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    FTP for WordPress - How ?

    Scheduled Pinned Locked Moved Firewalling
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    • johnpozJ
      johnpoz LAYER 8 Global Moderator @SteveITS
      last edited by

      @steveits said in FTP for WordPress - How ?:

      WordPress prompts for FTP credentials so it can connect to that same web server (itself) and "upload" files.

      If the server running wordpress is trying to ftp to itself.. That would have zero to do with pfsense port forwards or nat or ftp anything..

      Unless your trying to access some fqdn that points to pfsense wan IP? Or your public IP directly on pfsense. But in that scenario your going to run into nat reflection issues, etc.

      If your goal is for wordpress to ftp to itself. You should have it point to its actual local IP or 127.0.0.1 etc.. or some fqdn that resolves to its local IP..

      FTP works just fine through pfsense, be it active or passive - but depending what your doing be talking to ftp server out on the public internet, or allowing clients from the internet into your server behind pfsense running ftp.. You have to understand how active and passive differ, and what your actually using.

      I would be happy to help you - but you need to be clear on what your doing. Where is the client, where is the server, are you using active or passive. And if this really is some application on some server behind pfsense trying to talk to itself - that throws in some other variables for sure. Need to clearly understand what your doing to help you.

      But at a loss to why wordpress would have to ftp to itself? That just seems insane to be honest..

      An intelligent man is sometimes forced to be drunk to spend time with his fools
      If you get confused: Listen to the Music Play
      Please don't Chat/PM me for help, unless mod related
      SG-4860 24.11 | Lab VMs 2.8, 24.11

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      • S
        SteveITS Galactic Empire @johnpoz
        last edited by

        @johnpoz said in FTP for WordPress - How ?:

        at a loss to why wordpress would have to ftp to itself?

        Take a look at the WP doc page I quoted above. WordPress by default tries to auto-update minor versions (5.6.2 to 5.6.3). It can also update plugins. To do so it needs to write to files on the web server. Looking at this from the hosting company's perspective, if PHP is running as that customer's account, then it can write files. This is normally how various PHP-as-CGI options work in the web site hosting settings.

        If it's running as, say, an Apache module, it runs as a different account and can't write to anything in the customer account (because one wouldn't want PHP to be able to write to any account on the web server). WordPress can detect that and then prompts to connect to itself via FTP, presuming the customer can connect via FTP and upload files to their own web site. So it's basically a workaround to be able to allow it to update itself.

        Pre-2.7.2/23.09: Only install packages for your version, or risk breaking it. Select your branch in System/Update/Update Settings.
        When upgrading, allow 10-15 minutes to restart, or more depending on packages and device speed.
        Upvote ๐Ÿ‘ helpful posts!

        johnpozJ D 2 Replies Last reply Reply Quote 0
        • johnpozJ
          johnpoz LAYER 8 Global Moderator @SteveITS
          last edited by

          @steveits said in FTP for WordPress - How ?:

          So it's basically a workaround to be able to allow it to update itself.

          Ah - so when say running on a hosted solution.

          Is that what the OP is trying to do, host multiple wordpress stuff on a server behind pfsense for multiple accounts?

          An intelligent man is sometimes forced to be drunk to spend time with his fools
          If you get confused: Listen to the Music Play
          Please don't Chat/PM me for help, unless mod related
          SG-4860 24.11 | Lab VMs 2.8, 24.11

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          • S
            SteveITS Galactic Empire @johnpoz
            last edited by

            @johnpoz Even one WordPress site works this way. It's about how the PHP process is running. In the olden days it was faster to run as an Apache module because running as CGI was one process per site and if it wasn't persistent (lots of RAM for hundreds or thousands of sites cheap hosting companies squeeze onto each web server) there was no opcode caching. Now usually it is run as FPM, or FastCGI. But even CGI would work for one site...they key is having PHP run as the file owner so it can update files on the web site.

            Basically, "I can't write files, but if I FTP to myself I can so let's do that."

            So as long as we're talking about WordPress installing updates to WordPress or its plugins, what OP definitely does not want to do is to allow FTP logins from the Internet.

            Pre-2.7.2/23.09: Only install packages for your version, or risk breaking it. Select your branch in System/Update/Update Settings.
            When upgrading, allow 10-15 minutes to restart, or more depending on packages and device speed.
            Upvote ๐Ÿ‘ helpful posts!

            johnpozJ D 2 Replies Last reply Reply Quote 0
            • johnpozJ
              johnpoz LAYER 8 Global Moderator @SteveITS
              last edited by

              @steveits said in FTP for WordPress - How ?:

              what OP definitely does not want to do is to allow FTP logins from the Internet.

              I would concur with that for sure... My take is he is running into some sort of reflection problem where he is attempting to ftp to the sites public IP (on the pfsense wan).

              I haven't run wordpress for years and years, and it was always on a hosted solution.. I could always fire it up on my local network to test and see what exactly is needed for it to work..

              An intelligent man is sometimes forced to be drunk to spend time with his fools
              If you get confused: Listen to the Music Play
              Please don't Chat/PM me for help, unless mod related
              SG-4860 24.11 | Lab VMs 2.8, 24.11

              D 1 Reply Last reply Reply Quote 0
              • D
                dhenzler @SteveITS
                last edited by

                @steveits
                It worked flawlessly with my Cisco RV-130 firewall
                What more do I need to say...

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                • D
                  dhenzler @johnpoz
                  last edited by

                  @johnpoz

                  If I can't host it myself, I don't do it ! Simple as that... I like knowing how to fix stuff that I use.

                  I'm surprised that no one else has had this issue. WordPress is still highly used eh?

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                  • D
                    dhenzler @SteveITS
                    last edited by

                    @steveits
                    I'm self hosted, and it worked flawlessly when I was using a Cisco RV-130 firewall.

                    Go figure !

                    S 1 Reply Last reply Reply Quote 0
                    • S
                      SteveITS Galactic Empire @dhenzler
                      last edited by

                      @dhenzler Then I would suggest something changed in the web server config to change how PHP is running. See if it is set to run as FPM, or FastCGI, or CGI, on your web site. Otherwise, as noted try "localhost" or your web server's hostname, with your FTP login and password.

                      Pre-2.7.2/23.09: Only install packages for your version, or risk breaking it. Select your branch in System/Update/Update Settings.
                      When upgrading, allow 10-15 minutes to restart, or more depending on packages and device speed.
                      Upvote ๐Ÿ‘ helpful posts!

                      D 1 Reply Last reply Reply Quote 0
                      • D
                        dhenzler @SteveITS
                        last edited by

                        @steveits
                        Things don't generally change by themselves. Unless doing an update killed it... I do apt-update and apt-upgrade periodically.

                        Just watched a Youtube on the subject, and the guy said this package worked with no additional info added. I'm going to check to see if the update/upgrade killed my ftp. Then will check it again.

                        60119ad6-842c-4de7-91a0-4a88cddcd303-image.png

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                        • S
                          SteveITS Galactic Empire @dhenzler
                          last edited by

                          @dhenzler I think you need to clarify what you're trying to do. Are you trying to have WordPress connect to itself to update all things WordPress? Or have external users connecting to your FTP server?

                          Pre-2.7.2/23.09: Only install packages for your version, or risk breaking it. Select your branch in System/Update/Update Settings.
                          When upgrading, allow 10-15 minutes to restart, or more depending on packages and device speed.
                          Upvote ๐Ÿ‘ helpful posts!

                          D 1 Reply Last reply Reply Quote 1
                          • D
                            dhenzler @SteveITS
                            last edited by

                            @steveits

                            I'm trying to restore the plugin update (using ftp or ftps) as prescribed by the WordPress software. This more or less automatically accesses the update info (over WAN) and completes the update.

                            This is all controlled by Wordpress, the only thing you need to do is provide your WAN IP and login / passwd for ftp

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                            • S
                              SteveITS Galactic Empire @dhenzler
                              last edited by

                              @dhenzler I think your misconception is that no one connects to your web server to install updates. WordPress connects to its own server. Try localhost as the FTP server and see if it works.

                              Pre-2.7.2/23.09: Only install packages for your version, or risk breaking it. Select your branch in System/Update/Update Settings.
                              When upgrading, allow 10-15 minutes to restart, or more depending on packages and device speed.
                              Upvote ๐Ÿ‘ helpful posts!

                              D 1 Reply Last reply Reply Quote 0
                              • D
                                dhenzler @SteveITS
                                last edited by

                                @steveits

                                localhost doesn't have Internet access...

                                I'm absolutely sure that it works when the port is open. I've had to move on to other issues like a fence that burned down in a neighbors out of control weed burn...

                                Maybe continue at another time.

                                Thanks

                                S 1 Reply Last reply Reply Quote 0
                                • S
                                  SteveITS Galactic Empire @dhenzler
                                  last edited by

                                  @dhenzler said in FTP for WordPress - How ?:

                                  localhost doesn't have Internet access

                                  But, it's a web server...?

                                  "Fire bad" as they say, sorry to hear about that.

                                  Pre-2.7.2/23.09: Only install packages for your version, or risk breaking it. Select your branch in System/Update/Update Settings.
                                  When upgrading, allow 10-15 minutes to restart, or more depending on packages and device speed.
                                  Upvote ๐Ÿ‘ helpful posts!

                                  D 3 Replies Last reply Reply Quote 0
                                  • D
                                    dhenzler @SteveITS
                                    last edited by

                                    @steveits IMG_1035.jpg IMG_1034.jpg IMG_1033.jpg

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                                    • D
                                      dhenzler @SteveITS
                                      last edited by

                                      @steveits
                                      https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=T4MOfg05pag

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                                      • D
                                        dhenzler @SteveITS
                                        last edited by

                                        @steveits

                                        You were right localhost works !๐Ÿ˜

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