topic Re: SFTP vs FTP in Operating System - HP-UX

SFTP vs FTP

Gamaliel — Tue, 04 Jul 2006 13:13:12 GMT

Hi there,

Because of security i have to change from ftp to sftp, after that, i'm having some problems with the format of files i transfer... With ftp i was able to decide between binary or ascii transmition, now with sftp i can't find that property.

Any help?

Re: SFTP vs FTP

Torsten. — Tue, 04 Jul 2006 13:38:35 GMT

AFAIK all transfers with SFTP are binary, there is no ascii mode.
For several reasons (performance), scp could be the better choice.

Re: SFTP vs FTP

Steven E. Protter — Tue, 04 Jul 2006 13:51:36 GMT

Shalom,

SFTP is smart. It knows the difference between ASCII and Binary.

Addendum
SFTP
1) Encrypted login/authentication
2) Encrypted data transmission

FTP
1) Password authentication in clear text
2) Data transmission not encrypted

In the FTP section item 1 means that anybody on the Internet can get you password with tcpdump or ethereal, which are both standard in Linux and free for Windows.

The argument against SFTP used to be there are no inexpensive clients. Firezilla eliminates this argument.

Oh yeah, did I mention ftp is too stupid to tell the difference between ascii and binary files? That sftp, the basic client that ships with openssh knows the difference out of the box?

SEP

Re: SFTP vs FTP

Gamaliel — Tue, 04 Jul 2006 17:37:26 GMT

Torsten, SEP,

Thanks, although I think SFTP could be smarter because the file i'm transfering feeds another system, and needs some format that I can't chose anymore...

Is there anything I can do to set this mode?

Regards,

Re: SFTP vs FTP

Rick Garland — Tue, 04 Jul 2006 20:00:57 GMT

What about the 'scp' command? This will do a secure copy of the file(s). This adhering to the security concerns you have expressed