Migration & Transfer Manager | FTP User show as the System user after migration

[WebHostingAce]

Username:

TITLE

Migration & Transfer Manager | FTP User show as the System user after migration

PRODUCT, VERSION, OPERATING SYSTEM, ARCHITECTURE

Plesk Obsidian 18.0.75
Web Pro Edition
AlmaLinux 8.10 (Cerulean Leopard)

PROBLEM DESCRIPTION

Inside a subscription I have a separate FTP account configured.

The subscription system user has /bin/bash and can log in via SSH normally.

After performing a migration using Migration & Transfer Manager, the FTP user is displayed as the system user inside File Manager in the migrated server.

The FTP account itself cannot log in via SSH (as expected).

However, when I log in using the system user over SSH, the shell prompt shows:

[ftpuser@server ~]$

STEPS TO REPRODUCE

- Create a new subscription.

- Ensure the subscription system user has /bin/bash and SSH access.

- Create an additional FTP account within the subscription.

- Migrate the subscription to another server using Migration & Transfer Manager.
(In my case, both source and destination servers are AlmaLinux 8.10.)

- Open File Manager on the destination server and check the user shown.

- Log in via SSH as the system user.

ACTUAL RESULT

on the migrated server,

In the file manager, the FTP user show as the user.

When you login to SSH using the system user, it showing as [ftpuser@server ~]$

EXPECTED RESULT

on the migrated server,

File Manager should display the correct subscription system user.

When logging in via SSH as the system user, the shell prompt should show: [systemuser@server ~]$

ANY ADDITIONAL INFORMATION

(DID NOT ANSWER QUESTION)

YOUR EXPECTATIONS FROM PLESK SERVICE TEAM

Confirm bug

 

[WebHostingAce]

Both accounts were created with the same UID.

System user:
systemuser:x:10033:1004::/var/www/vhosts/example.com:/bin/bash

FTP user:
ftpuser:x:10033:1004::/var/www/vhosts/example.com/subdirectory:/bin/false

 

[Sebahat.hadzhi]

Hi, @WebHostingAce . I was unable to replicate the reported behavior. Is the subscription owned by a customer or by the administrator? Are there any specific settings you configured during the migration? If you can provide me with a screenshot so I can be sure I am using the same setup it will be great.

Also, could you please clarify the following:

- Open File Manager on the destination server and check the user shown.

Do you mean that the additional FTP account appears as the file/directory owner on the destination server?

 

[Sebahat.hadzhi]

As for the entries from /etc/passwd - they look normal. Additional users from the same subscription share the same UID.

 

[WebHostingAce]

I was unable to replicate the reported behavior. Is the subscription owned by a customer or by the administrator? Are there any specific settings you configured during the migration? If you can provide me with a screenshot so I can be sure I am using the same setup it will be great.

The subscription is owned by the administrator. There are no special settings configured. I will send you the screenshot directly.

Do you mean that the additional FTP account appears as the file/directory owner on the destination server?

Yes, the issue appears only in File Manager. In the subscription settings under System User, the correct system user is shown.

 

[WebHostingAce]

@Sebahat.hadzhi Apologies — I wasn’t aware that this issue has already been addressed by Plesk.

https://support.plesk.com/hc/en-us/articles/12377218364311-Additional-FTP-user-displayed-as-the-owner-of-all-subscription-s-content

 

[WebHostingAce]

It may be a case where, during the migration, the FTP user was created above the system user.

 

[Sebahat.hadzhi]

Thank you for the additional details. It appears that issue is caused because SSSD is used on AlmaLinux 8 by default. On most, distributions system calls show the first user from the list, but in AlmaLinux 8 this OS behavior was changed since the SSSD returns the last matched entry in /etc/passwd. The impact is only visual, however, the following workaround may be implemented to fix this:

1. Swap the sss and files for the passwd map in /etc/nsswitch.conf file.
The result should look like this:

passwd: files sss systemd

2. The same manipulation should be applied to the /etc/authselect/user-nsswitch.conf file.

3. To ensure that the system user is located above all additional users run the following command:

grep '10033' /etc/passwd

I hope that helps.