Deploy an FTP Server in Docker and Transfer Files with PHP

Requirements

Docker environment

FTP server image: fauria/vsftpd (Docker Hub URL: https://hub.docker.com/r/fauria/vsftpd)

ThinkPHP6 project for upload script

PHP FTP client library: Nicolab/php-ftp-client (GitHub URL: https://github.com/Nicolab/php-ftp-client)

Deploy the FTP service

docker run -d -v e:/ftp:/home/vsftpd -p 20:20 -p 21:21 \
-p 21100-21110:21100-21110 \
-e FTP_USER=tinywan -e FTP_PASS=123456 \
-e PASV_ADDRESS=127.0.0.1 -e PASV_MIN_PORT=21100 \
-e PASV_MAX_PORT=21110 \
--name dnmp-vsftpd --network dnmp_backend --restart=always fauria/vsftpd

Parameter explanation

--name dnmp-vsftpd

: container name --network dnmp_backend: Docker network to join (must be the same network used by other containers) -v e:/ftp:/home/vsftpd: bind‑mount host directory e:/ftp into container path /home/vsftpd Passive mode ports 21100‑21110 are exposed and mapped.

Verify container is running

docker ps
# Example output
# CONTAINER ID   IMAGE          COMMAND               CREATED          STATUS          PORTS
# 0c8abe7311e3   fauria/vsftpd  "/usr/sbin/run-vsftp…"   22 minutes ago   Up 22 minutes   0.0.0.0:20-21->20-21/tcp, 0.0.0.0:21100-21110->21100-21110/tcp

Test the service

Open a browser or FTP client, connect to 127.0.0.1 on port 21, and log in with the credentials tinywan / 123456. The login screen is shown in the following image.

Install PHP dependency

docker run --rm -i -t -v e:/dnmp/www/tinywan.com:/app composer require nicolab/php-ftp-client --ignore-platform-reqs

Upload an entire directory

$ftp = new \FtpClient\FtpClient();
$ftp->connect('dnmp-vsftpd'); // use container network name
$ftp->login('tinywan', '123456');

$source_directory = Env::get('root_path') . 'public/upload/ftp';
$target_directory = '/'; // maps to /home/vsftpd inside the container

$res = $ftp->putAll($source_directory, $target_directory);
var_dump($res); // true on success

Key points

Connect to the FTP container by its Docker network alias ( dnmp-vsftpd) instead of 127.0.0.1. $source_directory must be an absolute path on the host, e.g. e:/dnmp/www/tinywan.com/public/upload/ftp. putAll uploads every file and sub‑directory under the source path.

Host‑side directory mapping can be inspected (example image below).

Container file system view:

Upload a single file

$ftp = new \FtpClient\FtpClient();
$ftp->connect('dnmp-vsftpd');
$ftp->login('tinywan', '123456');

$local_file  = Env::get('root_path') . 'public/upload/ftp/tinyaiai.js';
$remote_file = 'remote_tinyaiai.js';

$res = $ftp->put($remote_file, $local_file, FTP_BINARY);
var_dump($res); // true on success

Download a file

$local_file  = Env::get('root_path') . 'public/upload/ftp/local_text.js';
$remote_file = 'test.txt';

$res = $ftp->get($local_file, $remote_file, FTP_BINARY);
var_dump($res); // true on success

FTP directory structure