Image shows a grid of four columns and eight rows detailing the difference between four common types of file transfer: tftp, ftp, sftp, and scp; across eight data points: transfer protocol, standard port, speed overview, security overview, authentication support, encryption support, and connection orientation.
- TFTP : UDP, port 69, Fast, Less Secure, No Authentication, No Encryption, and Connection-less
- FTP: TCP, port 20, 21, Slow, Less Secure, Authentication, No Encryption, and Connection-oriented
- SFTP: TCP, Port 22, Slow, Secure, Authentication, Encryption, and Connection-oriented
- SCP: TCP, Port 22, Fast, Secure, Authentication, Encryption, and Connection-oriented
Src: Twitter via LinkedIn.
Well I know when I’m transferring firmware to a Cisco switch/router. TFTP is by far the slowest.
Tftp is only fast when latency is low. It send only one block at the time, and only on request.
This image wants me to punch someone right in the watermark
Is tftp used for anything other than booting disk images?
While that is a very common use case (bootp), I’ve ran across a lot of hardware that use it for config upload and download:
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To upload a config to an industrial grade Garettcom switch you need to use tftp. Same goes for firmware updates and config backups.
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This Cisco phone I was battling with once tried to download a config vea TFTP feom its DHCP server, assuming its DHCP server was part of the SIP infrastructure. The above mechanism was also used successfully by some other proprietary hardware built inhouse for firmware updates.
I’ve only really used it for net boot (https://netboot.xyz/) myself. Maybe OOB back in the day with some iLo shenanigans, but otherwise I stick with rsync.
Lol i’m pretty sure SFTP, SCP, and rsync are pretty much all the same when it comes to speed. I’ve used all three very frequently, and by both bitrate and total time, only rsync or scp very rarely edges out for single small files.
