These disk-less workstations usually do not have access to the full TCP/IP stack, so they need to obtain configuration information such as DHCP or BOOTP from another server.

The original idea of creating TFTP was to provide booting for disk-less computers or workstations that didn’t have enough memory or disk. It provides zero control and has low overhead. TFTP only allows unidirectional file transferring. Instead of using the full TCP implementation, TFTP relies on the connectionless and simple UDP transport over port 69. It attempts to over-simplify and downsize the functionality of FTP. TFTP (Trivial File Transfer Protocol) is a simple file transferring mechanism developed as a “lighter” version of FTP.

We’ll learn how TFTP works, and how to set it up on the client and server. In this step-by-step tutorial, you’ll learn how to set up and configure TFTP on Windows 10. Of course, having no overhead is terrific, but there is a downside it does not provide any encryption and authentication mechanisms.Īlthough TFTP has no built-in security, network admins use it for simple and fast file transfers within LANs.Īnd best of all, it can be used for remote connections by hardening its security with the right server/client software. TFTP is simple on its own and does not need any sophisticated messaging to work. Network admins use TFTP Servers every day to transfer images, configuration files, firmware, etc.

How to use tftp server