TFTP Protocol Tutorial.

TFTP stands for Trivial File Transfer Protocol. As the name suggests, the protocol transfers files and data most simply. This is a lightweight version of a file transfer application. To undergo the process of file transferring and receiving between machines of different networks.

TFTP Protocol uses UDP (User Datagram Protocol). TFTP protocol consists of various types of small packets, which are considered individual units, which makes it easier to be transferred. The standard is defined in IETF spec RFC1350.

We use a file transfer protocol (FTP) with more capability on most of the systems.

What is FTP Protocol?

FTP stands for File Transfer Protocol. It is used to transfer files and data over the internet. The process of file or data transfer within an organization or over the internet is made possible and easy with the help of FTP Protocol.

One of the first solutions to the problem of heavy data transfer was FTP Protocol. Due to its effectiveness, it became one of the widely used protocols to undergo the transfer process, which otherwise was cumbersome.

FTP VS TFTP Protocol:

Although both protocols transfer files from one computer to another, there are still some significant differences between them. Some of the points of variation are as follows:

  • Size of Software – The size of the software is one of the critical points of difference; on the one hand, FTP Protocol has a huge size, while the TFTP Protocol has a relatively smaller size.
  • Ports- The FTP Protocol works on two ports, viz. 20 and 21, whereas TFTP Protocol works on a single port.
  • Service Provider- The service provider in both cases is different. FTP uses TCP ( Transmission Control Protocol), whereas TFTP uses UDP ( User Datagram Protocol).
  • Complexity- The FTP protocol is highly complex compared to the TFTP protocol.
  • Messages- The FTP protocol has a provision of several messages as opposed to the TFTP protocol, which has only five messages.

Developers of TFTP Protocol

Several people contributed to the later enhancements of the TFTP Protocol, but at first, Noel Chiappa developed it. Later, he, along with Bob Baldwin and Dave Clark, redesigned the protocol with inputs from Steve Szymanski. This was not the end, and they continued working on it. After extensive discussions and proposals from Larry Allen, Noel Chiappa, Dave Clark, Geoff Cooper, Mike Greenwald, Liza Martin, David Reed, Craig Milo Rogers (of USC-ISI), Kathy Yellick, and K. Sollins, the latest version of the protocol was introduced.

How Does TFTP Protocol Work?

For the transfer process to start, the primary requirement is that the server forms a connection to read or write the files to be transferred. Once the connection is established, the procedure to send the files begins. These files are transferred in small data packets of fixed-length blocks of 512 bytes. These data packets are further divided into blocks, each consisting of one block. Once a data pack is sent, it needs to be acknowledged by the acknowledgment packet before sending the other packet.

Now for it to be transferred entirely and be acknowledged, the packet should be a minimum of 512 bytes. If the packet size is less than 512 bytes, it leads to the termination of the packet. This, in turn, causes a timeout in the transferring process, and the sender has to retransmit the packet.

One important thing to remember is that both the machines involved in the process are considered as a sender and a receiver. This is so because while one transmits data and receives an acknowledgment, the other transmits acknowledgment and accepts the data.

Now during this transmission process, there is an error at times. This leads to the termination of the connection. Unlike the other packets, when the error packet is sent, it is neither acknowledged nor retransmitted. This is why there are timeouts, as they make it easier for us to detect the error packet.

The reason behind the occurrence of error could be three, namely:

  • Unable to fulfill the demand, for example, file not found, access violation, or no such user
  • Accepting a packet that can’t be clarified by a postponement or duplication in the organization, for example, an incorrectly formed packet, and
  • No longer have access to a necessary resource; for example, disk full or access denied during a transfer.

As mentioned above, TFTP usually recognizes almost all the error packets that lead to termination except for one condition wherein the source port of a packet is incorrect. Subsequently, an error packet is sent to the originating host.

Correlation With Other Protocols

As we have read in this article earlier, the TFTP protocol is devised to be implemented on UDP. Since Datagram is actualized on the Internet convention, parcels will have an Internet header, a Datagram header, and a TFTP header.

As shown in Figure 1 below, the headers in the packet have to be in the order mentioned.

—————————————————————-

|  Local Medium  |  Internet  |  Datagram  |  TFTP  |

—————————————————————-

Figure 1

TFTP Packets

The TFTP protocol supports the following five types of packets:

Message codes for TFTP protocol Operations

  1. Read Request (RRQ)
  2. Write Request (WRQ)
  3. Data (DATA)
  4. Acknowledgment (ACK)
  5. Error (ERROR)

As mentioned above, the headers of a packet follow a specific order. Similarly, they also contain the Opcode associated with that packet. The following figure shows an example of what the TFTP header of a packet actually looks like.

2 bytes           string 1-byte string         1 byte

———————————————————————-

|    Opcode   |   Filename   |       0       |     Mode      |       0      |

———————————————————————–

Figure 2: RRQ/WRQ packet

Looking at the example above, we can see that the RRQ and WRQ packets with Opcode 1 and 2, respectively, occur in the packet. The second header of the packet is the filename, which is a sequence of bytes netascii terminated by a zero byte. After that comes the mode string, which can contain either “netascii”, “octet” or “mail”.

A host who gets netascii mode information must interpret the data to its design. If a machine has the file in the 8-bit format, we use Octet mode to transfer that file. Lastly, whenever the Mail mode is used, it uses the name of the mail recipient instead of the file. Also, one unique feature of Mail mode is that it always begins with a WRQ.

Looking a data, it is transferred as DATA packets as shown below.

2 bytes      2 bytes         n bytes                                                       ——————————————–                                                    |  Opcode  |    Block #   |     Data     |                                                        ——————————————–                                                                  Figure 3: DATA packet

The format for DATA packets, as is visible from the figure, is Opcode, i.e., 3, a block number, and a data field. Once the data packet follows all the laid rules, it is sent.

This process continues. The first ACK packet forms the acknowledgment of the previous DATA packet sent. Once this transmission occurs, ACK or ERROR packets acknowledge the WRQ and DATA packets, whereas; DATA or ERROR packets acknowledge RRQ and ACK packets.