How to speed up the ftp upload process?
Sadly, this is the way that FTP functions. To efficiently transfer lots of small files, either archive them locally, transmit the entire archive via ftp, and then unarchive the files on the remote machine, or turn on simultaneous uploads, where the client is uploading 10 files at once. This will help to fully saturate your upload link.
Have you tried compressing the files locally then uncompressing them on the server? Then you'd only have to transfer one small(er) file.
If it's applicable, you could also only copy files that have changed since your previous upload. Tools like rsync (if you have ssh access) and robocopy (if it's a windows server) could help you do this.
I know this is an old post, and there isn't a lot you can do at the application layer since FTP relies on TCP for sending the bytes. There are few things though
- Enable simultaneous uploads as mentioned above (this helps utilize more of your bandwidth since it takes time for TCP to "ramp up" each connection, so doing it in parallel is more efficient)
- Archive the file as mentioned above (again, because it allows TCP to ramp up over time instead of individually for each file)
- Check out SuperTCP: it's a new product that (full disclosure) I'm helping build that will optimize TCP upload, which can help FTP go faster in a lot of cases. We're launching a Beta soon and would love to have you help us test it!