FTP is one of the most useful file transfer protocols based on the TCP/IP standard.

What is FTP and what is its use?

File Transfer Protocol or FTP for short is a standard network protocol for transferring files from one host to another. This protocol is used to upload web pages and other documents between servers. The architecture of this protocol is Client Server and it establishes a data connection and control separately between the server and the client.

The FTP protocol was the first attempt to create a standard for file exchange on networks based on the TCP/IP protocol, which was introduced in 1970 and its standard specifications were presented in RFC 959 in October 1985.

In order to send data securely, we can use SSH File Transfer Protocol.

What is the difference between FTP and SFTP?

One of the important tasks that are done in the network environment is the transfer of files and data between the hosts in the network. Transferring files over the network in plain text format can pose a security concern. The FTP protocol was introduced when security was not a big issue on the Internet. Data is sent unencrypted on FTP and can be easily intercepted by an attacker. Therefore, some secure channels were needed to transfer files, and for this purpose, a layer named Secure Socket Layer was added to FTP and a protocol named SFTP was created.

SFTP (Secure File Transfer Protocol) is a secure way to transfer files over a network. SFTP is part of SSH (Secure Shell) protocol. The SSH protocol establishes a direct connection between the client and the server, and then SFTP acts similarly to FTP, transferring the file over the secure channel established by SSH. In this way, the file can be transferred securely using SFTP.

Comparison of SFTP and FTP

FTP does not provide a secure channel for transferring files between hosts.

SFTP provides a secure channel for transferring files between hosts.

FTP is a TCP/IP protocol.

SFTP is part of the SSH protocol (a remote login application).

FTP establishes a port connection on TCP port 21.

SFTP transfers files between the client and the server under the connection established by the SSH protocol.

FTP passwords and data are sent in plain text format.

SFTP encrypts data before sending it.

What is the feature of FTP?

Each protocol on the Internet has its own characteristics. Among the most important features of FTP, we can mention the following two items

The FTP protocol has the maximum flexibility needed to be used in different networks according to the type of network protocol.

The FTP protocol follows the client/server model. HTTP, which is an absolute ruler in the field of web browsers and web servers. But the same definition cannot be given on FTP.

What is meant by FTP Client and FTP Server?

Using the FTP protocol to transfer files to another system requires two main prerequisites. These prerequisites are:

FTP Client: To use FTP to transfer files, you must use special FTP software. These software are graphical. Of course, there are other ways to use this protocol besides using these softwares, which we will introduce below.

FTP Server: In order to be able to use this protocol, we must install a software called FTP Server on the server or the system that we intend to use as a server. This software has the task of communicating with the client and processing the commands sent from its side to the server.

Data transfer methods in FTP

An FTP client is also needed to transfer files using the FTP protocol. There are two methods for transferring files:

1. Windows is an FTP client program, but it also has limitations. The simple way is to transfer files by converting windows explorer to FTP client, which will be taught step by step in the rest of the article.
2. In the second method, we can install an FTP client software on our system and use the FTP service. In this method, in order to login, it is necessary to enter the server name (or Server IP value) along with the port.

The mentioned port is 22 by default, but this number can be changed in the server settings by the server administrator.

Filezilla can be mentioned among client software for FTP transfer. In the following, we will try to explain how to work with Filezilla software.

But many other softwares have been designed and implemented for transferring through FTP. For example, we can mention the following.

CuteFTP, FTP Exolorer, WS FTP Professhional, Smart FTP, ulletProof FTP and…

How to send files with FTP protocol

File Transfer Protocol (FTP) can be considered as a query system. Because servers and clients talk to confirm each other and transfer files. The server and the client do not send data over the conversation channel. This is while the server and the client talk to each other about how to send files on separate connections (one connection for each data transfer).

Clients are responsible for creating and initializing requests, which are done using FTP primitives. Commands are usually three or four letters long. The server will also respond to clients based on a standard format. Customers need to refer only to the numerical code of the result, because the descriptive text is variable and is practically suitable for troubleshooting.

The file transfer protocol or the FTP protocol has the necessary facilities to send data of different types. Two common formats are ASCII for text (the client informs the server by sending a Type A command) and Image for binary data (specified by Type I).

Sending data in ski format is useful in cases where the server machine and the client machine use different standards for text.

Also, a client can translate and use the data in the desired format after receiving it.

In Windows versions, a carriage return and linefeed are used to indicate the end of the line, while in Unix-based systems, only a linefeed is used.

Making decisions about the type of files sent to the client (unlike HTTP, which can inform the client of the type of data sent). Usually, the clients choose the binary type of sending and after receiving the file, they do the translation. The binary sending type is more efficient, because the server and the client will not need a one-on-the-fly transaction.

By default, in the FTP protocol, the sending type of ski is selected, and if the client needs to send binary, he must request this from the server.

A TCP/IP connection consists of two distinct points, each point using an IP address and a port number.

For the communication between the client and the server, it is necessary to have the following 4 basic items.

Server address

Server port

Client address

Client port

When establishing a connection, the client uses a port number. This port number can be optional or mandatory according to the type of client program operation. In some client programs, such as web client programs, it is necessary to use port 80 for communication. In some cases, there is no requirement regarding the port number and a temporary or ephemeral port number is used.

It is worth noting that this port is temporary and is assigned by the IP Stacks of the corresponding machine to the applicant, and after the end of the connection, the port is freed. Due to the fact that most IP stacks do not immediately use the freed temporary port (until the entire pool is completed), if the client requests to establish a connection again, another temporary port number will be assigned to them. Finds.

One of the uses of FTP is to transfer files from the user’s system to the site’s server. As mentioned earlier, there are usually two ways to transfer. In the following, I will explain the first method that communicates and transfers by converting Windows Explorer to FTP Client.

Converting Windows explorer to FTP client makes our FTP client always accessible like a normal folder in the system. And we can easily transfer files from the system to our site server with Copy/Paste or Drag/Drop commands.

Conclusion

FTP is a powerful tool for transferring between computers on the network. As explained in the article, two different methods can be used to communicate between two different points using the FTP protocol and exchange files between the two points.

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