The Trivial File Transfer Protocol (TFTP) is a simple file transfer protocol that is commonly used for booting diskless workstations and for transferring configuration files to network devices. TFTP is a simple and efficient protocol that was designed to minimize overhead and maximize speed. It is a connectionless protocol that relies on the User Datagram Protocol (UDP) for transmission.
The TFTP process begins with the client sending a request to the server. The request includes the filename and the transfer mode (binary or ascii). The server responds by sending the requested file in blocks of 512 bytes. Each block is numbered and acknowledged by the client. The client acknowledges the receipt of each block by sending an acknowledgement packet with the block number. If an acknowledgement is not received within a certain timeout period, the server will resend the block.
The transfer continues until the entire file has been transmitted. If the file is not a multiple of 512 bytes, the final block will be less than 512 bytes in size. The client signals the end of the transfer by sending a “last block” packet. The server then sends a final acknowledgement packet to signal that the transfer is complete.
TFTP does not provide any security or authentication mechanisms, which makes it vulnerable to attacks such as packet sniffing and spoofing. Therefore, it is recommended to use TFTP only in trusted networks and to avoid transferring sensitive information over this protocol.
