NFS vs FTP

[andycheah]

Hello,

I have an assignment question for my networking class and it askes which is faster...NFS or FTP? It specifically to compare for large or small files. I cannot seem to find anything on the net about transfer speeds so I was hoping to find the answer here. I guess it really depends on the system setup and so on as well. I'm just looking for a general answer though. Stupid question.

I will reference anyone who responds in my assignment!

Thanks, Andy

 

[dszd0g]

NFS is much slower than FTP (all else being equal). Especially if one is using NIS and automounter.

NFS is basically the same idea as mapping network drives under Windows, except a little more transparent. If one has a good network, it is possible to work in directories that are mounted under NFS and not notice until one does some heavy reading or writing.

FTP is actually a pretty good file transfer protocol (no pun intended) if the data is already compressed.

 

[andycheah]

Thanks for the response dszd0g

I should get an A+ now.

Andy