To set up your CentOS as a secure FTP server, follow the next couple steps

Install VSFTPD with

yum install vsftpd

Turn on vsftpd auto start with

chkconfig --level 235 vsftpd on

Open vsftpd.conf

nano /etc/vsftpd/vsftpd.conf

and edit the next:

1. Change anonymous_enable=YES to anonymous_enable=NO

2. Uncomment chroot_local_user=YES line (In CentOS 5.x you will need to add this line)

3. Change the default port number from 21 to XXXXX (where XXXXX is above 1024) with listen_port=XXXXX

It this line doesn’t exist, paste it to the end of the file. Be sure that port XXXXX is accessible.

Restart vsftpd with service vsftpd restart. Please keep in mind that changing default port number doesn’t mean that your server is 100% secured. It will help you to avoid random dictionary attacks and your log files will be much smaller. Good password is a MUST.