TFTP(1) User Commands TFTP(1)

NAME

tftp - trivial file transfer program

SYNOPSIS

tftp [host [port]]

DESCRIPTION

tftp is the user interface to the Internet TFTP (Trivial File
Transfer Protocol), which allows users to transfer files to and from
a remote machine. The remote host and optional port may be specified
on the command line, in which case tftp uses host as the default
host, and if specified, port as the default port, for future
transfers. See the connect command below.

USAGE

Once tftp is running, it issues the prompt tftp> and recognizes the
following commands:

Commands

connect host-name [ port ]

Set the host, and optionally port, for transfers. The TFTP
protocol, unlike the FTP protocol, does not maintain connections
between transfers; thus, the connect command does not actually
create a connection, but merely remembers what host is to be used
for transfers. You do not have to use the connect command; the
remote host can be specified as part of the get or put commands.


mode transfer-mode

Set the mode for transfers; transfer-mode may be one of ascii or
binary. The default is ascii.


put filename
put localfile remotefile
put filename1 filename2 ... filenameN remote-directory

Transfer a file, or a set of files, to the specified remote file
or directory. The destination can be in one of two forms: a
filename on the remote host if the host has already been
specified, or a string of the form:

host:filename

to specify both a host and filename at the same time. If the
latter form is used, the specified host becomes the default for
future transfers. If the remote-directory form is used, the
remote host is assumed to be running the UNIX system.

The host can be a host name (see hosts(5)) or an IPv4 or IPv6
address string (see inet(4P) or inet6(4P)). Since IPv6 addresses
already contain ":"s, the host should be enclosed in square
brackets when an IPv6 address is used. Otherwise, the first
occurrence of a colon will be interpreted as the separator
between the host and the filename. For example,

[1080::8:800:200c:417A]:myfile

Files may be written only if they already exist and are publicly
writable. See in.tftpd(8).


get filename
get remotename localname
get filename1 filename2 filename3 ... filenameN

Get a file or set of files (three or more) from the specified
remote sources. source can be in one of two forms: a filename on
the remote host if the host has already been specified, or a
string of the form:

host:filename

to specify both a host and filename at the same time. If the
latter form is used, the last host specified becomes the default
for future transfers. See the put command regarding specifying a
host.


quit

Exit tftp. An EOF also exits.


verbose

Toggle verbose mode.


trace

Toggle packet tracing.


status

Show current status.


rexmtretransmission-timeout

Set the per-packet retransmission timeout, in seconds.


timeouttotal-transmission-timeout

Set the total transmission timeout, in seconds.


ascii

Shorthand for mode ascii.


binary

Shorthand for mode binary.


blksize transfer-blocksize

The value of the transfer blocksize option to negotiate with the
server. A value of 0 disables the negotiation of this option.


srexmt server-retransmission-timeout

The value of the retransmission timeout option to request that
the server uses. A value of 0 disables the negotiation of this
option.


tsize

A toggle that sends the transfer size option to the server. By
default, the option is not sent. The transfer size option is not
sent with a write request when the transfer-mode is ascii.


? [ command-name ... ]

Print help information.

SEE ALSO

inet(4P), inet6(4P), hosts(5), attributes(7), in.tftpd(8)


Malkin, G. and Harkin, A. RFC 2347, TFTP Option Extension. The
Internet Society. May 1998


Malkin, G. and Harkin, A. RFC 2348, TFTP Blocksize Option. The
Internet Society. May 1998


Malkin, G. and Harkin, A. RFC 2349, TFTP Timeout Interval and
Transfer Size Options. The Internet Society. May 1998


Sollins, K.R. RFC 1350, The TFTP Protocol (Revision 2). Network
Working Group. July 1992.

NOTES

The default transfer-mode is ascii. This differs from pre-SunOS 4.0
and pre-4.3BSD systems, so explicit action must be taken when
transferring non-ASCII binary files such as executable commands.


Because there is no user-login or validation within the TFTP
protocol, many remote sites restrict file access in various ways.
Approved methods for file access are specific to each site, and
therefore cannot be documented here.


When using the get command to transfer multiple files from a remote
host, three or more files must be specified. If two files are
specified, the second file is used as a local file.


With the default block size of 512 octets and a 16-bit block counter,
some TFTP implementations might have problems with files over
33,553,919 octets (513 octets short of 32MB) in size. The Solaris
implementation can transfer files up to 4GB in size.


By default, the Solaris TFTP client does not enable the blocksize or
transfer size options. Setting the blocksize option to a higher value
is sometimes useful as a workaround when dealing with peers that have
a 32MB limit.

May 7, 2007 TFTP(1)