FTP to FTPS: Understanding The Difference Between The Two!!

Also read:  Digital Transformation Efforts In 2021: How It Is Changing Industries?

Some decades later, we know services like Dropbox or Box that use their protocol to move files over the internet. Then why do we need FTP? Why can’t we directly use these other protocols?

 Why FTP

1. The whole backbone of the internet runs on standard protocols, like HTTP, FTP, DHCP, DNS etc. By using the standard protocol it gives a goal of the free and open Internet.
2. FTP does give you flexibility in your toolset. There are many numbers of tools, scripts and daemons which works with it.
3. Many devices have FTP built into them, such as security cameras. For example,  you develop a new security camera and want it to connect to a closed protocol, like Dropbox. With FTP, you can make the connection easily. With a closed protocol, however, you would have to contact Dropbox and pay licensing fees for using their protocol.
4. Almost every client machine already supports file transfer protocol! You don’t have to download a client to access FTP functions from the command line. You can download anything with the interface of FTP.

What is FTPS

FTPS which is also known as FTP Secure or FTPS is nothing but a more secure version of the protocol. If we look closely then FTPS is a basic FTP with an added version of security. Special security protocols TLS (Transport Layer Security) and SSL (Secure Sockets Layer) are cryptographic and they provide encryption of data to protect your data as it moves from point 1 to point 2, including username/passcode.

FTPS is ultimately an advanced level of security added to the basic protocol of FTP.

Difference between FTP to FTPS is

Let’s try to find out the difference between FTP to FTPS is in a more precise way so that when you have to choose a protocol, you can always refer to its Pros and Cons. Here we have also mentioned SFTP, which is also a secured protocol.

File Transfer

In today’s era of SaaS companies, cloud computing and e-commerce, understanding your options for secure file transfer is mandatory. While we have kept out the main differences between the two file transfer protocols, which is FTP to FTPS.

FTP brings out the speed and reliability that most of the industries and devices still rely on, and will rely on well into the future which is for sure. And let’s not forget how data is important to a firm when we talk about data transfer and security is something which is the need of an hour.

The Key difference between FTP to FTPS

Now, we know that  FTPS and SFTP offer powerful protection via authentication options that FTP can’t provide. But what is the difference between FTP and FTPS? And what should be the criteria over which a user or a firm can decide? One major difference between FTPS and SFTP is that FTPS uses multiple port numbers. The very first port for the command channel is used for authentication and passing commands. But, every time a file transfer request or directory listing request is made, another port number needs to be opened for the data channel.

Due to this, you and your trading partners will somehow have to open a range of ports in your firewalls to allow for FTPS connections, which can be a security risk for your network ultimately. SFTP needs only a single port number for all SFTP communications, making it easy to secure and ultimately giving reliability.

While both protocols have their advantages, we recommend SFTP thanks to its better usability with firewalls. This is the difference between FTP to ftps. 

FTP and FTPS Difference: Which one to go for

FTPS (FTP/SSL) is a name used to provide several numbers of ways that FTP software can perform secure file transfers. Each way involves the use of an SSL/TLS layer below the standard FTP protocol to encrypt the control and/or data channels. So What are the pros and cons of FTPS? (FTP to FTPS)

Pros

1. Commonly known and used
2. The information can be read and understood by a human
3. Gives services for server-to-server file transfer
4. SSL/TLS has good authentication mechanisms (X.509 certificate features)
5. FTP and SSL/TLS support is built into many internet communications frameworks

Cons

1. Does not contain a uniform directory listing format
2. Requires a secondary DATA channel, which makes it difficult to use behind firewalls
3. Does not define a standard for file name character sets (encodings)
4. Not all FTP servers support SSL/TLS
5. Does not have a specific way to get and change file or directory attributes

We hope that you now know the  FTP to FTPS difference and what exactly is FTP and FPTS. We hope you find this article helpful.