SFTP

This page contains the setup guide and reference information for the SFTP source connector.

Prerequisites

• Access to a remote server that supports SFTP
• Host address
• Valid username and authentication credentials (password or SSH private key)

Setup guide

Step 1: Set up SFTP authentication

To set up the SFTP connector, you will need to select one of the following authentication methods:

• Your username and password credentials associated with the server.
• A private/public key pair.

To set up key pair authentication, you may use the following steps as a guide:

1. Open your terminal or command prompt and use the ssh-keygen command to generate a new key pair. :::note If your operating system does not support the ssh-keygen command, you can use a third-party tool like PuTTYgen to generate the key pair instead. :::

2. You will be prompted for a location to save the keys, and a passphrase to secure the private key. You can press enter to accept the default location and opt out of a passphrase if desired. Your two keys will be generated in the designated location as two separate files. The private key will usually be saved as id_rsa, while the public key will be saved with the .pub extension (id_rsa.pub).

3. Use the ssh-copy-id command in your terminal to copy the public key to the server.

   bashCopy

   ssh-copy-id <username>@<server_ip_address>
   

   Be sure to replace your specific values for your username and the server's IP address.

   :::note Depending on factors such as your operating system and the specific SSH implementation your remote server uses, you may not be able to use the ssh-copy-id command. If so, please consult your server administrator for the appropriate steps to copy the public key to the server. :::

4. You should now be able to connect to the server via the private key. You can test this by using the ssh command:

ssh <username>@<server_ip_address>

For more information on SSH key pair authentication, please refer to the official documentation.

Step 2: Set up the SFTP connector in Airbyte

1. Log in to your Airbyte Cloud account, or navigate to your Airbyte Open Source dashboard.
2. In the left navigation bar, click Sources. In the top-right corner, click + New source.
3. Find and select SFTP from the list of available sources. <!-- env:cloud --> For Airbyte Cloud users: If you do not see the SFTP source listed, please make sure the Alpha checkbox at the top of the page is checked. <!-- /env:cloud -->
4. Enter a Source name of your choosing.
5. Enter your Username, as well as the Host Address and Port. The default port for SFTP is 22. If your remote server is using a different port, please enter it here.
6. In the Authentication section, use the dropdown menu to select Password Authentication or SSH Key Authentication, then fill in the required credentials. If using SSH Key Authentication, see the section below for detailed setup instructions.
7. If you wish to configure additional optional settings, please refer to the next section. Otherwise, click Set up source and wait for the tests to complete.

SSH Key Authentication Setup

If your SFTP server uses SSH key-based authentication, you'll need to provide your private key file (.pem or similar format) during setup. Follow these steps to create and upload it correctly:

1. Locate your private key text. This is the block of text that begins with -----BEGIN OPENSSH PRIVATE KEY----- or -----BEGIN RSA PRIVATE KEY----- and ends with -----END OPENSSH PRIVATE KEY----- or -----END RSA PRIVATE KEY-----.

2. Create a PEM file:

   1. Open any text editor or IDE (for example, PyCharm, VS Code, or a terminal text editor).
   2. Create a new file named ssh.pem.
   3. Paste the entire private key text into the file, including the BEGIN and END lines.
   4. Make sure there are no quotes or extra spaces before or after the key.
   5. Save the file.

3. (Optional but recommended) If you're on macOS or Linux, set restricted permissions so only you can read it:

   bashCopy

   chmod 600 ssh.pem
   

4. Upload the file in Airbyte:

   1. In the SFTP source setup form, find the SSH Private Key field under SSH Key Authentication.
   2. Click Upload file and select your saved ssh.pem file.

Once uploaded, Airbyte uses this file to authenticate securely with your SFTP server.

:::note The file must be in PEM format, a plain text file containing your private key between the BEGIN and END lines. Do not paste the key directly into the field; Airbyte requires a file upload. :::

Optional fields

The Optional fields can be used to further configure the SFTP source connector. If you do not wish to set additional configurations, these fields can be left at their default settings.

1. File Types: Enter the desired file types to replicate as comma-separated values. Currently, only CSV and JSON are supported. The default value is csv,json.

2. Folder Path: Enter a folder path to specify the directory on the remote server to be synced. For example, given the file structure:

   textCopy

   Root
   | - logs
   |   | - 2021
   |   | - 2022
   |
   | - files
   |   | - 2021
   |   | - 2022
   

   An input of /logs/2022 replicates only data contained within the specified folder, ignoring the /files and /logs/2021 folders. Leaving this field blank replicates all applicable files in the remote server's designated entry point.

3. File Pattern: Enter a regular expression to specify a naming pattern for the files to be replicated. Consider the following example:

   regexCopy

   log-([0-9]{4})([0-9]{2})([0-9]{2})
   

   This pattern filters for files that match the format log-YYYYMMDD, where YYYY, MM, and DD represent four-digit, two-digit, and two-digit numbers, respectively. For example, log-20230713. Leaving this field blank replicates all files not filtered by the previous two fields.

Supported sync modes

The SFTP source connector supports the following sync modes:

Supported streams

This source provides a single stream per file with a dynamic schema. The current supported file types are CSV and JSON. More formats (e.g. Apache Avro) will be supported in the future.

Changelog