FTP v Shares on LAN

[Peter Piper]

In many books I read companies seem to have internal FTP server which
give staff access to software, documents etc.
My question is why do they use FTP instead of just sharing folders over
network and map a drive to it?

What are the pros and cons of both?

At the moment I see that shares are easier to use (just drag and drop as
normal), easier to log on to, either your username/password is correct
or you specific a correct one.

I have a LAN and we have a dedicated PC for file serving (it has no
special software except backup) and we simply share the folder over the
network. Client PC's can then map a network drive to the share.

Cheers P.

PS. I have posted this in another NG but had no replies in over a week.

 

[johnsuth]

In many books I read companies seem to have internal FTP server which
give staff access to software, documents etc.
My question is why do they use FTP instead of just sharing folders over
network and map a drive to it?

What are the pros and cons of both?

At the moment I see that shares are easier to use (just drag and drop as
normal), easier to log on to, either your username/password is correct
or you specific a correct one.

I have a LAN and we have a dedicated PC for file serving (it has no
special software except backup) and we simply share the folder over the
network. Client PC's can then map a network drive to the share.

I suggest that shared folders present only filenames in alphabetical
order, whereas a web page (http document) can present meaningful
descriptions of file contents, with related files grouped in a logical
order etc. The links initiate an FTP download.

 

[Peter Piper]

Thats a good point - the intranet can be used to dress up FTP links.