FTP , How does it exactly work 2

[bhogaj31]

Can anyone tell me exactly how ftp works?

Why is it faster and more reliable than copying a file?

What are the advantages and disadvantages?

I am trying to encourage users to ftp rather than copy but find myself struggling to explain the inner workings of it.

I understand that it doesn't take any notice of what platform the host is running (e.g. Unix, Win NT or Mac) and I also read somewhere that it does all its handshakes and negotiating down one port and the file transfer takes place down another (Port 21).

Am I right on the above?

Can someone confirm this and give me some useful info like port numbers it uses for negotiation of handshakes etc.

Or just point me in the direction of a useful website.

Kind Regards

Jat

 

[danielhozac]

http://www.ietf.org/rfc/rfc0959.txt

//Daniel

 

[jpm121]

As much fun as reading RFCs can be, I'll expand a bit for you.

FTP has been around basically as long as TCP/IP and Unix. It's lean, mean, down and dirty.

The server is standardized; it's usually a daemon-type program that just sits and listens for connections.

You're right about the two different ports; the RFC quoted above will explain all that.

As far as being faster, I assume you're comparing it to SMB/CIFS or other Microsoft stuff. CIFS is an extremely buggy, inefficient means of moving data, and for some reason Microsoft can't even adhere to their own standards from one version to another (i.e. Win98 to XP). It's that sloppiness that makes it slower.

I'm not 100% sure if you're talking about people e-mailing FTP links instead of e-mail attachments, or what. If you can get people to actually USE FTP (good luck) it will certainly take a load off your e-mail server.

Hope this gets you started; if you have more questions, just ask.

 

[bcastner]

This may help explain the different modes, and how communications using the ports occurs:

http://www.broadbandreports.com/forum/remark,1381832;root=equip,16;mode=flat

 

[bhogaj31]

Thank you all very much ,

So much information, which proved to be very useful.


Later

Jat