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I’ve been working with Cisco networking gear for years now and one thing I’ve learned is that to be successful you need to have the right tools, for the right job, at the right point. Case in point is a TFTP server. Many IT pros, particularly those just cutting their teeth working with Cisco equipment, don’t have a clue what TFTP is or why they need it. That is of course until they need it. Then it’s a mad dash to learn, setup, and use a TFTP server on their PC. I can’t bear the thought, so in this article I’ll walk you step-by-step through downloading, installing, and using a TFTP server for Cisco device management.
Before we get going let me provide the back story. The Trivial File Transfer Protocol (TFTP), not to be confused with the more popular File Transfer Protocol, was developed in the 1970s for computers that did not have enough memory or disk space to provide full FTP support. Today the most popular uses for TFTP servers are to upgrade network device firmware and backup their configurations. Although they are different protocols, TFTP works much like FTP. Software on the client and server make a direct connection between them using UDP and then commence to transport the desired data.
While there are many freely available TFTP servers available on the internet, my personal favorite is the free Solarwinds TFTP Server. As you know, I’m a big fan of free!
The product you use to unzip archives can be anything from the built-in functionality to aftermarket products such as WinZip or WinRAR. The screenshot below shows WinRAR.
Since we’re here, if the TFTP server wasn’t already started you could manually start the server by clicking the Start button. As you might guess, the Stop button does just exactly the opposite and stops the TFTP server.
That’s it! With a fully featured (and free!) TFTP server now running on your PC, you’re ready to get down to the business of uploading and downloading firmware, configurations, and the like to all the Cisco devices in your infrastructure. Good luck and “happy admining!”
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