What is FTP File Transfer Protocal
What is FTP File Transfer Protocal
The File Transfer Protocol (FTP) is a standard network protocol used for the transfer of computer files between a client and server on a computer network. FTP is a client-server protocol where a client will ask for a file, and a local or remote server will provide it.
How FTP Work
FTP works in the same way as HTTP for transferring Web pages from a server to a user's browser and SMTP for transferring electronic mail across the Internet in that, like these technologies.
FTP uses a client-server architecture. Users provide authentication using a sign-in protocol, usually a username and password, however some FTP servers may be configured to accept anonymous FTP logins where you don't need to identify yourself before accessing files. Most often, FTP is secured with SSL/TLS.
Files can be transferred between two computers using FTP software. The user's computer is called the local host machine and is connected to the Internet. The second machine, called the remote host, is also running FTP software and connected to the Internet.
- The local host machine connects to the remote host's IP address.
- The user would enter a username/password (or use anonymous).
- FTP software may have a GUI, allowing users to drag and drop files between the remote and local host. If not, a series of FTP commands are used to log in to the remote host and transfer files between the machines.
Uses of FTP
FTP is most commonly used to download a file from a server using the Internet or to upload a file to a server (e.g., uploading a web page file to a Web server).
Is FTP Used Today?
Today, FTP is largely considered to be an outdated, dying protocol. Keep in mind that FTP was designed in the early 1970's, long before TCP and IP existed. It was also designed many years before the prevalence of IT security and data breaches. While still in use today by some individuals and organizations FTP is no longer updated and has been replaced with more secure file transfer protocols including FTPS, SFTP and HTTPS.