Weekend Project: Set Up a TFTP Server on Linux

“Most users are familiar with FTP, but if you want to kickstart
Red Hat installs, PXE boot systems, auto-provision VoIP phones or
unbrick a Linux-based router, you want a Trivial File Transfer
Protocol (TFTP) server. Setting one up on Linux is easy, and a
perfect project to take on over the weekend.

“TFTP (RFC 1350) is very low-overhead variant of the more
familiar FTP that you are probably already used to interacting
with. It is optimized for transferring files over a local network
to small devices that may not even have permanent storage. In the
old days, that originally meant thin clients booting over the
network. Today there are still network services that depend on TFTP
(most notably the Linux Terminal Server Project and Red Hat’s
Kickstart remote-installation system) but it has taken on a second
important role in VoIP, as the preferred way to “auto-provision”
many IP telephones and analog telephone adapters (ATAs),
distributing configuration files at boot time in a manner similar
to DHCP. In addition to that, if you accidentally brick your
Linux-based router while installing DD-WRT, TFTP may be your only
path to restoring it. Fortunately, even though the protocol might
not get the same public respect as FTP, Linux supports it just
fine.”

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