sFTP protocol

The sFTP protocol is a secure FTP protocol or ftp over SSH. This protocol differs from the FTPS protocol described earlier. Both are supported.

When sFTP is selected, you can authenticate through a password or a private/public key pair. When the private/public key pair is used for authentication, both FTP client and the FTP server have their own pairs. Their public keys must be exchanged. In ION there is no key generation feature. To use this mode of authentication, you must:

  1. Ask your security provider for a Private/Public key pair for ION. You can also create a key pair for ION with a third party key generation tool that supports the OpenSSH format such as Puttygen..
    Note: When using the PuTTYgen tool to generate a private key, use Export OpenSSH key function from Conversions menu. Do not click Save Private key. Otherwise private key is not exported in required OpenSSH format.
  2. Import the Private key of ION’s pair together with its passphrase using Client Private Key Passphrase and Import the Client Private Key fields.
  3. Share the Public key of ION’s pair with the FTP administrator of the file server.
  4. Obtain the Public key of FTP server from the FTP administrator and import it into ION from the File connection point details page.

    This table shows the sFTP specific properties:

    Property Description
    Authentication using public and private keys Select this check box to enable authentication using public and private keys.
    Import server public key Import server public key in openSSH format, with this structure:

    <modeled host name> <public key type> <public key>

    An example:

    nlbanhoudetan01 ssh-rsa AAAB3NzaC1yc2EAAAA…

    Client Private Key Passphrase Specify Client Private Key Passphrase.
    Import Client Private key Import client private key in openSSH format.

    Private keys that are generated in OpenSSH format earlier than version 7.8 are supported only.