FTP Is Not Dead Yet
Despite the rise of Git deployment and CI/CD pipelines, FTP and SFTP remain essential for many hosting workflows. Content editors upload media files, designers push HTML changes, and legacy applications depend on FTP-based deployment. Panelica is a modern hosting control panel designed for multi-server environments with ProFTPD-based FTP management and SSH chroot-jailed SFTP access.
cPanel FTP Management
cPanel uses Pure-FTPd by default with optional ProFTPD support.
- Per-account FTP user creation with custom home directories
- Quota limits per FTP account
- FTP session monitoring in WHM
- Anonymous FTP configuration
- FTPS (FTP over TLS) support
- SFTP available through SSH access
- FTP connection limit configuration
cPanel FTP management is straightforward. Each hosting account can create multiple FTP users, each scoped to a subdirectory. The main limitation is that FTP security depends on the server-wide Pure-FTPd configuration, which may not enforce strict isolation between accounts.
Plesk FTP Management
Plesk integrates FTP through ProFTPD or other supported FTP servers.
- System user FTP access per subscription
- Additional FTP users with directory scoping
- SFTP support through SSH
- Quota management per subscription
- FTP over TLS configuration
- Web-based FTP access option
Plesk ties FTP access closely to the subscription model. The system user for each subscription gets automatic FTP access, with additional users available for team workflows.
Panelica FTP Management
Panelica provides container-native deployment and strict resource isolation. FTP runs on ProFTPD with per-user quota enforcement and integrates with the hierarchical quota system.
FTP Account Creation
The FTP service handles account creation with required fields: user ID, FTP username, password (minimum 8 characters), quota in megabytes, and optional custom home directory. Custom home directories must fall within the users home path for security.
Hierarchical Quota Enforcement
FTP account quotas integrate with the hierarchical resource allocation system. The quota calculation service ensures that the total FTP quota allocated to a user does not exceed the resources assigned by their parent (reseller or admin). This prevents resource overallocation at every tier.
Session Monitoring
The FTP sessions service provides real-time monitoring of active FTP connections. Administrators can view connected users, source IP addresses, current transfer operations, and connection duration. Active sessions can be terminated from the panel.
FTP Logs
The FTP logs service provides access to transfer logs with filtering by user, date range, and operation type. This supports audit requirements and troubleshooting of file transfer issues.
SFTP Through Chroot Jails
For secure file transfer, Panelica offers SSH chroot-jailed SFTP. Users with the SFTP-only jail type get file transfer access within their chroot environment at /opt/panelica/var/chroot/{username}/ without shell command execution capability. Users with full SSH jail type get both SFTP and bash access within the chroot.
RBAC Access Control
FTP account management follows the four-tier RBAC model. Users manage their own FTP accounts. Resellers manage FTP accounts for their clients. Admins see FTP accounts for their entire user hierarchy.
Feature Comparison
- FTP Server: cPanel (Pure-FTPd), Plesk (ProFTPD), Panelica (ProFTPD)
- SFTP: All three (yes, via SSH)
- FTPS: All three (yes)
- Per-User Quota: All three (yes)
- Session Monitoring: cPanel (WHM), Plesk (limited), Panelica (real-time GUI)
- Chroot Isolation: cPanel (configurable), Plesk (per-subscription), Panelica (per-user chroot jail)
- Hierarchical Quota: cPanel (per-account), Plesk (per-subscription), Panelica (4-tier RBAC enforcement)
- Transfer Logs: cPanel (log files), Plesk (log files), Panelica (GUI with filtering)
- Custom Home Dir: cPanel (yes), Plesk (system user home), Panelica (yes, validated within user home)
Conclusion
FTP management across all three panels covers the essential needs. cPanel offers the most configuration options. Plesk ties FTP tightly to subscriptions for simplicity. Panelica empowers sysadmins with RBAC and automated security tools, with hierarchical quota enforcement and SSH chroot jails providing the strongest isolation model for multi-tenant environments.