SocketBindTight [ SocketBindTight on|off]
Default
SocketBindTight off
Context
server config
Module
mod_core
Compatibility
0.99.0pl6 and later
The SocketBindTight directive controls how proftpd creates and binds its initial tcp listen sockets in standalone mode (see ServerType). The directive has no effect upon servers running in inetd mode, because listen sockets are not needed or created. When SocketBindTight is set to off (the default), a single listening socket is created for each port that the server must listen on, regardless of the number of IP addresses being used by <VirtualHost> configurations. This has the benefit of typically requiring a relatively small number of file descriptors for the master daemon process, even if a large number of virtual servers are configured. If SocketBindTight is set to on, a listen socket is created and bound to a specific IP address for the master server and all configured virtual servers. This allows for situations where an administrator may wish to have a particular port be used by both proftpd (on one IP address) and another daemon (on a different IP address). The drawback is that considerably more file descriptors will be required if a large number of virtual servers must be supported. Example: Two servers have been configured (one master and one virtual), with the IP addresses 10.0.0.1 and 10.0.0.2, respectively. The 10.0.0.1 server runs on port 21, while 10.0.0.2 runs on port 2001. SocketBindTight off #default # proftpd creates two sockets, both bound to ALL available addresses. # one socket listens on port 21, the other on 2001. Because each socket is # bound to all available addresses, no other daemon or user process will be # allowed to bind to ports 21 or 2001. ... SocketBindTight on # proftpd creates two sockets again, however one is bound to 10.0.0.1, port 21 # and the other to 10.0.0.2, port 2001. Because these sockets are "tightly" # bound to IP addresses, port 21 can be reused on any address OTHER than # 10.0.0.1, and visa-versa with 10.0.0.2, port 2001. One side-effect of setting SocketBindTight to on is that connections to non-bound addresses will result in a "connection refused" message rather than the typical "500 Sorry, no server available to handle request on xxx.xxx.xxx.xxx.", due to the fact that no listen socket has been bound to the particular address/port pair. This may or may not be aesthetically desirable, depending on your circumstances.