Creating a FTP server online One very common method is SFTP (Secure File Transfer Protocol). There is a less common protocol SCP, and FTP, which is not recommended in general because it is insecure. To use these programs, one of the two systems involved must be running an appropriate server program, so this is appropriate for transfers between a personal machine and a central service such as DS-Filestore. For details, choose from the options on the left. 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 web page editors. You can use FTP to exchange files between computer accounts, transfer files between an account and a desktop computer, or access online software archives. Keep in mind, however, that many FTP sites are heavily used and require several attempts before connecting. Using FTP, a client can upload, download, delete, rename, move and copy files on a server. A user typically needs to log on to the FTP server, although some servers make some or all of their content available without login, also known as anonymous FTP. FTP sessions work in passive or active modes. In active mode, after a client initiates a session via a command channel request, the server initiates a data connection back to the client and begins transferring data. In passive mode, the server instead uses the command channel to send the client the information it needs to open a data channel. Because passive mode has the client initiating all connections, it works well across firewalls and Network Address Translation (NAT) gateways. Interactive Access FTP provides an interactive interface to allow humans to interact with remote servers. Format Specification FTP allows the client to specify the type and representation of stored data. The user can specify whether a file contains text or binary data. Authentication Control FTP requires clients to authorize themselves by sending a login name and password to the server before requesting file transfers. The server refuses access to clients that cannot provide a valid login and password. FTP server implementations allow simultaneous access by multiple clients. Clients use TCP to connect to a server. The FTP server process awaits connections and creates a slave process to handle each connection. The slave process accepts and handles a control connection from the client. The control connection carries commands that tell the server which file to transfer. An additional TCP connection and process is created to handle each data transfer operation. The new TCP connection and process on both the client and server is created for each data transfer operation. Other File Protocols The other two common forms of file transfer are HTTP and peer-to-peer (P2P). HTTP is a website that users can use to either download files or save entire pages of information. HTTP is the information you see in your web browser anytime you use HTTP at the beginning of your web address bar. Unlike FTP, users cannot upload information to the HTTP web server. This makes HTTP much more secure because it helps cut down on spam and other irrelevant file uploads. The downside of using HTTP is that it's not the best way to transfer large files since the user will have to download each file separately, making it much slower than FTP. Peer to peer (P2P) does not have a server that holds all of the files available for transfer. Instead, individual computers host the files and then other computers can access the files on the other computers. This means that one computer can have many people downloading files from it. For large based networks, P2P is not a desirable method of file transfer because it can make computer systems run slower making it inefficient. If you are looking for a file server that will be able to hold large files making it available for download to a large group of people, FTP is probably your best bet. If you are looking for a smaller file transfer system, HTTP or P2P might be easier for you. Another option is you can always attempt to use HTTP and then convert to a FTP if need be in the future when you have more information for transmission.