proftpd in docker - not optimal configurable

[the-hotmann]

I containerized a proftpd instance and observed that certain aspects, while explicitly outlined in the documentation, are suboptimal when running ProFTPD in a Docker environment.

1. When deploying proftpd within a Docker container, it's advisable to utilize the -n/--nodaemon mode, especially if initiated from a script or the ENTRYPOINT.
2. Despite the documentation stating that proftpd in --nodaemon mode doesn't utilize SystemLog, it still creates the file, resulting in an accumulation of login/logout messages in the Docker log over time - a situation I find undesirable.

To address this, I prefer configuring proftpd to behave in the following manner:

Standard output (stdout) directed to /var/log/proftpd/proftpd.log.
Standard error (stderr) directed to /var/log/proftpd/proftpd_error.log and the docker log.

This setup ensures that detailed login information is stored in separate log files, a more preferable approach than flooding the Docker log with excessive data.

Is there a way to achive this, so that even in nodaemon mode logs can be specified for each: stdout and stderr?

Thanks in advance!

[rafasc]

I believe proftpd is not writing to SystemLog in the case you described with on 2).

If you used --nodaemon, it should be writing to stdout/stderr. That output may or may not end up in your system log depending how you have your docker logging driver configured.

If you want to avoid that you may try using --quiet to tell proftpd to not write to stderr. #1287

Docker logs will still have some logs (stdout) but the majority of it should be redirected to the file configured by the ServerLog directive.

[the-hotmann]

@rafasc thanks I will try so and report back if --quiet is redirecting the logs to the file defined in ServerLog.