Uploading Files Using the SFTP Connector

Prior to uploading files see the latest implementation and usage notes at SFTP Connector.  

To upload files

1. On the Home page select a space or create a new one. This is the space to which the data will be uploaded.
2. Go to Admin - Define Sources - Application Connectors. Alternatively, click the Use Extractors link on the Admin Navigation page.
3. Click New in the Connections panel.
4. In Connection Details name the connection.
5. Select SFTP as the Connector Type.
6. Create a connection to the SFTP site. It can be a Basic connection using a public key, or a Private Key connection.

• For a public key connection:
  1. Choose Basic Authentication.
  2. Enter your SFTP user name and password.
  3. Enter the Host name.
  4. Enter the host Port number.
  5. If using a non-public SFTP server, enter a Public Key and Algorithm.
     Supply this information that is available from the public key file when the SFTP server does not publish its key to external services. In some cases you do not need to enter this information.
     
• For a private key connection:
  1. Choose Private Key Authentication.
  2. Enter your SFTP user name.
  3. Enter the Host name.
  4. Enter the host Port number.
  5. Browse and upload the RSA Private Key file.
  6. If the private key is protected by a passphrase, enter the passphrase.
     
     

6. Click Test Connection to verify the connectivity.
7. Click Save Connection.

8. Click Add Object.
9. Enter the Object Label to use for the source in Birst. Important: Do not use the same name as an existing saved object from this or any other connector. It must be unique within a Birst space. Important: This connector does not support the Source File Prefix, even though the field is shown in the UI.
   Tip: If you edit an object and change the object label, a new object will be created with this name.
   For the SFTP Connector, the Object Label is not used as the data source name. Naming is based on the file source as follows:

Text File Format	Data Source Name
.csv	Same as file name
.txt	Same as file name
.xls or .xlsx	If one sheet, then the data source name is the same as the workbook name. If more than one sheet, then the data source names match the sheet names.
.zip	Same as .csv, .txt, or single-sheet .xls or .xlsx file names. If more than one .xls or .xlsx sheet, the the data source names match the sheet names.

9. Enter the complete file name.
   Tip: Wildcard characters are not supported for the file name.
10. Enter the path to the file.
11. Click Validate. If it does not validate, check the path and file name.
12. Once it validates, click Save. Birst lists the uploaded objects in the Data Sources table.
13. In the Data Sources list, optionally give it an Extract Group Name. Click Save.
14. Click Extract to upload the selected objects to Birst. Optionally select an Extract Group.

Depending on the size of the data objects, the extraction may take a few minutes. When the extraction completes the Data Sources table lists the timestamp of the extracted objects.

Tips:

• You can safely log out of Birst while the extraction takes place and log back in later.
• To cancel the extraction, click the Cancel Extract link under the progress bar.
• Click the Last Extract Log link to view the logs from the data extraction and check for errors.
• To remove an object from the extraction list, click the icon in the Remove column on the right.

Next Steps

• Look at the raw data in Manage Sources tab. Iterate the extraction process, if needed, to get the data you expect.
  Tip: In the Manage Sources tab, Birst lists the file names not the label names. For .zip files, Birst lists the file names of each file included in the .zip. For Excel files, Birst lists each tab.
• Process the data in the Process Data, Process New Data page. See Processing Data.
• Set up scheduling in the Process Data, Schedule Data Processing page. See Scheduling Extraction and Data Processing for Cloud Applications.