Question : Ubuntu 10.04 Server

Installed apache, php , etc untill i hit the

sudo apt-get install vsftpd

and it looked that install went good but then i wrote

/etc/init.d/vsftpd stop

and got

Rather than invoking init scripts through /etc/init.d, use the service(8)
utility, e.g. service vsftpd stop

Since the script you are attempting to invoke has been converted to an
Upstart job, you may also use the stop(8) utility, e.g. stop vsftpd

tried stop vsftpd

stop: Unknown instance:

tried service vsftpd stop

stop: Unknown instance:

with

restart vsftpd
 
things went interesting

restart: Rejected send message, 1 matched rules; type="method_call", sender=":1.18" (uid=1000 pid=2852 comm="restart) interface="com.ubuntu.Upstart0_6.Job" member="Restart" error name="(unset)" requested_reply=0 destination="com.ubuntu.Upstart" (uid=0 pid=1 comm="/sbin/init))

Answer : Ubuntu 10.04 Server

Are you certain you typed:
/etc/init.d/vsftpd stop
?

Strange things can happen when you are not root. It should have been:

sudo /etc/init.d/vsftpd restart

Maybe this will already straighten things out for you.
If you have a problem remembering to always prefix the 'sudo' command, issue
sudo -i
once at the beginning of a terminal session; this will simulate a root login shell.


ps:
This is an Ubuntu and Linux question. The zones you posted it in are very unlikely to give you practical and timely answers.
Good zones to ask this question in would have been:
OS > Linux
OS > Linux > Linux Distributions > Ubuntu
OS > Linux > Linux Administration