VMware ESX / ESXi 5.x / 6.x FTP service

Need FTP service on your VMware ESX / ESXi 5.x or 6.x? Tired of transfering files over SCP? Well, here’s the cure: FTP service on ESX / ESXi host that can survive boot.

First of all, download ProFTPD:

Transfer the file to desired location in host, i.e. datastore root or /tmp

Enable and open up SSH shell to host (Putty will do the job) and insert the following command: ‘esxcli software vib install --no-sig-check -d /location where you uploaded the file/ProFTPD-1.3.3-8-offline_bundle.zip‘, i.e. ‘esxcli software vib install --no-sig-check -d /tmp/ProFTPD-1.3.3-8-offline_bundle.zip‘

The result should be:

Installation Result
Message: Operation finished successfully.
Reboot Required: false
VIBs Installed: VFrontDe_bootbank_ProFTPD_1.3.3-8
VIBs Removed:
VIBs Skipped:
~ #

If you encounter an error, it is mostly caused by host not having a hostname. Modify the configuration in host’s console and insert a hostname and DNS server settings. Apply and restart the management agent, and retry the ProFTPD installation.