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howardm
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howardm

Permissions on /var/www/html for uploading web site files via SFTP

March 30, 2015 42.5k views
Linux Basics Linux Commands Ubuntu

Hi,

I've installed nginx successfully on an Ubuntu instance here at DigitalOcean. The index.html page (in /var/www/html) displays appropriately: "Welcome to nginx on Debian."

Now I want to upload some files via Cyberduck (sftp) to "duplicate" my current web site currently hosted elsewhere: chestradiologists.org

But I cannot because I don't have the appropriate permissions. (I created a new user with sudo permissions after I created the Ubuntu VPS.)

Via Cyberduck, I see the following for /var/www/html (all these directories):

rwxr-xr-x (755)

        Read      Write     Execute

Owner Y Y Y
Group Y No Y
Others Y No Y

Owner 0
Group 0

......

I'm the only user that will upload files I create with Octopress on my Mac.

How do I change the ownership/permissions to best accomplish this ?

I have a rudimentary understanding of Unix permissions :-(

So, please explain with some detail if possible.

Thanks!

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2 Answers
howardm April 2, 2015

Update: the following seems to have worked:

  1. Establish a [new directory] at /var/www

  2. Change the directory owner and group:
    sudo chown www-data:www-data /var/www/[new directory]

  3. allow the group to write to the directory with appropriate permissions:
    sudo chmod -R 775 /var/www

  4. Add myself to the www-data group:
    sudo usermod -a -G www-data [my username]

Logout and login again.

Thanks.

Howard

Reply
  • pappy December 16, 2015

    This worked perfectly for me to allow me to upload through sftp and also update files through wordpress without adding my public key. Thanks so much!

  • stephgiguere February 5, 2017

    This is also the solution that I used.

  • ctaque June 28, 2017

    I did that I now i cannot access to the files and directories via the ip adress in a browser. It returns a 404. But I can edit and create files in the directory with the created user

    • kalabash June 30, 2017

      I would set the sticky bit for the group. See here for more info.

      sudo chmod g+s /var/www/[new directory]

      You may have to reset the group ownership of the new files created. 

      sudo chown www-data:www-data /var/www/[new directory]
Aprexer March 30, 2015

I believe the owner is www-data? 755 will allow www-data (Webserver) to create and edit, as you're not the owner you cannot edit it, I've simply found doing chown ben:www-data /var/www -R will allow you and the webserver owner permissions which gives you all access to that directory.

Reply
  • howardm March 30, 2015

    Hi,

    Can you please explain the difference between what you've recommended and the following approach:

    ....

    Add myself to the www-data:

    sudo usermod -a -G www-data [myusername]

    .......

    Then, recursively grant group write permissions to the /var/www/html directory:

    sudo chmod -R g+w /var/www/html

    ....

    Do you agree with the latter approach ?

    Thanks!

    Howard

  • Aprexer March 30, 2015

    Yes that should work also.

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