Howto add FTP server in ESXi 5.x to support Fast Download/Upload of VM / Images

Yesterday I was trying to upload a 450GB VMDK file to ESXi host. (Actually it was VHD file and I converted it to VMDK using starwind converter), and it was uploading dead slow and showed countless hours to complete the upload.  After some googling I found that generally it takes too much time to Upload/Download any VM/ISO File FROM/TO ESXi host. I also tried VEEAM FASTSCP free tool but no avail. It still works very slow.

However if you add FTP service to your ESXi server, and use ftp client to upload/download files, then the upload/download will be much faster.  ProFTPD runs good in ESXi 5.x and offers high transfer rate over normal transfers.
As showed in the image below . . .

Upload to ESXi Host using Vsphere Client

Upload to ESXi Host using FTP Client [After adding FTP service in ESXi]

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To add FTP Service, use the following method.

First We have to Enable SSH in ESXi . Connect to your ESXi host,
Goto Configuration
Goto Security Profiles,
Click on Properties

.

SSH service is now enabled on ESXi.

Now Connect to your ESXi host using any ssh client like putty.
Navigate to your datastore folder. For example the datastore on my ESXi host name is 1TB,

 cd /vmfs/volumes/1TB/
[Change the 1TB to match your datastore name]

Create any folder where your FTP Service files can be downloaded from the internet or any other source.
[make sure internet service is enabled so file can dierctly download to esxi host, if its not possible then download the package on your client PC, then upload it using Vsphere client and skip to esxcli software install section below . . . ]

mkdir ftp
cd ftp

Now download proftpd by using wget

wget http://esxi-customizer.googlecode.com/files/ProFTPD-1.3.3-8-offline_bundle.zip

Now install it by using esxcli

esxcli software vib install --no-sig-check -d /vmfs/volumes/1TB/ftp/ProFTPD-1.3.3-8-offline_bundle.zip

[Change the 1TB to match your datastore name]

Later if you decide to remove proftp , simply issue following command

To uninstall the package run the following command

esxcli software vib remove -n ProFTPD

Now test it by using simple dos ftp command

ftp 10.0.0.1

Or using any ftp client like   CUTEFTP PRO

Regard’s
Syed Jahanzaib