Master Linux File Sharing: SCP, FTP (vsftpd), rz/sz, and wget Explained

Today we discuss Linux file sharing methods: SCP, FTP, rz/sz, and wget.

SCP

Common SCP usage is introduced, followed by typical command formats.

Examples:

scp 'local_file' user@remote_ip:/remote_folder

scp -r 'local_folder' user@remote_ip:/remote_folder

To copy from remote to local, swap the source and destination parameters.

scp user@remote_ip:/remote_file /local_folder

scp -r user@remote_ip:/remote_folder /local_folder

FTP

Among many FTP server options, we focus on the widely used vsftpd.

vsftpd (very secure FTP daemon) can be installed via yum:

# yum -y install vsftpd

Start the service and verify it is running:

# systemctl start vsftpd
# ps -aux | grep vsftpd
# netstat -antup | grep vsftpd

The main configuration file is /etc/vsftpd/vsftpd.conf. Example settings for anonymous access:

anonymous_enable=YES
local_enable=NO
anon_other_write_enable=YES
anon_upload_enable=YES
anon_mkdir_write_enable=YES
anon_root=/var/www/html

Set proper permissions on the shared directory:

chown -R ftp:ftp /var/ftp/pub/
chmod +w /var/ftp/pub/

Restart the service and disable firewall and SELinux for testing:

# systemctl restart vsftpd
# systemctl stop firewalld && systemctl disable firewalld.service
# edit /etc/selinux/config to set SELINUX=disabled
# reboot

Anonymous users can now access FTP; for system users, modify vsftpd.conf:

anonymous_enable=NO
local_enable=YES
write_enable=YES
local_root=/var/www/html

Create a system user and set a password:

# useradd ftp_user
# echo "123456" | passwd --stdin ftp_user

After restarting vsftpd, Windows clients can log in with the new credentials.

rz / sz

After installing the lrzsz package, rz uploads files from the local machine to the server, and sz downloads files from the server.

Install the utilities:

# yum -y install lrzsz

Note: rz and sz require a terminal that supports them (e.g., Xshell). Other terminals like PuTTY or MobaXterm may fail.

wget

wget is a non‑interactive network downloader supporting HTTP, HTTPS, and FTP, with proxy and resume capabilities.

Install wget: # yum -y install wget Basic usage and common options:

wget --help
wget -r   // recursive download
wget -b   // background download
wget -c   // continue incomplete download

Example: download the Linux version of QQ.

wget https://qd.myapp.com/myapp/qqteam/linux/QQ/linuxqq_2.0.0-b1-1024_x86_64.rpm

Any download link can be fetched with wget, making it a versatile tool for retrieving files directly onto a server.

Next time we will explore NFS sharing and rsync for remote data synchronization.