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FTP/SFTP Transports

Digest

FTP Transport Icon FTP Transports are used to publish content from Cascade to an FTP/SFTP server.

Technical

Creating an FTP/SFTP Transport

FTP Transport Create

To create a new FTP/SFTP Transport:

  1. Go to Administration > Transports
  2. Click New Transport on the left.
  3. On the Transport Type selection screen choose FTP and SFTP and click Submit.
  4. Complete the following fields in the General pane:
    • System Name - The name of the Transport in Cascade.
    • Parent Container - The Transport Container in which the Transport will reside.
    • Server Name - The hostname of the server to which Cascade will connect.
    • Server Port - The port over which Cascade will communicate with the FTP/SFTP server.
    • Server Directory -  An optional directory path that is prepended to a non-absolute Destination Directory path when determining the full published path of an asset.  This combined path is then prepended to asset paths when publishing.  For example, if a Transport has a Server Directory of '/www/publish root', the Destination using the Transport has a Directory of 'mysite' and the asset being published has a system path of '/content/my press release'; then the asset will be published to the '/www/publish root/mysite/content' directory on the FTP/SFTP server.  If, however, the Destination being used contains an absolute path, then the Server Directory field on the Transport will be ignored.
    • Username - The username used when authenticating with the FTP/SFTP server.
    • Password - The password to be used in combination with Username to authenticate with the FTP/SFTP server. At this time, we only support password authentication.
    • Confirm Password - Ensures that the password entered is correct by requiring that it be typed again.
    • Use Secure FTP (SFTP) - Toggles between using the FTP protocol and the SFTP protocol.
    • Use Passive FTP (PASV) - Toggles between using regular FTP and PASV FTP.
  5. Submit.

Supported FTP/SFTP Servers

Cascade supports a number of FTP and SFTP servers including those listed below.  Even if your FTP/SFTP server is not explicitly listed, it is more than likely it is compatible with the libraries used by Cascade to facilitate file transfer. The main thing to watch out for is the distinction between SFTP and FTPS.
FTP
  • Cerberus FTP
  • Core FTP Server
SFTP
  • OpenSSH
  • Cerberus SFTP
  • Solaris' SFTP
  • Tectia SSH Server
  • Core FTP Server

FTP vs. SFTP

FTP and SFTP are very similar, but are in fact different protocols. Cascade, however, represents these two protocols using a single asset type, FTP Transport, because the Transport configuration information required is the same. Before creating one of these Transports, it is important to verify the protocol being used by the server to which content is to be transferred. Attempting to publish to an incompatible FTP/SFTP Transport can result in a number of different errors including transport timeouts and invalid protocol errors depending on how the remote server is configured.

SFTP vs. FTPS

It is important to note that Cascade Server supports SFTP (Secure File Transfer Protocol) and not FTPS (File Transfer Protocol over SSL).  These two protocols are not compatible and should not be treated as such.  

For example, clients publishing to IIS will not be able to use the IIS FTP Publishing Service extension with an SFTP Transport because the FTP Publishing Service extension uses FTPS and not SFTP.

SFTP Versions and Authentication Methods

The library used to create SFTP connections for SFTP Transports currently relies on the server using v3 of the SFTP protocol. Please ensure that your SFTP server supports v3 of the SFTP protocol.

Connections are attempted using the credentials in the SFTP Transport with the authentication methods in the following order:

  • none - attempts to connect to the server with no authentication
  • password
  • gssapi-with-mic
  • keyboard-interactive

Your server will need to support one of the 4 authentication methods and support at least 3 retries in the event of a failed attempt.

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