FTP

FTP stands for File Transfer Protocol and is network protocol that is used to transfer files from one computer to another over a TCP/IP network, usually the internet. It is commonly used to upload websites to a webserver, and Dreamweaver even has its own FTP client built in. It allows you to transfer files to any computer that allows FTP access, so if you have a PC running Windows and your webserver is running Linux, then they can still communicate with each other. It also allows you to resume files, so if something goes wrong while a transfer is in progress you can continue it from where it stopped last.

Some of the negatives about FTP is that it isn't very secure. Passwords and such are sent in clear text, so people looking in could find out passwords easily. FTP can be slow to start a file transfer, due to the amount of commands needed to actually start the transfer, so transferring a lot of files, like a large website could take a while. Also FTP uses more than one TCP/IP connection at the same time, meaning that it could have problems with firewalls and such.

To minimise some of these problems with security you have to use SFTP (SSH File Transfer Protocol) or FTPS (FTP over SSL) which add on more security and encryption when transferring files. To minimise the amount of time taken to transfer numerous files, you can archive all of the files in to one file, then extract it remotely. To minimise problems with firewalls and the connections used you need to make sure they are set up properly for FTP.

So, even though FTP is one of the most common ways to transfer files over the internet, it does have its problems with security and efficiency, but it does have its advantages with being able to resume transfers and how it doesn't discriminate against Operating System or computer platform.