How to start / stop proftpd

I can't seem to find a way to stop / re-start proftpd. My server IP address is xx.yy.zz.ww and connecting from external devices via FTP gives me the prompt:

Connected to xx.yy.zz.ww
220 ProFTPD 1.3.1 Server (ProFTPD)

It then asks me for username.

Same thing happens when I try to connect from the same server (ftp localhost). Thus, I have established that proftp is running on my server .

Also, on my server (xx.yy.zz.ww) . I am tailing /var/log/messages and it shows me FTP session opened and closed.

I can't find how is the proftpd is working. /etc/init.d/ doesn't have proftpd ; /etc/xinetd.d/ doesn't have proftpd.

I looked at: /etc/proftpd.conf and it shows me ServerType inetd

also, when I run: ps -auxfww | grep proftp I don't get anything (except my current command)

How can I find out that proftp is running and how do I kill it / restart it ?

Use netstat to see what process is holding port 21:

# netstat -tnlp

And from there you can use RPM to see what package owns the file to stop it and remove it from init.d.

If your server has Plesk ProFTPD daemon is xinetd. Use

/etc/init.d/xinetd restart

To stop proftpd

/sbin/service proftpd stop

to stop it from starting with the system

/sbin/chkconfig proftpd off 

to start proftpd with the system

/sbin/chkconfig proftpd on

to manually start proftpd

/sbin/service proftpd start

and to restart it

/sbin/service proftpd restart

cp 0 0 0.0.0.0:21 0.0.0.0:* LISTEN 26848/xinetd means that your proftpd is controlled by xinetd. xinetd provides the ability to start a deamon only when someone calls a specific port. Please check /etc/xinetd.d/ for files which point to an ftp-server (for example "service ftp" in headline.