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)