher)...

This will forward the right ports and connect requests from and to my little RasPi-"Server" (behind the F.B.-NAT) to the incomig/outgoing external IP-request ON THE SAME RANGE OF HIGH(ER)-PORTS, like right-connected "cables" to the same ports on the internal part...

A possible vsftp-config-file "/etc/vsftpd.conf":

listen=YES
anonymous_enable=NO
local_enable=YES
write_enable=YES
dirmessage_enable=YES
use_localtime=YES
xferlog_enable=YES
connect_from_port_20=YES
secure_chroot_dir=/var/run/vsftpd/empty
pam_service_name=vsftpd
force_dot_files=YES

ssl_enable=YES
force_local_data_ssl=NO
force_local_logins_ssl=NO
allow_anon_ssl=NO
ssl_tlsv1=YES
ssl_sslv2=NO
ssl_sslv3=NO
# rsa_cert_file=/etc/ssl/private/vsftpd.pem   # not working alright, so single-lined:
rsa_cert_file=/etc/ssl/private/vsftpd.crt
rsa_private_key_file=/etc/ssl/private/vsftpd.key

pasv_enable=YES
# pasv_promiscuous=YES
# port_promiscuous=YES
pasv_addr_resolve=YES
pasv_address=[yourDNSadress.no-ip.com] # for Dynamic-DNS the routers daily changing IP.
# port_enable=YES
pasv_min_port=13450
pasv_max_port=13500
file_open_mode=0755

Ubuntu 14.04 uses user sessions which was absent in 12.04, so service is looking at the user session, not the system session, and your user isn't running vstfpd(root is). So, you will need to specify --system when you use service to start, stop or check the status of a service.

vsftpd is a soft-link to upstart, so you won't be able to run it as an unprivileged user, you will need to be root to start or stop or check the status of such a process.

Doing an ls -l on /etc/init.d/vsftpd reveals:

lrwxrwxrwx 1 root root 21 May 16  2013 /etc/init.d/vsftpd -> /lib/init/upstart-job*

which is similar to cron, resolvconf and a few more, which are all upstart jobs and need to be root to be started or stopped.

Upstart is an event-based replacement for the /sbin/init daemon which handles starting of tasks and services during boot, stopping them during shutdown and supervising them while the system is running.

These services are usually started on boot. See here for more on upstart:

• What is upstart

Refer man page of upstart if you want even more!

So, long story short, to start, stop, check status, you need to be root. You can do that as follows:

sudo service vsftpd {start|stop|status|restart}

and enter your password or use:

service vsftpd {start|stop|status|restart} --system