Talk:File Transfer Protocol
Getting this fleshed out for the Internet article -Eric M Gearhart 18:57, 13 July 2008 (CDT)
Improvements needed
Unfortunately, FTP was developed for a very different environment, and also at a time when we knew much less about building, operating, and especially troubleshooting networks. Were I to pick a single adjective to describe FTP, "ugly" comes to mind. Given additional words, I think of "very, very ugly."
In lieu of euthanasia, let me put on my Computers Editor hat and suggest an outline. Do avoid talking about the *NIX ftp command, or FTP utility programs for operating systems, until the protocol is discussed thoroughly. If it's really important to mention the command very early, we need to disambiguate:
"ftp" needs to redirect to a disambiguation page:
- File transfer protocol [r]: Add brief definition or description
- Ftp command and utilities [r]: Add brief definition or description
Outline
Introduction: what problem does FTP (the protocol) solve? What are its basic capabilities?
Protocol operation
- Concepts of control and data channels
- Client-server
- General description of the major protocol messages
- General description of the protocol state machine
- Errors and error handling
Design problems (major reference: "Firewall-friendly FTP", http://www.ietf.org/rfc/rfc1579.html. The first two items create problems even without considering security, such as not being able to work through a basic network address translator
- Embedded IP addresses and port numbers in the application layer protocol
- Port redirection
- Firewall incompatibilities and passive open
Fault tolerance and checkpointing, or lack thereof
Secure alternatives
(commands and utilities)