Having been involved in several large companies with moving data and
receiving data, FTP is sometimes the only way to go. We had all kinds of
leased lines, dialups, VPN, etc.
There are a number of things to consider in the choice of FTP over other
types of data transfer.
1. cost - the other party or parties do not have packages like
Direct:Connect, MQSeries, several other encrypted transfer packages, VPN.
2. The parties sending or picking up data are small and/or they may be on
dialup.
3. Don't use the internet.
4. The data is small and/or comes intermittently.
5. There are no direct connections to the parties, i.e. leased lines.
6. There is a problem using the encrypted packages. Some data doesn't work
well this way.
7. An encrpytion package can be used, like PGP.
8. There is security available - a password protected and secure
server/directory outside the firewall.
    The same inside the firewall. This adds a second layer of passwords,
etc.
9. The pickup and/or send is automated and connection time is minimal.
10. There is a timer on the initial connection which shuts the connection
off for 30 minutes if the password or protection is not made within a
specified time or with more than a few tries. Also, only one connection at a
time is allowed.
11. An address/port number/named location is used.
We would have the data in a secure external server with access from an
internal server via a program for the transfer. The data was checked by a
program and packaged for transfer internally via MQS or Connect:Direct or an
encrpytion package to another directory. There really was minimal
possibility of a security problem with the proper set up.
There are a lot of fancy, good transmission packages out there, but they
don't always work under certain circumstances - therefore FTP.  FTP is kind
of like an old uncle. You kind of have to have him around sometimes.

Thanks,
Tim Sinks
----- Original Message ----- 
From: "Dan Rue" <drue at therub.org>
To: "TCLUG Mailing List" <tclug-list at mn-linux.org>
Sent: Friday, December 12, 2003 6:00 PM
Subject: Re: [TCLUG] what ftp daemon do you run?


> On Fri, Dec 12, 2003 at 02:21:51PM -0600, John J. Trammell wrote:
> > I'm still racking my brain for a reason anyone would need
> > FTP any longer.  In my mind it's right up there with rsh
> > and telnet.
> Because FTP is all windows people know.  Same reason they still use
> telnet <shrug>


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