5.2. CONNECTIONS

The server protocol interpreter shall "listen" on Port L. The user or user protocol interpreter shall initiate the full-duplex control connection. Server- and user- processes should follow the conventions of the Telnet protocol as specified in the ARPA-Internet Protocol Handbook [1]. Servers are under no obligation to provide for editing of command lines and may require that it be done in the user host. The control connection shall be closed by the server at the user's request after all transfers and replies are completed.

The user-DTP must "listen" on the specified data port; this may be the default user port (U) or a port specified in the PORT command. The server shall initiate the data connection from his own default data port (L-1) using the specified user data port. The direction of the transfer and the port used will be determined by the FTP service command.

Note that all FTP implementation must support data transfer using the default port, and that only the USER-PI may initiate the use of non-default ports.

When data is to be transferred between two servers, A and B (refer to Figure 2), the user-PI, C, sets up control connections with both server-PI's. One of the servers, say A, is then sent a PASV command telling him to "listen" on his data port rather than initiate a connection when he receives a transfer service command. When the user-PI receives an acknowledgment to the PASV command, which includes the identity of the host and port being listened on, the user-PI then sends A's port, a, to B in a PORT command; a reply is returned. The user-PI may then send the corresponding service commands to A and B. Server B initiates the connection and the transfer proceeds. The command-reply sequence is listed below where the messages are vertically synchronous but horizontally asynchronous:

         User-PI - Server A                User-PI - Server B
         ------------------                ------------------
         
         C->A : Connect                    C->B : Connect
         C->A : PASV
         A->C : 227 Entering Passive Mode. A1,A2,A3,A4,a1,a2
                                           C->B : PORT A1,A2,A3,A4,a1,a2
                                           B->C : 200 Okay
         C->A : STOR                       C->B : RETR
                    B->A : Connect to HOST-A, PORT-a

                                Figure 3

The data connection shall be closed by the server under the conditions described in the Section on Establishing Data Connections. If the data connection is to be closed following a data transfer where closing the connection is not required to indicate the end-of-file, the server must do so immediately. Waiting until after a new transfer command is not permitted because the user-process will have already tested the data connection to see if it needs to do a "listen"; (remember that the user must "listen" on a closed data port BEFORE sending the transfer request). To prevent a race condition here, the server sends a reply (226) after closing the data connection (or if the connection is left open, a "file transfer completed" reply (250) and the user-PI should wait for one of these replies before issuing a new transfer command).

Any time either the user or server see that the connection is being closed by the other side, it should promptly read any remaining data queued on the connection and issue the close on its own side.