Understand the Difference Between Telnet and FTP

TELNET and FTP both are the connection oriented and application layer protocols. Both creates a connection between remote host and a server.

As name File Transfer Protocol, FTP is used for transferring the files from one system to another system where as TELNET is used for remote login for a system.

Read through this article to find out more information about Telnet and File Transfer Protocol and how they are different from each other.

What is Telnet?

Telnet service enables an Internet user to log in to another computer on the Internet from his/her local computer. That is, a user can execute the telnet command on his/her local computer to start a login session on a remote computer. This action is also called “remote login”.

To start a remote login session, a user types the command telnet and address of the remote computer on his/her local computer terminal. The system then asks the user to enter a login name (user ID) and a password. That is, the remote computer authenticates the user to ensure that he/she is authorized to access it. If the user specifies a correct login name and password, he/she is logged on to the remote computer. Once login session is established with the remote computer, telnet enters input mode, and anything typed on the terminal of the local computer by the user is sent to the remote computer for processing.

Some common uses of telnet service are:

Using computing power of remote computer. The local computer may be an ordinary personal computer and the remote computer may be powerful super computer.
Using a software on remote computer. A software that a user wants to use may not be available on his/her computer.
Accessing remote computer’s database or archive. An information archive of interest to a user, such as public database or library resources may be available on the remote computer.
For logging in to ones own computer from another computer. For example, if a user is attending a conference in another city and has access to a computer on the Internet, he/she can telnet to his/her own computer and read his/her electronic mails or access some information stored there.

What is FTP?

FTP (File Transfer Protocol) enables an Internet user to move a file from one computer to another on the Internet. A file may contain any type of digital information – text document, image, artwork, movie, sound, software, etc. Moving a file from a remote computer to ones own computer is known as downloading the file, and moving a file from ones own computer to a remote computer is known as uploading the file.

By using FTP service, a file transfer takes place in following manner:

A user executes the ftp command on his/her local computer, specifying address of the remote computer as a parameter.
An FTP process running on user’s computer (called FTP client process) establishes a connection with an FTP process running on remote computer (called FTP server process).
The System then asks the user to enter his/her login name and password on the remote computer to ensure that the user is authorized to access the remote computer.
After successful login, desired file(s) are downloaded or uploaded get (for downloading) and put (for uploading) commands. User can also list directories, or move between directories of the remote computer, before deciding which file(s) to transfer.

Notice that a user needs access rights for a remote computer to transfer files to/from it. With this restriction, it is almost impossible to provide access rights to the vast number of users on the Internet to a computer that contains sharable information. The concept of anonymous FTP site is used to overcome this problem. An anonymous FTP site is a computer allowing a user to log in with a username of anonymous and a password that is user’s e-mail address. The user can then download files that have been stored on it for sharing. Such sites are called publicly accessible sites because any user on the Internet can access them.

Of course, FTP service is also used for more secure file transfer operations. In such cases, a user needs a valid username and password to access a particular computer. This is common; for example, for organizations that wish to let only certain people access their computer.

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