13-2 
When the device serves as the TFTP client, you need to perform the following configuration: 
Table 13-1 Configuration when the device serves as the TFTP client 
Device  Configuration  Remarks 
Device (TFTP client) 
z  Configure the IP address and routing function, and 
ensure that the route between the device and the 
TFTP server is available. 
z  Use the tftp command to establish a connection to 
the remote TFTP server to upload/download files 
to/from the TFTP server 
— 
PC (TFTP server) 
Enable TFTP server on the PC, and configure the 
TFTP working directory. 
— 
 
Configuring the TFTP Client 
When a device acts as a TFTP client, you can upload a file on the device to a TFTP server and 
download a file from the TFTP server to the local device. You can use either of the following ways to 
download a file: 
z  Normal download: The device writes the obtained file to the storage medium directly. In this way, if 
you use a filename that exists in the directory, the original system file will be overwritten and if file 
download fails (for example, due to network disconnection), the device cannot start up normally 
because the original system file has been deleted. 
z  Secure download: The device saves the obtained file to its memory and does not write it to the 
storage medium until the whole file is obtained. In this way, if file download fails (for example, due 
to network disconnection), the device can still start up because the original system file is not 
overwritten. This mode is more secure but consumes more memory. 
You are recommended to use the secure mode or, if you use the normal mode, specify a filename not 
existing in the current directory as the target filename when downloading the startup file or the startup 
configuration file. 
Source address binding means to configure an IP address on a stable interface such as a loopback 
interface, and then use this IP address as the source IP address of a TFTP connection. The source 
address binding function simplifies the configuration of ACL rules and security policies. You just need 
to specify the source or destination address argument in an ACL rule as this address to filter inbound 
and outbound packets on the device, ignoring the difference between interface IP addresses as well as 
the affect of interface statuses. You can configure the source address by configuring the source 
interface or source IP address. The primary IP address configured on the source interface is the 
source address of the transmitted packets. The source address of the transmitted packets is selected 
following these rules: 
z  If no source address of the TFTP client is specified, a device uses the IP address of the interface 
determined by the matched route as the source IP address to communicate with a TFTP server. 
z  If the source address is specified with the tftp client source or tftp command, this source 
address is adopted. 
z  If you use the tftp client source command and the tftp command to specify a source address 
respectively, the source address configured with the tftp command is used to communicate with a 
TFTP server. 
The source address specified with the tftp client source command is valid for all TFTP connections 
and the source address specified with the tftp command is valid only for the current tftp connection.