SSH
SSH (Secure Shell) is a secure communications protocol that allows you to connect to a remote computer via a Linux shell (the equivalent of the command prompt on Windows). The default port is 22. This ability to work remotely and to exchange data in encrypted form between two PCs. It is possible for example to log in from her workplace to her personal computer (it is necessary to keep it on).
You can use SSH software in Windows too, one such example is PuTTY .
Just run the executable (no installation required) and return address of the PC on which you want to connect. Click Open and then enter your ID and you will have access to your files.
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FTP
FTP (File Transfer Protocol) is another communication protocol that can send and retrieve files on a server. The default port is 21. The exchanges are not encrypted. It is common for public FTP servers where you can retrieve files anonymously. It is with this protocol that transfers its website in its host.
It is necessary to install an FTP client that will connect to the server (you can also use your browser like Firefox). For site management, one of the best known is FileZilla .
After installation, you must create an account from the Site Manager. Click on New Site in the lower left and enter the login information. You need a user name, password and address of your site (host name). Then it will connect and it will be possible to transfer a file from the interface of FileZilla by double-clicking it.
A secure variant exists: FTPS, which uses the SSL security protocol.
Another variant is Online FTP services; such as net2ftp. Users need not to download anything, just have to visit the page on browser, enter server name, username, password and port number. After logging in, users can transfer file on his or her server.
Differences between FTP and SSH
Both protocols can exchange files between two computers on the Internet, they follow the client-server model. FTP is a protocol for when it only allows SSH secure connection and requires the use of the SCP command.
The program WinSCP to transfer a file in SSH with SCP via a GUI.
FTP is dedicated to simple file transfer , so that SSH can handle most of the remote machine and the files from user’s account.
One may wonder which of these protocols is the fastest way to transfer a file. The result of encrypting data does not really affect speed. The two are roughly equal and it depends more on the client and the server you are using. we would strongly advise FTP to exchange files of significant size as most of the time it is unnecessary to encrypt data.
To summarize
- FTP can transfer files only while SSH allows to connect to a position even if it is possible to transfer a file with SCP.
- SSH is secure by default as opposed to FTP (FTPS used encrypted data using SSL).
- The two are roughly equivalent in terms of transfer speed.
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