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GNU/Linux - How to install and configure TFTP server

Last updated: Jan 23, 2022

TFTP for Trivial File Transfer Protocol is a simple File Transfer Protocol that allows a client to get or put a file on a remote host.

It is old but still used in many network applications.

I personnaly use it to update my network devices firmwares. (Cisco switches for examples).

We will see here how to set up a TFTP server under Debian.

Network Diagram

OS: Debian 11 (bullseye)
Tftp server: atftpd
Network Protocol: UDP 69
Tftp directory: /srv/tftp

GNU/Linux | Debian tftp server architecture — Debian tftp server architecture

Installation

Update package sources list:

root@server:~# apt update

Install atftpd server:

root@server:~# apt install atftpd

Create /srv/tftp folder if missing. This will be our root tftp share:

root@server:~# ls /srv/tftp || mkdir -p /srv/tftp

Configuration

Network Configuration

Edit /etc/network/interfaces (replace ens224 by own your network interface):

allow-hotplug ens224
iface ens224 inet static
        address 192.168.1.10
        netmask 255.255.255.0
        gateway 192.168.1.254
	dns-nameservers 192.168.1.254

Reboot:

root@host:~# reboot

TFTP configuration

Edit /etc/default/atftpd and check that you have the same parameters:

USE_INETD=true
# OPTIONS below are used only with init script
OPTIONS="--tftpd-timeout 300 --retry-timeout 5 --mcast-port 1758 --mcast-addr 239.239.239.0-255 --mcast-ttl 1 --maxthread 100 --verbose=5 /srv/tftp"

Restart atftpd service:

root@server:~# systemctl restart atftpd.service

Set read/write permissions to make your files in /srv/tftp readable and writable:

root@server:~# chmod -R ugo+rw /srv/tftp/

Check from a client

To check that our server works correctly we can use a tftp client.

If from a Debian host install tftp client:

root@client:~# apt update && apt install tftp

Connect to the tftp server:

user@client:~$ tftp 192.168.1.10

Show status:

tftp> status
Connected to 192.168.1.10.
ode: netascii Verbose: off Tracing: off
Rexmt-interval: 5 seconds, Max-timeout: 25 seconds

Download a file:

tftp> get c1000-universalk9-mz.152-7.E4.bin

Send a file:

tftp> put c1000-universalk9-mz.152-7.E4.bin

Exit session:

tftp> quit

DHCP server

In some situations you may also need to set a DHCP server, we will see how.

Install dhcpd service:

root@client:~# apt update && apt install isc-dhcp-server

Edit /etc/dhcp/dhcpd.conf file, here with an address pool from 192.168.10.10 to 192.168.10.20:

option domain-name "example.org";
default-lease-time 600;
max-lease-time 7200;
ddns-update-style none;

subnet 192.168.10.0 netmask 255.255.255.0 {
  range 192.168.10.10 192.168.10.20;
}

Edit /etc/default/isc-dhcp-server file and specify network interface on which the dhcp service will run:

INTERFACESv4="ens224"
#INTERFACESv6=""

Restart dhcpd service:

root@client:~# systemctl restart isc-dhcp-server.service

Print dhcpd leases:

root@client:~# grep dhcpd /var/log/syslog