Differences between scp and ftp

Bucky20 · 02-11-2009, 07:55 PM

What is the differences between scp and ftp?

chrism01 · 02-11-2009, 08:05 PM

scp: encrypted, including username/passwd; part of ssh suite, uses port 22; can put a file anywhere you have privelege to
ftp: plaintext, inc user/passwd, uses ports 20, 21; usually restricted to an ftp dir on server

aussie_penguin · 02-11-2009, 08:06 PM

scp is secure copy ftp is file transfer protocol.

both do file transfers but scp is secure & encrypted while ftp is plain text...
(thats the basics. other senior guys in here would be able to elaborate more.)
also SCP uses any port you specify -
while ftp generally uses port 21 and sends the id/password in plain text (open to scanning)

you might want to also look at SFTP that uses port 22.

servat78 · 02-12-2009, 06:45 PM

scp is a tool to copy files to/from remote servers using an SSH channel. Unlike ssh access it only runs a single copy command. Just as ssh it has full access to the file system, only limited by the permissions of the login user account.

ftp is also tool deal with files on a remote server, but it's security measures are bit weaker, and it allows only access to the ftp root directory of the login user account.

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