A Secure File Transfer Protocol session is similar to a File Transfer Protocol, or FTP, session, but with the added security of encryption. When you use SFTP to make a connection to a server that. FTP stands for the File Transfer Protocol. An FTP client is generally used to copy files from one machine to another over the Internet. Two computers involved in an FTP transfer are called a client and a server. This blog post is how to connect to a server via the SFTP protocol, thus connecting to a server securely with SSH keys. The client create a SSH Public and Private Key.
FTP or SFTP or maybe FTPS, HTTPS … As you see, there are so many options for a file transfer that it can be sometimes very difficult to answer the question 'What is the best way to secure your data when transferring?'
This article is meant to help you to hunt down a question of the differences between FTP and SFTP, and which one is the best choice for protecting the transfer of your files. Despite sounding quite similar, there is a significant difference between FTP and SFTP. However, both these protocols are widely used for data exchange.
What is the difference between FTP and SFTP?
Before talking about the difference between these two protocols, let's talk about these two meanings separately.
What is FTP? Let's try to answer this question first
FTP is a popular file transfer method that is being used everywhere and has not changed so much since its invention in 1971. However, at that time, it was not generally assumed that the Internet activity would actively be targeted at hacking, so FTP was not created with the features to deal with such a cyber security threat that we now see in the news every day.
How does FTP work
The File Transfer Protocol or also known as FTP is designed to organize the exchange of data between your PC and the server. This process is similar to the one when the user copies information from one folder to another. Using FTP, you get access to the disk space that is allocated by the host.
FTP exchanges data using two separate channels, known as the command channel and the data transfer channel. When using FTP, both channels are unencrypted, as a result, any data transferred through these channels are vulnerable to interception and reading.
Functions that are available from FTP are the following:
- downloading files from an FTP server;
- uploading sites to the hosting;
- placing files on FTP servers of different types.
In order to be able to use FTP on your PC, there are special programs - FTP clients. In fact, they differ only in the graphical environment and the ease of use. As for the functions, they are the same. FTP client can be installed on any PC with any OS no matter whether it is Windows, Unix, MAC, etc.
In other words, one can say that an FTP server is a good replacement for portable storage media. If you need to transfer data to another computer, you cannot only use the flash drive, but also make it completely different: place the information on the FTP server, and then just download it from another PC. This method is more convenient and beneficial for users of the Network.
Now, let's answer the question 'What is SFTP'?
SFTP is the abbreviation of Secure File Transfer Protocol and is a completely different protocol that is based on the SSH (Secure Shell) network protocol and has nothing to do with FTP. Due to the fact that this protocol has a built-in encryption system, it is preferable to use SFTP vs FTP. Nevertheless, SFTP has not been adopted as the official standard of the Network yet.
How does SFTP work
The application layer protocol SFTP was developed as an extension to SSH-2. It is used to copy and execute operations with files on top of a secure connection. In most cases, it uses port 22. SFTP assumes that it is running over the established secure channel, that the server has already authenticated the client and that the client ID is available to the protocol.
SFTP provides two ways to authenticate connections. Like FTP, you can simply use the user ID and password. However, with SFTP, these credentials are encrypted, which gives it a great security advantage over FTP.
Another authentication method that you can use with SFTP is SSH keys. This assumes, first of all, the generation of the private key SSH and the public key. Then, you send your public key SSH to your trading partner, and they upload it to their server and after that connect to your account. When connecting to your SFTP server, their client software will transfer their public key to the server for authentication. If the public key matches your private key, along with any user or transmitted password, the verification will be passed. The user authentication ID can be used with any combination of a key and/or password authentication.
Features and functions of the SFTP protocol:
- resuming function, interruption of transfer and deleting the file;
- it is used as a subsystem of version 2 of the SSH protocol implementation;
- an advantage over FTP (which does not have a downloading conditions) - the downloaded files can be combined by their main attributes, such as timestamps.
We hope that this FTP SFTP comparison article was rather informative for you, and as you see, unlike FTP, SFTP uses only one connection and encrypts both authentication information and transmitted data files and is considered to be more secure.
Commander One is a perfect FTP/SFTP client for Mac
To choose straightforward, simple and powerful FTP/SFTP client is would meet all your requirements isn't an easy task. We recommend you to take a closer look at Commander One. The app is developed by Eltima Software as an excellent file manager with built-in FTP/SFTP client. Commander One is a great combination of all the features one would need for a fast and secure data transfer. Having a minimalistic dual-panel interface you would definitely love the way you can work with all the files and folders and how easily they can be moved around without opening additional tabs.
In addition, the app's PRO Pack allows you to seamlessly mount the most popular cloud storages like Dropbox, Amazon S3, Google Drive and OneDrive on your Mac computer as well as manage and access all the information stored there as if they were on your local hard disk. Besides that, you can flawlessly connect your Android smartphone, and other devices that support MTP connection and manage all the data there without any effort. Give Commander One a chance and check how it works.
Commander One
- Requirements: MacOS 10.10+. 37.59MB free space
- Version 2.2(3085). (6th Aug, 2019). Release notes
- Rank 4.5 based on 89+ users, Reviews(15)
- Category: Utilities
Most organizations run Linux servers for their enterprise databases and applications. However the developers and admins might have Windows laptops. In those cases, you might be using PuTTY (or related tools like PuttyCM) to ssh from Windows to Linux.
You might also want to transfer files from Windows to Linux and vice versa. You can use any one of the free SFTP clients mentioned in this article.
Even if you are already using some SFTP client, check-out these tools, you might end-up liking one of these sFTP clients better than your current one.
Did we miss any of your favorite SFTP or SCP client?
1. WinSCP
WinSCP Supports SFTP, SCP and FTP. This is the best and efficient SFTP and SCP graphical tool for Windows. Following are few features of WinSCP.
- Its integrated well with Windows using the drag and drop feature. From Windows Explorer, you can right mouse click on a file, select 'Send To', and transfer the file to remote Linux server.
- Apart from GUI, WinSCP also provides a command line interface to transfer files.
- If you frequently connect to multiple servers, you can store those session information (ip-address, username) in WinSCP. Storing the password is not recommended.
- You can automate the file transfer by writing scripts in WinSCP.
- WinSCP can monitor a local directory for changes and automatically sync with the remote directory.
- WinSCP is open source.
2. PSCP and PSFTP (from PuTTY)
PuTTY is used to SSH from Windows to Linux. Apart from the SSH client, PuTTY also has both SCP and SFTP client. It is called PSCP and PSFTP. Just like PuTTY, these are very light weight, easy to use, reliable, and open source.
Please note that PSCP and PSFTP are just command-line tools without any GUI.
Note: If you are using PuTTY, don't forget to check-out these PuTTY tips, and 12 powerful PuTTY Add-ons.
3. Filezilla
FileZilla is a GUI tool that supports FTP, FTPS and SFTP. Following are some of the features.
- It is cross platform and works on Windows, Linux and Mac OS.
- Filezilla is open source.
- Supports IPv6.
- You can drag and drop files.
- Edit remote files directly from Filezilla.
- Compare local and remote directory contents.
4. FireFTP
FireFTP is a FTP addon for Firefox, which can also do SFTP.
To use SFTP in FireFTP, from Firefox browser, click on Tools -> FireFTP -> From the drop-down list, select either 'Quick Connect' or 'Create an Account' -> In the 'Main' tab, enter the ip-address, uid, and pwd for the Linux server -> Click on 'Connection' Tab -> Click on 'Security' drop-down list and select 'SFTP' from here, as shown below.
5. CoreFTP LE
CoreFTP is a commercial product that has both Pro and Free version. The free version pretty much has every feature that you would need for your typical SFTP file transfer needs.
- Drag and drop support.
- You can stop and resume the file transfer.
- File transfer bandwidth can be controlled
- command line mode is available
6. Swish – SFTP from Windows Explorer
This is very different from all other SFTP clients. This integrates directly to your Windows Explorer. You can just browse remote files from your Windows Explorer directly, and drag and drop files to transfer it.
Please note that this is still in 'alpha' stage.
Once you've installed it, do the following to create a remote SFTP connection from the Windows Explorer:
- On Windows XP -> My Computer -> Click on Swish Icon -> Tools menu bar -> Add SFTP Connection.
- On Windows 7 -> Click on 'Computer' in your Windows Explorer -> Click on Swish Icon -> Click on 'Add SFTP Connection'.
7. BitKinex
BitKinex is a freeware SFTP Clienit. Following are some of the features.
- Uses multipart and multithreaded file transfer for speed.
- Support FTP, FTPS, SFTP, HTTP, HTTPS and WebDAV protocols.
- Supports server-to-server file transfer.
- Command line interface to transfer files
What is your favorite SFTP or SCP clients for Windows? Please leave a comment and let us know.