Difference between FTP and TFTP in Networking

   FTP stands for "File Transfer Protocol". It is used to send/receive file from the remote computer. It is defined in RFC959. FTP establishes two connections between client system and server system, one for control information and the other for data to be transferred. Control information carries commands/response. Authentication need to be done initially by way of validating username and password. Once it is done files can be transferred between two systems. FTP handles both binary and text format files.

   When a FTP client requests to connect to the FTP server, a TCP connection is being established to the FTP server’s port 21 reserved for FTP. After authentication is done, another TCP connection is being established for the actual data transfer on port number 20.

   TFTP stands for "Trivial File Transfer Protocol". It is defined in RFC783. It is simpler than FTP, does file transfer between client and server process but does not provide user authentication and other useful features supported by FTP. TFTP uses UDP while FTP uses TCP.

   As TFTP is unreliable protocol due to UDP, it uses application layer recovery supported by UDP. This is done by embedding a small header between the UDP header and the data. This header incorporates codes for example read, write and acknowledgement along with numbering scheme which numbers 512 bytes of data. These block numbers provided are used to acknowledge the receipt and re-send the data in case of checksum failures. TFTP sends one block and waits on acknowledgement before sending another block.

   Main differences between FTP and TFTP are

• FTP uses TCP port numbers 20 and 21, TFTP uses UDP port number 69.
  
  
• FTP is a complete, session-oriented, general purpose file transfer protocol. TFTP is used as a bare-bones special purpose file transfer protocol.
  
  
• FTP can be used interactively. TFTP allows only unidirectional transfer of files.
  
  
• FTP depends on TCP, is connection oriented, and provides reliable control. TFTP depends on UDP, requires less overhead, and provides virtually no control.
  
  
• FTP provides user authentication. TFTP does not.