I have been hearing that this protocol offers faster throughput rate than FTP, is it true? If so, are there any compromise in reliability on data being sent? How do I set up a TFTP transfer instead of a FTP to download?
Thanks
tftp is the "Trivial" file transfer protocol. It is most commonly used for transferring boot data to a diskless workstation. There is no login or authentication in this protocol. (i.e. it is unsecured) and it has only a basic feature set. Stick to ftp or sftp for your general downloads.
Do not use tftp unless you have to. And never use it over a public network, as it requires no authentication. That used to be a very typical security hole in many systems.
Also, it is implemented over UDP, which is a "connectionless" protocol. That makes it unreliable (although not as bad now as it once was).
For more info, read RFCs' 783, 1350, and related documents.
I forgot to mention - I doubt it would gain much speed. It's still based on a similar base as FTP, although you may save microseconds in authentication...
It's typically used today for services like diskless devices (routers, switches, etc) that cannot store their own disk images.