RFC 1639 (rfc1639) - Page 2 of 5


FTP Operation Over Big Address Records (FOOBAR)



Alternative Format: Original Text Document



RFC 1639                  FTP Over Big Address                 June 1994


1.  Background

   The PORT command of File Transfer Protocol allows users to specify an
   address other than the default data port for the transport connection
   over which data are transferred. The PORT command syntax is:

      PORT 

   The  argument is the concatenation of a 32-bit internet
    and a 16-bit TCP . This address
   information is broken into 8-bit fields and the value of each field
   is transmitted as a decimal number (in character string
   representation).  The fields are separated by commas.  A PORT command
   is thus of the general form "PORT h1,h2,h3,h4,p1,p2", where h1 is the
   high order 8 bits of the internet host address.

   The  argument is also used by the PASV reply, and in
   certain negative completion replies.

   To accommodate larger network addresses anticipated for all IP "next
   generation" alternatives, and to accommodate FTP operation over
   network and transport protocols other than IP, new commands and reply
   codes are needed for FTP.

2.  The LPRT Command

   The LPRT command allows users to specify a "long" address for the
   transport connection over which data are transferred. The LPRT
   command syntax is:

      LPRT 

   The  argument is the concatenation of the following
   fields;

   o  an 8-bit  argument (af)

   o  an 8-bit  argument (hal)

   o  a  of  (h1, h2, ...)

   o  an 8-bit  (pal)

   o  a  of  (p1, p2, ...)

   The initial values assigned to the  argument take the
   value of the version number of IP (see Assigned Numbers, STD 2, RFC
   1340); values in the range of 0-15 decimal are thus reserved for IP



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