FTP was developed over 50 years ago as a way to transfer files between a local device and a remote machine. While there have been many updates since the first iteration, as new protocols like SFTP and S3 became more widespread, the FTP protocol has remained basically stagnant over the last two decades.
However, one major improvement has come about in recent years in the form of FTP as a Service (FTPaaS). Instead of the simple and traditional FTP client FTP server relationship, FTPaaS upgrades the traditional FTP protocol by adding improvements across many weak points. This makes the protocol more suitable for modern businesses and able to meet the usability and security requirements of organizations that require a contemporary solution for FTP.
What is FTP as a Service?
FTP as a Service is when you use a solution that fully manages, hosts, and maintains your FTP server. Traditional FTP servers involve having your own hardware, setting up FTP File Transfer Software, configuring the hardware to work as an FTP server, and running & maintaining the machines.
With FTP as a service, you’re not relying on installing a traditional FTP application on top of a Linux device or another server. Instead, you simply connect your endpoints and let the provider handle the infrastructure.
Rather than hosting your own FTP server where you have to manage, maintain, and update physical machines yourself, handing this over to a SaaS solution simplifies business operations. With the right FTPaaS provider, you gain many benefits over a traditional FTP server that allow you to still communicate with machines that require the use of the FTP protocol, but also get additional safeguards and versatility.
What are the benefits of using FTP as a Service?
Using FTPaaS offers many advantages including security, versatility, availability, scalability, ease of use, and modern functionality.
FTPaaS is more secure
The biggest drawback of FTP is the lack of security. A basic, unsecured FTP connection is incredibly insecure. For instance, usernames and passwords are sent in plain, unhashed text. The communication channel itself is also not encrypted, meaning that techniques like packet spoofing can gather information with relatively little effort.
Many legacy systems and proprietary software rely on FTP for file transfers. It's the protocol that's always been used and what the infrastructure is built around. And for local intranets and networks that aren't exposed to the public internet, there's relatively low risk. Transfers between machines on an isolated network that external parties have no access to means there is little chance that someone can intercept that transfer. The problem is that these isolated setups are becoming more and more obsolete with the growth of the cloud.
Since COVID, many companies have been more open to remote work, and most companies now have at least some staff who are partially remote. Cloud collaboration tools like Dropbox and Microsoft Teams have made it possible for teams to work together even when physically apart. This also opened up security risks, however, especially for companies that had been relying on FTP transfers isolated to local infrastructure.
Using FTPaaS provides several security benefits that can help reduce risk and the opportunity for malicious attacks. One benefit is that you do not need to open your cloud or local platforms up to the internet and instead can use a hosted platform. Traditional FTP opens your connection to the public internet to make these types of transfers, and you also have to manage access through complex text files and maintain security updates yourself.
A true SaaS FTP solution will take care of updates and patching automatically, so if any exploits are found in the FTP software, they will be delivered as soon as they are available without having to take the server offline or patch it manually.
FTPaaS is more versatile
Many FTPaaS providers are managed file transfer platforms that support multiple protocols and allow them to work in conjunction with one another. This is both helpful for security as well as flexibility.
For example, you can connect to legacy applications that only support FTP connections, transfer that file to your server, and then move it elsewhere using a more secure protocol. FTP can even be used as a passthrough to a remote SFTP server, using both protocols for different legs of the transfer journey.
FTP as a service is scalable
Scalability starts to become a concern as transfer needs grow, especially in the enterprise space. Large upticks in file volumes or simultaneous connections can overload traditional FTP systems and cause some transfers to fail entirely if not scaled properly.
But often, this is something that has to be done manually. In the worst cases, it involves putting another machine online, adding the FTP software to the machine, and then configuring them to run together.
When using the right FTP as a Service provider, the cloud nature can make FTP connections infinitely scalable. Due to the modern way these solutions have been built, they can automatically scale to meet demand, whether that's by the number of files, file sizes, or the number of partners. In some cases, this is done entirely in the background, without you having to configure any settings for it at all.
FTPaaS is always available
Given the critical nature of file transfers, having a redundant, always available solution that can be geo-diverse and load-balanced across multiple cloud nodes is a huge value point to using an FTP as a Service solution.
Traditional FTP servers often rely on a single or small handful of machines. If something goes wrong with the machine being used as the server, it can completely stall operations by stopping transfer operations.
This problem is magnified when the server is on-prem on local infrastructure. While it's relatively quick to spin up a new VM if required, if you have a physical server and something goes wrong, FTP processes can be unavailable for hours or even days while someone figures out the issue and replaces hardware or debugs software.
These aren't issues with FTP as a Service. Because the FTP services are run across multiple cloud machines, if one goes out, another will be available to replace it right away. This "zero infrastructure" architecture not only saves time and trouble with maintenance, but increases availability as well.
The same applies to patches and updates. These will be applied to offline nodes in the background, and FTP services will be switched over once complete. No downtime is required with this method, and users are always running on the most up-to-date version, making FTPaaS both more available and more secure.
FTPaaS is easy to use
Since FTP is such a widespread protocol, nearly every operating system has the functionality built in. The problem is that these native solutions are somewhat clunky to use. Rather than editing files or using native Linux commands to provide access to files and folders (this is after you have jumped through a VPN or RDP client), using FTP as a Service provides a simple-to-use web UI.
This method is much easier to use as you can easily manage users and access, as well as have visibility with in-depth reporting and logging. FTPaaS providers often have robust logging and audit capabilities and track each transfer and system event, and store them in an easy-to-find and human-readable format.
The FTP transfer processes themselves are also simpler. Instead of using a text-based CLI interface and memorizing specific commands, you can point and click using a visual interface and quickly build out advanced transfer workflows. Building these are even easier when automation builders are included in the FTP Software, as you can set up transfers and file-based automation in the same place.
FTP as a service allows for modern functionality
When using a traditional FTP application, you are limited by what the application has been built to do. With many older applications, this is often extremely limiting, and can be as simple as allowing users to connect to a directory in FTP and set the connection requirements.
A modern, hosted FTP solution can quickly adapt to new requirements. Security isn't the only concern when integrating FTP with cloud applications; legacy FTP software often can't connect at all. To make this happen, you would have to build out custom connectors or create and maintain scripts to do something as simple as FTP to SharePoint.
FTPaaS opens up the possibility to work with cloud platforms and adds more functionality to fit in with the way modern businesses operate. Functionality such as integrating with your cloud storage platform, offering automation around pulling/sending files or working with files as they enter, alerting via email and webhooks, and more are all possible with FTP as a Service.
Choose Couchdrop for FTPaaS
Couchdrop is an easy-to-use FTPaaS platform that works directly with your existing cloud storage like SharePoint and Dropbox. Along with adding FTP functionality to cloud storage, Couchdrop offers in-depth reporting and auditing, email and webhook alerting, and a robust automation suite with a visual builder that allows for file actions like copying, moving, renaming, PGP encryption/decryption, and much more.
To see if Couchdrop is right for you, you can try the platform free for 14 days with no credit card. Simply create an account and you can explore Couchdrop right away with no extra hoops to jump through. Sign up for your free trial now.