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None rated yet		What is FTP? All of you music enthusiasts probably know how to download MP3 music files, right? Many of you have downloaded EBooks and other files, tapping on the desk wondering when the file will show up on your desktop. Well, have you ever wondered how these files that were probably residing in some giant server in another part of the world found their way into your computer? If the file is transferred as one big piece, any small error in the transmission will result in the server attempting to send the large file again and again. This is not very efficient as it is easier to send the file in small chunks (called packets) which can be error-checked and only re-sent if necessary. There are many types of computers in the world and they may speak different languages (operating systems). To have a common method of transferring files from the Internetserver to our computer, engineers developed the file transfer protocol, commonly known as FTP. Why use FTP? The Internetis a huge web of inter-connected computers of all shape, sizes and types. Depending on the basic software or operating system of the computer, it behaves differently, essentially speaking different languages. So we needed a language that everyone understood. This language is called a protocol which consists of a basic set of rules that should be followed so that the computer sending the file can speak directly to the computer receiving it and the work gets completed flawlessly. Before FTP, it was very difficult to transfer files from a PC to a MAC or a UNIX system since they all spoke different languages. Even a text file which can be read on any system could not be transferred to a computer because they didn’t read the same type of floppy disk etc. Although emails have helped us transfer files easily, they are also limited when it comes to large files, typically many megabytes in size. Who discovered FTP? The File Transfer Protocol is the result of a united effort by the InternetEngineering Task Force (IETF), an international group consisting of designers, operators, sellers and researchers who joined together to provide common standards in Internetassociated activities. It is their combined work that has made the Internetso easily available and usable from any part of the world. The first FTP protocol, called RFC standard 114, was published by the IETF in 1971. Many updates later, we have the current version of FTP which is being used by millions of people every day. How to use FTP The most common use of FTP is to download files from the Internet. You may be reading this on the Internetand this information most probably was uploaded from the creator of this webpage using FTP. Pictures, videos, archives, etc. can be uploaded or downloaded in minutes or seconds depending on the speed of your Internetconnection. You may also need a program called an FTP client on most computers to be able to transfer files using FTP. Some applications on your computer may already have FTP clients included with them. Ftp servers have addresses similar to the “http://” addresses we have for web pages. These addresses start with the prefix “ftp://”. To upload a file, we have to connect our FTP client to one of these FTP sites, login with an authentic user id and password. This is to avoid net criminals from downloading files illegally or infecting the site with viruses. There are many sites where one can use the id “anonymous” and type in the email address for password. This is to enable access to the general public to these files which may be on important issues such as security awareness, travel warnings, health warnings, etc. As you can see, FTP makes the world smaller by making it easier for everyone to communicate in an easy and efficient manner.
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