How do I install and run a TFTP server?

Question

I have an embedded VxWorks target that needs to boot its kernel from my Ubuntu computer. How do I install and run a TFTP server?

score 116 · Accepted Answer · edited Jun 12 '24 at 14:07

116

TFTP Server Install and Setup

Install the following packages.

 sudo apt-get install xinetd tftpd tftp

Create /etc/xinetd.d/tftp and put this entry:

 service tftp
 {
 protocol        = udp
 port            = 69
 socket_type     = dgram
 wait            = yes
 user            = nobody
 server          = /usr/sbin/in.tftpd
 server_args     = /tftpboot
 disable         = no
 }

Create a folder /tftpboot this should match whatever you gave in server_args. mostly it will be tftpboot.
```
 sudo mkdir /tftpboot
 sudo chmod -R 777 /tftpboot
 sudo chown -R nobody /tftpboot
```

Restart the xinetd service.

newer systems:

 sudo service xinetd restart

older systems:

 sudo /etc/init.d/xinetd restart

Now our TFTP server is up and running.

Testing our TFTP server

Create a file named test with some content in /tftpboot path of the TFTP server

Obtain the IP address of the TFTP server using ifconfig command

Now in some other system follow the following steps.

 tftp 192.168.1.2
 tftp> get test
 Sent 159 bytes in 0.0 seconds

tftp> quit
cat test

Source: https://mohammadthalif.wordpress.com/2010/03/05/installing-and-testing-tftpd-in-ubuntudebian/

edited Jun 12 '24 at 14:07

AJM

205

answered Oct 18 '12 at 16:59

user1689961

2,193
4
16
15

this doesnt work for 13.04. I just tried – BЈовић Sep 03 '13 at 09:07
1

only step 4 needs to be changed, since xinetd is spawned by upstart. you need to restart it with 'service xinetd restart' – BЈовић Sep 04 '13 at 12:14
3

I followed this instruction and faced permission denied! Destination filename [c2950-i6q4l2-mz.121-22.EA1b.bin]? TFTP: error code 2 received - Access violation
%Error opening tftp://10.1.11.14/c2950-i6q4l2-mz.121-22.EA1b.bin (Permission denied) #copy flash:c2950-i6q4l2-mz.121-22.EA1b.bin tftp: Address or name of remote host []? 10.1.11.14 Destination filename [c2950-i6q4l2-mz.121-22.EA1b.bin]? TFTP: error code 2 received - Access violation
– Mohammad Rafiee Apr 08 '14 at 06:30
1

@Mohammad Rafiee: the blog post linked to here added some info: run sudo chmod -R 777 /tftpboot between step 1 and 2 of "Testing our tftp server". Not that it helped me, but it looks like it helped others. – Gauthier Aug 28 '14 at 11:43
2

On 14.04, this did not work for me. The info about /tftpboot in /etc/xinetd.d/tftp did not seem to matter. Instead, the client looks in the directory /srv/tftp as specified in /etc/inetd.conf. I don't if the way things are setup changed since the article, or if I screwed up somehow. If the answer above does not work for you, try putting your test file in /srv/tftp instead. – Gauthier Aug 28 '14 at 12:28
The only way I found that actually worked was to touch a file with the filename I was about to put. Check this page as well: https://ubuntuforums.org/showthread.php?t=841766 – Kyr Aug 23 '16 at 14:30
I followed the steps as is but it didn't work for me until i edited /etc/inetd.conf and commented out tftp dgram udp wait nobody /usr/sbin/tcpd /usr/sbin/in.tftpd --tftpd-timeout 300 --retry-timeout 5 --mcast-port 1758 --mcast-addr 239.239.239.0-255 --mcast-$
using a #
– lithiumhead Sep 04 '17 at 11:09
How is possible for user nobody to use privileged port 69? – elbarna Oct 17 '17 at 20:26
@elbarna user:nobody can have access to this service.
xinetd - which runs the service - has elevated access.
BTW it was working exactly as it was written Ubuntu 17.10 – V-Mark Jan 08 '18 at 19:21
2

Please note that with Ubuntu 16.04, you will experience error code 2 (access violation) . To fix it put tftpboot -s in server_args (no leading slash, -s at the end. Source: https://icesquare.com/wordpress/solvedtftp-error-code-2-access-violation/ – CharlesB Aug 31 '18 at 13:13
@CharlesB tftpboot -s in server_args This also fixed for me on Ubuntu 18 Thanks! – Kyle Coots Sep 10 '19 at 23:26
This answer needs to be updated with "tftpboot -s" and a command to set permissions to 0755 (or similar) on any file placed in /tftpboot (e.g. $ sudo chmod 0755 /tftpboot/my-file). – jrennie Oct 02 '20 at 21:41
If anyone reading this has the rep for a 1-character edit, the link to Mohamed Thalib's Wordpress now has an https version. – AJM Jun 06 '24 at 16:17

score 10 · Answer 2 · answered Oct 15 '12 at 19:41

10

You can install atftpd and it will create a directory called /tftpboot in which you may place your files. Put especially the pxelinux.0 file there. Any future configuration will be addressed if it is necessary.

When you install the package with

sudo apt-get install atftpd

it will use Debconf to prompt you for some choices. You can set many choices(server timeout may be useful), especially the basepath. You can also adjust the multicast range.

answered Oct 15 '12 at 19:41

nanofarad

20,916

What is pxelinux.0 for? I'm booting a VxWorks target, so I thought that I only need the file vxworks in /tftpboot. – user1689961 Oct 15 '12 at 21:11
Sorry - that did not work for me. – user1689961 Oct 18 '12 at 16:59
Try renaming vxworks to pxelinux.0, just to see whether my answer will work for future users. – nanofarad Oct 18 '12 at 20:40
this doesnt work for 13.04. I just tried – BЈовић Sep 03 '13 at 08:55
@BЈовић This is somewhat of an old answer and I honestly do not know the procedure for 13.04. – nanofarad Sep 04 '13 at 11:02
The default location for files with atftpd is now /src/tftp. – flickerfly Nov 04 '15 at 22:13

score 9 · Answer 3 · answered Sep 06 '13 at 06:06

9

You can install tftpd-hpa and change the configurations . Steps for installing tftpd-hpa is explained in this blog post.

answered Sep 06 '13 at 06:06

irfan_np

159

2

Whilst this may theoretically answer the question, it would be preferable to include the essential parts of the answer here, and provide the link for reference. – guntbert Sep 06 '13 at 07:02
1

upvoted you only because tftpd-hpa is a stupid simple tftp server to use and doesn't actually require any of the config needed in that post just drop your files in /var/lib/tftpboot and you are set (on ubuntu 16.04 not sure about other OS). – michael.schuett Jan 03 '17 at 04:25

How do I install and run a TFTP server?

3 Answers3

TFTP Server Install and Setup

Testing our TFTP server