How to Fix Permission Denied Error on EC2’s /var/www Directory

This isn't just an AWS issue; it ties into SSH usage and Linux permissions. The user you're logging in with likely lacks the necessary permissions to write in /var/www on the dev server. Start troubleshooting by SSH-ing into the working instance and running "ls -al /var/www" to check the ownership and permissions. Then do the same on the dev instance and compare. The permission error stems from these differences. If you can’t change the permissions, the client needs to get it sorted since they or their setup process may have introduced the misconfiguration.

Permissions set to 311 are a bit odd—this means you can change into the directory but can't read anything, which is why you're seeing issues. If you're unable to change that, consider using a tool that doesn’t verify permissions first, like SCP. You mentioned you’re using WinSCP, which might be having trouble due to these settings. Also, if the site operates under a non-privileged user account, make sure the directory's files are owned by an appropriate user, potentially allowing '7' permissions for the owner.

Make sure to check the ownership with `ls -ld /var/www` while SSHed in. SFTP doesn’t let you elevate privileges, so using `sudo` over an SSH session is your go-to here. You can run something like `sudo chown -R : /var/www` or `sudo chmod -R 755 /var/www` if appropriate. This way, you can fix the permissions without struggling with SFTP constraints.