File Transfer Protocol
The File Transfer Protocol is a standard network protocol used for the transfer of computer files between a client and server on a computer network.
FTP is built on a client-server model architecture using separate control and data connections between the client and the server. FTP users may authenticate themselves with a clear-text sign-in protocol, normally in the form of a username and password, but can connect anonymously if the server is configured to allow it. For secure transmission that protects the username and password, and encrypts the content, FTP is often secured with SSL/TLS or replaced with SSH File Transfer Protocol.
The first FTP client applications were command-line programs developed before operating systems had graphical user interfaces, and are still shipped with most Windows, Unix, and Linux operating systems. Many FTP clients and automation utilities have since been developed for desktops, servers, mobile devices, and hardware, and FTP has been incorporated into productivity applications, such as HTML editors.
History of FTP servers
The original specification for the File Transfer Protocol was written by Abhay Bhushan and published as on 16 April 1971. Until 1980, FTP ran on NCP, the predecessor of TCP/IP. The protocol was later replaced by a TCP/IP version, and , the current specification. Several proposed standards amend, for example enables Firewall-Friendly FTP, proposes security extensions, adds support for IPv6 and defines a new type of passive mode.Protocol overview
Communication and data transfer
FTP may run in active or passive mode, which determines how the data connection is established. In both cases, the client creates a TCP control connection from a random, usually an unprivileged, port N to the FTP server command port 21.- In active mode, the client starts listening for incoming data connections from the server on port M. It sends the FTP command PORT M to inform the server on which port it is listening. The server then initiates a data channel to the client from its port 20, the FTP server data port.
- In situations where the client is behind a firewall and unable to accept incoming TCP connections, passive mode may be used. In this mode, the client uses the control connection to send a PASV command to the server and then receives a server IP address and server port number from the server, which the client then uses to open a data connection from an arbitrary client port to the server IP address and server port number received.
The server responds over the control connection with three-digit status codes in ASCII with an optional text message. For example, "200" means that the last command was successful. The numbers represent the code for the response and the optional text represents a human-readable explanation or request. An ongoing transfer of file data over the data connection can be aborted using an interrupt message sent over the control connection.
The reason why FTP needs two ports is due to the fact that it was originally designed to operate on Network Control Program, which was a simplex protocol that utilized two port addresses, establishing two connections, for two-way communications. An odd and an even port were reserved for each application layer application or protocol. The standardization of TCP and UDP reduced the need for the use of two simplex ports for each application down to one duplex port, but the FTP protocol was never altered to only use one port, but continued using two for backwards compatibility.
NAT and firewall traversal
FTP normally transfers data by having the server connect back to the client, after the PORT command is sent by the client. This is problematic for both NATs and firewalls, which do not allow connections from the Internet towards internal hosts. For NATs, an additional complication is that the representation of the IP addresses and port number in the PORT command refer to the internal host's IP address and port, rather than the public IP address and port of the NAT.There are two approaches to solve this problem. One is that the FTP client and FTP server use the PASV command, which causes the data connection to be established from the FTP client to the server. This is widely used by modern FTP clients. Another approach is for the NAT to alter the values of the PORT command, using an application-level gateway for this purpose.
Data types
While transferring data over the network, four data types are defined:- ASCII : Used for text. Data is converted, if needed, from the sending host's character representation to "8-bit ASCII" before transmission, and to the receiving host's character representation. As a consequence, this mode is inappropriate for files that contain data other than plain text.
- Image : The sending machine sends each file byte by byte, and the recipient stores the bytestream as it receives it..
- EBCDIC : Used for plain text between hosts using the EBCDIC character set.
- Local : Designed to support file transfer between machines which do not use 8-bit bytes, e.g. 36-bit systems such as DEC PDP-10s. For example, "TYPE L 9" would be used to transfer data in 9-bit bytes, or "TYPE L 36" to transfer 36-bit words. Most contemporary FTP clients/servers only support L 8, which is equivalent to I.
Note these data types are commonly called "modes", although ambiguously that word is also used to refer to active-vs-passive communication mode, and the modes set by the FTP protocol MODE command.
For text files, three different format control options are provided, to control how the file would be printed:
- Non-print – the file does not contain any carriage control characters intended for a printer
- Telnet – the file contains Telnet carriage control characters
- ASA – the file contains ASA carriage control characters
File structures
File organization is specified using the STRU command. The following file structures are defined in section 3.1.1 of RFC959:- F or FILE structure. Files are viewed as an arbitrary sequence of bytes, characters or words. This is the usual file structure on Unix systems and other systems such as CP/M, MSDOS and Microsoft Windows.
- R or RECORD structure. Files are viewed as divided into records, which may be fixed or variable length. This file organization is common on mainframe and midrange systems, such as MVS, VM/CMS, OS/400 and VMS, which support record-oriented filesystems.
- P or PAGE structure. Files are divided into pages, which may either contain data or metadata; each page may also have a header giving various attributes. This file structure was specifically designed for TENEX systems, and is generally not supported on other platforms. RFC1123 section 4.1.2.3 recommends that this structure not be implemented.
Data transfer modes
Data transfer can be done in any of three modes:- Stream mode : Data is sent as a continuous stream, relieving FTP from doing any processing. Rather, all processing is left up to TCP. No End-of-file indicator is needed, unless the data is divided into records.
- Block mode : Designed primarily for transferring record-oriented files, although can also be used to transfer stream-oriented text files. FTP puts each record of data into several blocks and then passes it on to TCP.
- Compressed mode : Extends MODE B with data compression using run-length encoding.
Some FTP software also implements a DEFLATE-based compressed mode, sometimes called "Mode Z" after the command that enables it. This mode was described in an Internet Draft, but not standardized.
GridFTP defines additional modes, MODE E and MODE X, as extensions of MODE B.
Login
FTP login uses normal username and password scheme for granting access. The username is sent to the server using the USER command, and the password is sent using the PASS command. This sequence is unencrypted "on the wire", so may be vulnerable to a network sniffing attack. If the information provided by the client is accepted by the server, the server will send a greeting to the client and the session will commence. If the server supports it, users may log in without providing login credentials, but the same server may authorize only limited access for such sessions.Anonymous FTP
A host that provides an FTP service may provide anonymous FTP access. Users typically log into the service with an 'anonymous' account when prompted for user name. Although users are commonly asked to send their email address instead of a password, no verification is actually performed on the supplied data. Many FTP hosts whose purpose is to provide software updates will allow anonymous logins.Differences from HTTP
essentially fixes the bugs in FTP that made it inconvenient to use for many small ephemeral transfers as are typical in web pages.FTP has a stateful control connection which maintains a current working directory and other flags, and each transfer requires a secondary connection through which the data are transferred. In "passive" mode this secondary connection is from client to server, whereas in the default "active" mode this connection is from server to client. This apparent role reversal when in active mode, and random port numbers for all transfers, is why firewalls and NAT gateways have such a hard time with FTP. HTTP is stateless and multiplexes control and data over a single connection from client to server on well-known port numbers, which trivially passes through NAT gateways and is simple for firewalls to manage.
Setting up an FTP control connection is quite slow due to the round-trip delays of sending all of the required commands and awaiting responses, so it is customary to bring up a control connection and hold it open for multiple file transfers rather than drop and re-establish the session afresh each time. In contrast, HTTP originally dropped the connection after each transfer because doing so was so cheap. While HTTP has subsequently gained the ability to reuse the TCP connection for multiple transfers, the conceptual model is still of independent requests rather than a session.
When FTP is transferring over the data connection, the control connection is idle. If the transfer takes too long, the firewall or NAT may decide that the control connection is dead and stop tracking it, effectively breaking the connection and confusing the download. The single HTTP connection is only idle between requests and it is normal and expected for such connections to be dropped after a time-out.
Web browser support
Most common web browsers can retrieve files hosted on FTP servers, although they may not support protocol extensions such as FTPS. When an FTP—rather than an HTTP—URL is supplied, the accessible contents on the remote server are presented in a manner that is similar to that used for other web content. A full-featured FTP client can be run within Firefox in the form of an extension called FireFTP.As of 2019, major browsers such as Chrome and Firefox are deprecating FTP support to varying degrees, with Google planning to remove it entirely by Chrome 82. Mozilla is currently discussing proposals, including only removing support for old FTP implementations that are no longer in use to simplify their code.
Syntax
FTP URL syntax is described in, taking the form:ftp://@]host/url-path
.For example, the URL
More details on specifying a username and password may be found in the browsers' documentation. By default, most web browsers use passive mode, which more easily traverses end-user firewalls.
Some variation has existed in how different browsers treat path resolution in cases where there is a non-root home directory for a user.
Security
FTP was not designed to be a secure protocol, and has many security weaknesses. In May 1999, the authors of listed a vulnerability to the following problems:- Brute-force attack
- FTP bounce attack
- Packet capture
- Port stealing
- Spoofing attack
- Username enumeration
- DoS or DDoS
Common solutions to this problem include:
- Using the secure versions of the insecure protocols, e.g., FTPS instead of FTP and TelnetS instead of Telnet.
- Using a different, more secure protocol that can handle the job, e.g. SSH File Transfer Protocol or Secure Copy Protocol.
- Using a secure tunnel such as Secure Shell or virtual private network.
FTP over SSH
Otherwise, it is necessary for the SSH client software to have specific knowledge of the FTP protocol, to monitor and rewrite FTP control channel messages and autonomously open new packet forwardings for FTP data channels. Software packages that support this mode include:
- Tectia ConnectSecure of SSH Communications Security's software suite
Derivatives
FTPS
Explicit FTPS is an extension to the FTP standard that allows clients to request FTP sessions to be encrypted. This is done by sending the "AUTH TLS" command. The server has the option of allowing or denying connections that do not request TLS. This protocol extension is defined in. Implicit FTPS is an outdated standard for FTP that required the use of a SSL or TLS connection. It was specified to use different ports than plain FTP.SSH File Transfer Protocol
The SSH file transfer protocol transfers files and has a similar command set for users, but uses the Secure Shell protocol to transfer files. Unlike FTP, it encrypts both commands and data, preventing passwords and sensitive information from being transmitted openly over the network. It cannot interoperate with FTP software.Trivial File Transfer Protocol
Trivial File Transfer Protocol is a simple, lock-step FTP that allows a client to get a file from or put a file onto a remote host. One of its primary uses is in the early stages of booting from a local area network, because TFTP is very simple to implement. TFTP lacks security and most of the advanced features offered by more robust file transfer protocols such as File Transfer Protocol. TFTP was first standardized in 1981 and the current specification for the protocol can be found in.Simple File Transfer Protocol
Simple File Transfer Protocol, as defined by, was proposed as an file transfer protocol with a level of complexity intermediate between TFTP and FTP. It was never widely accepted on the Internet, and is now assigned Historic status by the IETF. It runs through port 115, and often receives the initialism of SFTP. It has a command set of 11 commands and support three types of data transmission: ASCII, binary and continuous. For systems with a word size that is a multiple of 8 bits, the implementation of binary and continuous is the same. The protocol also supports login with user ID and password, hierarchical folders and file management.FTP commands
FTP reply codes
Below is a summary of FTP reply codes that may be returned by an FTP server. These codes have been standardized in by the IETF. The reply code is a three-digit value. The first digit is used to indicate one of three possible outcomes — success, failure, or to indicate an error or incomplete reply:- 2yz - Success reply
- 4yz or 5yz - Failure reply
- 1yz or 3yz - Error or Incomplete reply
- x0z - Syntax. These replies refer to syntax errors.
- x1z - Information. Replies to requests for information.
- x2z - Connections. Replies referring to the control and data connections.
- x3z - Authentication and accounting. Replies for the login process and accounting procedures.
- x4z - Not defined.
- x5z - File system. These replies relay status codes from the server file system.