vsftpd - Cannot upload files to the server. Error 553

Question

I have installed and configured vsftpd on EC2. Reading & Writing was working until I restarted the server. I checked the usual suspects chmod -R 777 /home/data_feed, chown -R datafeed:ftpuser /home/data_feed. But still can't write to the server. The only thing I get is a cryptic 553 error

ftp> put ~/Downloads/test.jpg
local: /Users/ram/Downloads/test.jpg remote: /Users/ram/Downloads/test.jpg
229 Entering Extended Passive Mode (|||12011|).
553 Could not create file.

Here is the conf file

ubuntu@******:~$ cat /etc/vsftpd.conf | grep -v ^#
listen=YES
anonymous_enable=NO
local_enable=YES
write_enable=YES
local_umask=022
dirmessage_enable=YES
use_localtime=YES
xferlog_enable=YES
connect_from_port_20=YES
nopriv_user=ubuntu
secure_chroot_dir=/var/run/vsftpd/empty
pam_service_name=vsftpd
rsa_cert_file=/etc/ssl/private/vsftpd.pem
pasv_enable=YES
pasv_max_port=12100
pasv_min_port=12000
port_enable=YES
log_ftp_protocol=YES

Here is the debug log

Wed Sep 11 18:58:57 2013 [pid 2] CONNECT: Client "**.***.*.***"
Wed Sep 11 18:58:57 2013 [pid 2] FTP response: Client "**.***.*.***", "220 (vsFTPd 2.3.5)"
Wed Sep 11 18:58:57 2013 [pid 2] FTP command: Client "**.***.*.***", "USER savings_data_feed"
Wed Sep 11 18:58:57 2013 [pid 2] [data_feed] FTP response: Client "**.***.*.***", "331    Please specify the password."
Wed Sep 11 18:59:03 2013 [pid 2] [data_feed] FTP command: Client "**.***.*.***", "PASS <password>"
Wed Sep 11 18:59:03 2013 [pid 1] [data_feed] OK LOGIN: Client "**.***.*.***"
Wed Sep 11 18:59:03 2013 [pid 3] [data_feed] FTP response: Client "**.***.*.***", "230 Login successful."
Wed Sep 11 18:59:03 2013 [pid 3] [data_feed] FTP command: Client "**.***.*.***", "SYST"
Wed Sep 11 18:59:03 2013 [pid 3] [data_feed] FTP response: Client "**.***.*.***", "215 UNIX Type: L8"
Wed Sep 11 18:59:03 2013 [pid 3] [data_feed] FTP command: Client "**.***.*.***", "FEAT"
Wed Sep 11 18:59:03 2013 [pid 3] [data_feed] FTP response: Client "**.***.*.***", "211-Features:"
Wed Sep 11 18:59:03 2013 [pid 3] [data_feed] FTP response: Client "**.***.*.***", " EPRT??"
Wed Sep 11 18:59:03 2013 [pid 3] [data_feed] FTP response: Client "**.***.*.***", " EPSV??"
Wed Sep 11 18:59:03 2013 [pid 3] [data_feed] FTP response: Client "**.***.*.***", " MDTM??"
Wed Sep 11 18:59:03 2013 [pid 3] [data_feed] FTP response: Client "**.***.*.***", " PASV??"
Wed Sep 11 18:59:03 2013 [pid 3] [data_feed] FTP response: Client "**.***.*.***", " REST STREAM??"
Wed Sep 11 18:59:03 2013 [pid 3] [data_feed] FTP response: Client "**.***.*.***", " SIZE??"
Wed Sep 11 18:59:03 2013 [pid 3] [data_feed] FTP response: Client "**.***.*.***", " TVFS??"
Wed Sep 11 18:59:03 2013 [pid 3] [data_feed] FTP response: Client "**.***.*.***", " UTF8??"
Wed Sep 11 18:59:03 2013 [pid 3] [data_feed] FTP response: Client "**.***.*.***", "211 End"
Wed Sep 11 18:59:03 2013 [pid 3] [data_feed] FTP command: Client "**.***.*.***", "PWD"
Wed Sep 11 18:59:03 2013 [pid 3] [data_feed] FTP response: Client "**.***.*.***", "257 "/home/data_feed""
Wed Sep 11 18:59:04 2013 [pid 3] [data_feed] FTP command: Client "**.***.*.***", "EPSV"
Wed Sep 11 18:59:04 2013 [pid 3] [data_feed] FTP response: Client "**.***.*.***", "229 Entering Extended Passive Mode (|||12081|)."
Wed Sep 11 18:59:05 2013 [pid 3] [data_feed] FTP command: Client "**.***.*.***", "LIST"
Wed Sep 11 18:59:05 2013 [pid 3] [data_feed] FTP response: Client "**.***.*.***", "150 Here comes the directory listing."
Wed Sep 11 18:59:05 2013 [pid 3] [data_feed] FTP response: Client "**.***.*.***", "226 Directory send OK."
Wed Sep 11 18:59:18 2013 [pid 3] [data_feed] FTP command: Client "**.***.*.***", "TYPE I"
Wed Sep 11 18:59:18 2013 [pid 3] [data_feed] FTP response: Client "**.***.*.***", "200 Switching to Binary mode."
Wed Sep 11 18:59:18 2013 [pid 3] [data_feed] FTP command: Client "**.***.*.***", "EPSV"
Wed Sep 11 18:59:18 2013 [pid 3] [data_feed] FTP response: Client "**.***.*.***", "229 Entering Extended Passive Mode (|||12011|)."
Wed Sep 11 18:59:19 2013 [pid 3] [data_feed] FTP command: Client "**.***.*.***", "STOR /Users/ram/Downloads/test.jpg"
Wed Sep 11 18:59:19 2013 [pid 3] [data_feed] FTP response: Client "**.***.*.***", "553 Could not create file."
Wed Sep 11 18:59:19 2013 [pid 3] [data_feed] FAIL UPLOAD: Client "**.***.*.***", "/Users/ram/Downloads/test.jpg", 0.00Kbyte/sec

Thanks in advance.

Answer 1

You are specifying a full path which does not exist on the remote server.

ftp> put ~/Downloads/test.jpg
local: /Users/ram/Downloads/test.jpg
remote: /Users/ram/Downloads/test.jpg

See? You probably want to lcd ~/Downloads then put test.jpg, or switch to a client which allows you to specify a complete local path for put and still only uses the basename for the remote file name.