"You have probably used the FTP command line tool at least once or twice to transfer files to or from a server. Although it is not the most productive and user-friendly tool, at least it is very interactive. For each command you type, the server usually provides feedback, positive or negative. With GridFTP server, it's much less interactive. You submit your request, and the server will try its best, but by default, there is no feedback. This is partly because grid jobs are usually batch style -- you submit a job and the grid scheduler decides when it's the best time to run it. Therefore, interactivity is not really necessary. But if you're trying to troubleshoot a problem, then you'll realize that feedback is precious.
"I've encountered many problems while testing file transfer with GridFTP server on some Linux and AIX machines, and I thought that my build of GridFTP server was missing something. However, it turned out that most of the problems I encountered are related to system configuration, and after reading the limited technical documentation on GridFTP available on the Web, I've finally overcome most of those problems..."
