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FTP: Better Than HTTP, Or Obsolete?

Posted by timothy on from the don-your-holy-vestments dept.

An anonymous reader asks "Looking to serve files for downloading (typically 1MB-6MB), I'm confused about whether I should provide an FTP server instead of / as well as HTTP. According to a rapid Google search, the experts say 1) HTTP is slower and less reliable than FTP and 2) HTTP is amateur and will make you look a wimp. But a) FTP is full of security holes. and b) FTP is a crumbling legacy protocol and will make you look a dinosaur. Surely some contradiction... Should I make the effort to implement FTP or take desperate steps to avoid it?"

9 of 870 comments (clear)

  1. Re:In my opinion, by captain_craptacular · · Score: 2, Offtopic

    Ahh, I always set hash on before command line ftping. Then I get to see the pretty #'s fly by...

    --
    They who would give up an essential liberty for temporary security, deserve neither liberty nor security
  2. Obligatory non-committal response by slagish666 · · Score: 0, Offtopic
    Looking to serve files for downloading (typically 1MB-6MB)

    Lemme guess... MP3s?

    --
    "Consider the lillies of the goddamn field."
  3. Re:Jealous? by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0, Offtopic

    I know you are..

  4. Re:Http/Ftp which is slower? by JPriest · · Score: 0, Offtopic

    FTP uses UDP and gets modded "Score:3, Informative"? I though this was a technical news site.

    --
    Saying Java is nice because it works on all OS's is like saying that anal sex is nice because it works on all genders.
  5. Sneakernet by sulli · · Score: 0, Offtopic
    Burn CDs of the data and hand them out.

    Better yet, if you have the budget, use iPods. Your users will thank you.

    --

    sulli
    RTFJ.
  6. Re:Different, not better or wose by Skater · · Score: 1, Offtopic

    A friend of mine was over the other night scanning pictures for her website. Apparently her brother set up a website with FTP access for their family. I FTP'd the site (she was having trouble getting it to work, so I used command line FTP to test it), and logged in using anonymous.

    I then noticed that I was able to upload files (to any directory), download files (same), and delete files. As an anonymous user. In their web pages directory, too. Defacing that website would be so trivial that I doubt even the usual twits would bother.

    Nothing like waving a flag that says "Warez traders! Come here!"...

    --RJ

  7. What you have to do... by buck_wild · · Score: 0, Offtopic

    ...is get yourself some better pr0n! Jesus man, those better be picture files and not movies!

    --
    If all you have is a hammer, everything looks like a nail.
  8. Re:Different, not better or wose by Blkdeath · · Score: 0, Offtopic
    Why don't you tell us how to set it up then, fscktard.

    Why would I tell you how to do it, when I could charge you $60/hour to do it for you? I've already read the manuals, I already know what I'm doing.

    n.b. I charge a fee for computer instruction, too, but it's less than my service fee.

    If this doesn't interest you, try reading the documentation for your FTP server and firewall of choice. Get back to me when you've figured it out. You know who I am.

    --
    BD Phone Home!

    Shameless plug. Like you weren't expecting it.

  9. Re:Different, not better or wose -- WRONG!!! by joshsisk · · Score: 0, Offtopic

    And that's the level of insightful commentary I expect from someone posting at -1...