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2025-11-05 09:18:11 +01:00

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FTP

The File Transfer Protocol (FTP) is a standard communication protocol used for the transfer of computer files from a server to a client on a computer subnetworks. FTP is built on a clientserver model architecture using separate control and data connections between the client and the server. FTP users may authenticate themselves with a plain-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 (FTPS) or replaced with SSH File Transfer Protocol (SFTP).

The first FTP client applications were command-line programs developed before operating systems had graphical user interfaces (GUI), and are still shipped with most Windows, Unix, and Linux operating systems. Many dedicated 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 and file managers.

An FTP client used to be commonly integrated in web browsers, where file servers are browsed with the URI prefix "ftp://". In 2021, FTP support was dropped by Google Chrome and Firefox, two major web browser vendors, due to it being superseded by the more secure SFTP and FTPS; although neither of them have implemented the newer protocols.

In the command line it works like ssh.

One can invoke it with the command sftp as follows:

  sftp <servername or IP> -p <port if allocated and non standard port>

You can navigate in the far away shell as you would in your own terminal. If you want to navigate your local host you have to prepend an l infront of every command. like lcd to switch lokal folders or lls to list folder content.