FTP is 40 years old

http://www.bit-tech.net/news/hardware/2011/04/15/ftp-is-40-years-old/1

by pwg • 15 years ago

26 13 15 years ago

zdw2• 15 years ago

And can't go away soon enough.

Not NAT friendy. Needs special workarounds on firewalls. Not IPv6 friendly. Sends everything in the clear. No compression support. Different binary and text transfer modes. All the "fixes" to it are hacks that cause interoperability issues.

FTP is the fax machine of the internet. People still use it, but anyone with a clue hates it.

Locke1689• 15 years ago

Not to mention that it's most likely slower than the identical HTTP file transfer.

keyle• 15 years ago

It will eventually go away. Get hosting these days, such as cloud, they give you ftp over ssh and not traditional ftp (port 21). That's how it will fade.

I do love FTP though. But then again, I love holding a floppy in my hand too. It feels like you're holding real data.

someone_here• 15 years ago

SFTP is not FTP over SSH: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/SSH_File_Transfer_Protocol

prodigal_erik• 15 years ago

FTP was merely the first demonstration of how defective and nearly useless a network connection becomes when subject to NAT. It was written for peers who are actually on the Internet; nobody expected users to consent to being treated as lower forms of life.

Dobbs3• 15 years ago

It is not just NATing that breaks FTP but any form of firewall in general. Iptables isn't bad because there are special kernel modules that watch ftp traffic and auto adjust rules for you.

But good luck if your firewall is not on the same box as your FTP server.

protomyth• 15 years ago

I cannot agree with you more. I have 2 vendors that use FTP or FTP over SSH (not sftp) to upload data to our site. It is a firewall nightmare. Never mind the outbound ftp.

jshharlow• 15 years ago

Comparing its security to P2P seems odd. Last time I checked FTP used plain-text passwords :-/

Dobbs3• 15 years ago

FTP is an abomination and SMTP is not a file transfer protocol. I wish people would use SFTP.

The biggest problem is I've yet to find a SFTP server that isn't part of a SSH service. I'd like a nice pure SFTP server.

zdw2• 15 years ago

SFTP is SSH based - the full name is "SSH File Transfer Protocol" : http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/SSH_File_Transfer_Protocol

You can restrict an account to only SCP/SFTP with this shell: http://www.pizzashack.org/rssh/

Dobbs3• 15 years ago

Yes I'm well aware that sftp is a ftp style protocol over ssh.

What I want is a SFTP server that focuses on just the ftp part. With easy chrooting, virtual users, that sort of stuff.

I recently setup a new ftp/sftp server. Chrooting SFTP is a pain in the ass. Chrooting SFTP while still allowing some accounts to also be chrooted FTP is an even bigger pain in the ass.

In addition from everything I hear your better off using sftp-subsystem over rssh.

sbierwagen• 15 years ago

  Frank Kenney, vice president of global strategy for US managed file 
  transfer company Ipswitch, told us that the protocol we know as FTP 
  today is ‘a far cry from when Abhay Bushan, a student at MIT, wrote 
  the original specifications for FTP.’

And how is a PR quote from a stuffed shirt at all relevant to the story? Who is this chump? Why are they pulling asinine quotes from him?

  You can find Ipswitch at stand H70 of the Infosecurity Europe 2011 
  show in Earl’s Court, London from 19 to 21 April.

Ah.

FTP is 40 years old

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