The New “Out-of-Band” FTP 7.0 Service Features in Windows Server 2008



Microsoft has made many enhancements to the “Out-of-Band” FTP 7.0 Service. First, the “Out-of-Band” FTP 7.0 Service has been completely rewritten from scratch. As a result, it is more secure and meets today’s industry standards for publishing content in a secured fashion. The following is a list of new features for the “Out-of-Band” FTP 7.0 Service running on Windows 2008:

1) There is now tight integration with IIS 7.0 websites and IIS Manager.
2) It supports today’s demanding security needs by supporting FTP over SSL.
3) Organizations can now host multiple FTP sites with the same IP address, as the bindings support host headers.
4) Both web and FTP content can be hosted from the same site.
5) UTF8, IPv6, and integration with other repositories such as SQL Server are supported.
6) Improved logging and diagnostics are now available.

Microsoft certainly understands FTP is not going away and is still the preferred method for publishing content and exchanging large pieces of data between organizations. By rewriting the FTP service, using Extensible Markup Language (XML) configuration files, and providing secured FTP, the product now meets today’s industry FTP requirements out of the box without the need to purchase third-party plug-ins.