Active vs Passive ftp
Active and passive are the two modes that FTP can run in. FTP uses two channels between client and server, the command channel and the data channel, which are actually separate TCP connections. The command channel is for commands and responses, the data channel is for actually transferring files. It's a nifty way of sending commands to the server without having to wait for the current data transfer to finish. In active mode, the client establishes the command channel (from client port X to server port 21 (b) ) but the server establishes the data channel (from server port 20 (b) to client port Y , where Y has been supplied by the client). In passive mode, the client establishes both channels. In that case, the server tells the client which port should be used for the data channel. Passive mode is generally used in situations where the FTP server is not able to establish the data channel. One of the major reasons for this is network firewalls. While you may have...