Data Communication

&
Networking

Instructor:
Dr Ansar Munir Shah
 FILE TRANSFER PROTOCOL
(FTP)
PRESENTATION BY: Group-1.
1)Ambreen Bushra MCS-023R18-4
2)Firdos Jamal MCS-023R18-5
3)Muniba Batool MCS-023R18-18
4)Sidra Fatima MCS-023R18-
19
 What is FTP
 The File Transfer Protocol (FTP) is a standard
network protocol used to transfer
computer files between a client and server on
a computer network.

 It is built on client-server model architecture

and uses a separate control and data
connections between the client and the server
which operates under the application layer of
the Open System Interconnection (OSI) model.
 USAGE OF FTP

Client connects to the FTP server

User provides a login id and password to

become authenticated
User can explore the directories

User can download files from and upload

files to the server

 File Transfer Protocol (FTP)

 Client logs into host

 FTP host stores files

 Client program sends command to get a

file
 FTP host downloads the file with error

correction FTP Host

1. Login
2. FTP Get Command

3. Download
 File Transfer Protocol (FTP)
 User can also upload a file to the FTP Server
◦ WWW cannot do this

1. Login FTP Host

2. FTP Upload
 FTP FEATURES
 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
 FTP FEATURES
 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 Model
 The FTP models

Data
Connection.

Control
Connection.
PROTOCOL OVERVIEW

 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.
 PROTOCOL OVERVIEW (CONT’D)
 In an Active FTP connection, the client opens
a port and listens and the server actively
connects to it. 
 In a Passive FTP connection, the server opens

a port and listens (passively) and the client

connects to it. 
 You must grant Auto FTP Manager Access to

the Internet and to choose the right type of

FTP Connection Mode.
 File Transfer Protocol (FTP)
 Must Log into FTP Host Before Transfers
 Traditional FTP

◦ You log into a specific account with a password

◦ You can transfer to and from directories
accessible to that account
 Anonymous FTP
◦ You log in as “anonymous”
◦ Give your e-mail address as password (usually
optional)
◦ Host gives you access to public directories
◦ Usually for downloading only
◦ Not truly anonymous: your internet address is
known
 SYNTAX
 FTP URL syntax is described in RFC 1738,
taking the form:
ftp://[user[:password]@]host[:port]/url-path
(the bracketed parts are optional).
 File Structures

 Operating System store files in different structures

 FTP defined file structures for transporting files
◦ File F Unstructured, sequence of bytes
◦ Record R Series of records
◦ Page P Series of data blocks (pages)
 Default file structure is File (F)
 File Structure specified using STRU command
 Transfer Files in a Heterogeneous Host
Environment
 Due to multiple hardware types and operating
systems file are converted to four environmentally
neutral data type for transport and the converted to
local types at the destination
◦ ASCII A NVT-ASCII
◦ EBCDICE EBCDIC Text
◦ IMAGE I Raw binary, series of octets
◦ LOCAL L Raw binary using a variable byte size
 Client responsibility to tell server data type to use
 Default data type, unless otherwise specified is
ASCII
 FTP File Format Standards
 There are no standards for FTP file formats
◦ Nothing like HTML
◦ No limit on generality
◦ No help in handling after downloads
◦ You must know the file structure of the file you
download
◦ You must have an application program that can
read that file format
 FTP File Format Standards
 FTP can transfer a file across the data connection using
one of the following interpretations about structure of
data:
o File structure (default)
 File has no structure.
 Continuous stream of bytes
o Record structure
 File is divided into records (or structs in C).
 Used only with text files.
o Page structure
 Pages can be stored or accessed randomly or
sequentially.
 File is divided into pages, with each page having a
page number and a page header.
 Transmission Modes
 Mode is used to specify additional coding or
sequencing performed on data
 independent of data type and file structure
o Stream S stream of bytes, if record structure
EOF sent as record indication; if file eof
indicated by closing stream
o Block B file sent as sequence of blocks
preceded by header info allows restart of an
interruped transfer
o Compressed C data compressed using run length
encoding
 Transmission Modes
Stream mode
o Default mode
o Data is delivered from FTP to TCP as a
continuous stream of bytes; TCP is responsible
for chopping data into segments of appropriate
size.
o End-of-file is closing of data connection by
sender.
o If data is divided into records, each record will
have 1-byte end-of-record (EOR) character, and
the end of the file will have a 1-byte end-of-file
(EOF) character
 Transmission Modes

Block mode
o Data can be delivered from FTP to TCP in
blocks.
o Block is preceded by 3-byte header.
o 1st byte is called the block descriptor;
next 2 bytes defines the size of block in
bytes.
 Transmission Modes

Compressed mode
o If file is big, data can be compressed.
o Commonly used compression method is run-
length encoding.
o Consecutive appearance of a data unit are
replaced by one occurrence and number of
repetitions. Usually, Blanks in text file and null
characters in binary file are compressed.
 FTP Commands
 USER R User name, user_id for access control
 PASS O Password for access control
 ACCT O Account info
 CWD O Change working directory
 CDUP O Change to parent directory
 SMNT O Structure mount, mount a different file
system
 QUIT R informs server that client wants out
 REIN O restarts session at authentication phase
 PORT R Host address and data port to use
 FTP Commands (more)
 PASV O Passive; informs server that client will
contact to set up data connections, ask
server to sent port info
 TYPE R Data type, type of subsequent transfers
 STRU R File structure
 MODER Transfer mode
 RETR R Retrieve, download the file from server
 STOR R Store, upload the specified to server
 STOU O Store unique, same as store but server
picks unique file name
 FTP Commands (more)
 APPE O Append, upload file to server, if file name
exists, append the upload
 ALLO O Allocate, sometimes used to preallocate
space
 REST O Restart, restart an interrupted transfer
 RNFR O Rename file from filename
 RNTO O Rename file to
 ABOR O Abort, ask server to abort last command
 DELE O Delete specified file
 RMD O Remove directory
 MKD O Make directory
 FTP Commands (more)
 PWD O Print working directory
 LIST O Request directory listing
 NLST O Request just a file name list
 SITE O Site parameters, allow client to specify
site specific options and parameters
 SYST O request server operating system
 STAT O Request server to send status of current
xfr
 HELP O general and command specific
 NOOP R ask server to send a positive reply
 FTP Responses
 Each command generates a server response
◦ 3 digit code, text, <crlf>
 use 3 digit code as driver for GUI Clients or
programmatic implementations
 use text for Command line clients
 Responses
 1yz- Positive preliminary reply - command is being acted
upon; expect a final reply code before sending another
command
 2yz- Positive completion reply - command was successfully
executed; new command may be sent
 3yz - Positive intermediate reply - command was accepted,
but the final result is being delayed because other
information needs to be supplied from the client; reply is
used for sequencing command groups
 4yz- Transient negative completion reply - command failed,
but the condition is temporary
 5yz- Permanent negative completion reply – command
failed and will always fail if given again; the command
should not be attempted again
 Response
 x0z - Refers to command syntax
 x1z - Indicates information returned by
commands requesting information such as status
or help
 x2z - Refers to the state of the control or data
connections
 x3z - The reply is associated with the login
process and accounting procedures
 x4z - Reserved for future use
 x5z - Refers to the state of the requested file
transfer or other file system command
 A Simple FTP Transaction
 Client connects to ftp server.
 Server returns code 220 to specify that it is ready for the new
user
 Client sends command “USER <username>”
 Server returns code 331 if a password is required to access
the account.
 Client sends command “PASS <password>”.
 Server returns code 230 if authentication is successful.
 Client sends a PORT command to specify the port number
that it wants to transfer data over.
 Server returns code 200 if the PORT command was
successful.
 Client sends a LIST command.
 The server sends a list of files in the current directory and
returns code 226, which closes the connection.
 A Simple FTP Transaction
 Client sends another PORT command to open
another data connection.
 Server returns code 200 if the PORT command is
successful.
 The client sends a command of RETR <file name>
in order to initiate a transfer of that file.
 Server returns code 150 is the file status is okay
and the file will be transferred. transferred.
 When the transfer is complete, the server returns
code 226 to tell the client that the transfer is
complete and the data connection will be clossed.
 Client sends QUIT command.
 Server returns code 221 and closes the control
connection.
 FTP Archiving
 Many FTP files are archived
◦ Two-step process
◦ First, several files are combined into one archive
to avoid having to make multiple downloads
◦ Second, the combined files are compressed to
reduce download times

1. 2.
Combine Compress
 FTP Archiving
 Receiver must dearchive the files to read
them
 Unfortunately, many archiving standards

◦ Zip is the most common

◦ UNIX users tend to use others (tar)
◦ Some dearchiving programs handle only one
archiving standards, others several

Dearchive
 FTP Archiving
 Receiver must dearchive the files to read
them
 Self- Dearchiving Files

◦ Usually, you need a dearchiving program to

dearchive
◦ However, some archives have the extension .exe
◦ Really programs; Dearchive themselves
◦ Executing the archive file dearchives its files
◦ These are programs, so be wary of viruses!

Dearchive
FTP
THE END…