FTP from FPBX17 (Debian 12 Bookworm) to Windows Server 2019

We have spun up a new FPBX17 server on a Dell ESXi server. We are currently working on setting up our FTP backup to a file share server (also on an ESXI server, on the same VLAN too). In FPBX, FileStore and the backup and restore module are configured correctly. On the Windows server, we do not have IIS blocking any IP addresses. We have also confirmed that our FTP service user account is working and that we have the correct credentials in our FPBX system. I followed the FreePBX deployment process (onto Debian 12) by using the instructions here: https://sangomakb.atlassian.net/wiki/spaces/FP/pages/230326391/FreePBX+17+Installation

Is it possible I am missing an FTP component on the Debian server? The Windows server is configured correctly, as we still use FTP to back up our old FPBX15 server.

Help a noob out, plz.

Thoughts or opinions are greatly appreciated. If more information is needed please feel free to ask. Thanks!

What is the actual issue?

In the Linux world, you will find that scp/(rsync over scp) is a preferred method over FTP/SFTP for many reasons. Windowsnow has WSL to make that easy

First of all, try to use Linux ftp command to confirm you can connect to your windows FTP server from Freepbx server.

If FTP connectivity is fine then something could be from Freepbx level.

As @BlazeStudios asked , please share the issue detail and if its backup related then what does the /var/log/asterisk/backup.log file says?

Regards
Kapil

A backup file is never created. Here is a snippet of the code that is returned after the backup job fails:

Finished Cleaning up
Finished created backup file: 20250120-045934-1737349174-17.0.19.23-1995048657.tar.gz
Performing Local Maintenance
Finished Local Maintenance
Saving to selected Filestore locations
Unable to login/authenticate with FTP
Finished Saving to selected Filestore locations
Performing Remote Maintenance
Unable to list contents for ‘Test-FPBX-17’, shallow listing

Reason: Unable to login/authenticate with FTP
Finished Remote Maintenance
There were errors during the backup process
Unable to login/authenticate with FTP
There were warnings during the backup process
The module callback returned no data, No backup created
The module callerid returned no data, No backup created
The module calllimit returned no data, No backup created
The module conferencespro returned no data, No backup created
The module miscdests returned no data, No backup created
The module setcid returned no data, No backup created
The module ttsengines returned no data, No backup created

Finished Cleaning up
Finished created backup file: 20250120-045934-1737349174-17.0.19.23-1995048657.tar.gz
Performing Local Maintenance
Finished Local Maintenance
Saving to selected Filestore locations
Unable to login/authenticate with FTP
Finished Saving to selected Filestore locations
Performing Remote Maintenance
Unable to list contents for ‘Test-FPBX-17’, shallow listing

Reason: Unable to login/authenticate with FTP
Finished Remote Maintenance
There were errors during the backup process
Unable to login/authenticate with FTP
There were warnings during the backup process
The module callback returned no data, No backup created
The module callerid returned no data, No backup created
The module calllimit returned no data, No backup created
The module conferencespro returned no data, No backup created
The module miscdests returned no data, No backup created
The module setcid returned no data, No backup created
The module ttsengines returned no data, No backup created

Kapil,

I was able to pull this snippet of the logs from the location you specified:

Cleaning up data generated by Sms
[2025-01-20 04:59:39] [31f34164-fb94-4b23-abf8-70ed164d4748.DEBUG]: Removing /tmp/sms_dump
[2025-01-20 04:59:39] [31f34164-fb94-4b23-abf8-70ed164d4748.INFO]: Finished Cleaning up
[2025-01-20 04:59:39] [31f34164-fb94-4b23-abf8-70ed164d4748.INFO]: Finished created backup file: 20250120-045934-1737349174-17.0.19.23-1995048657.tar.gz
[2025-01-20 04:59:39] [31f34164-fb94-4b23-abf8-70ed164d4748.INFO]: Saving to selected Filestore locations
[2025-01-20 04:59:39] [31f34164-fb94-4b23-abf8-70ed164d4748.ERROR]: Unable to login/authenticate with FTP
[2025-01-20 04:59:39] [31f34164-fb94-4b23-abf8-70ed164d4748.INFO]: Finished Saving to selected Filestore locations
[2025-01-20 04:59:39] [31f34164-fb94-4b23-abf8-70ed164d4748.ERROR]: Unable to list contents for ‘Test-FPBX-17’, shallow listing Reason: Unable to login/authenticate with FTP

as you can see freepbx is not able to connect to the FTP server.

try to use Linux ftp command to confirm you can connect to your windows FTP server from Freepbx server.

Regards
Kapil

Here are the results:

Hi @tlthom32 raised [bug]: FTP from FPBX17 (Debian 12 Bookworm) to Windows Server 2019 Not working · Issue #630 · FreePBX/issue-tracker · GitHub to keep track of your issue.

I will try to reproduce the issue locally, if by chance is it possible for you to create a temp FTP account in your Windows server and DM me credentials then it would be helpful to speed up the debugging.

Best Regards
Kapil

Just FYI This is also affecting FTP backup to a linux server (busybox). Same error, and ftp works fine from the command line. I’ve worked around it, but I thought it was worth pointing out this isn’t a windows issue.

This issue is because the code badly encodes the password converting & to & and probably other special characters. Switch to a A-z0-9 password and it should work just fine.

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