What is the difference between Active (PORT) mode and Passive (PASV) mode?

What is the difference between Active (PORT) mode and Passive (PASV) mode?

Active (PORT) mode:

In active (port) mode the FTP client specifies the data port that the FTP server is going to connect on and waits for the FTP server to connect. The IP address and port number are sent to the FTP server by the FTP client using the PORT command.


Passive (PASV) mode:

In passive (PASV) mode the FTP server specifies the data port that the FTP client will connect on and waits for the FTP client to connect. The FTP client will ask the FTP server for the server's IP address and port number by issuing the PASV command to the FTP server. This will usually solve the problem of firewalls filtering the incoming data connection.



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