SFTP

Mover can connect to servers that accept SFTP connections. If possible, use an FTP/FTPS connection instead of SFTP, because it provides considerably faster performance (up to 10x).

Add a SFTP Connection

Add a new connection and select SFTP as the connection type.

Provide a Connection Label so you can identify the connection in a list. This is especially important when you have more than one connection of the same type.

Server

The Hostname is the fully-qualified domain name. It must be an address that is publicly resolvable, because Mover must be able to reach it.

The default port for SFTP is 22. Use an alternate port only if you know the SFTP server requires it.

Credentials

Enter the Username that you use for connecting to your SFTP server.

Mover supports authenticating with a password, a private SSH key, or both.

Authenticating with Password Only

Choose this option if you log into your SFTP server with a password and do not need to supply an SSH key.

Enter your password in the Password field of the connection. Your password is encrypted and stored securely within the Mover platform.

Authenticating with Existing Private Key Only

Choose this option if you connect to the SFTP server with an SSH key that you already have.

Upload the private key that Mover will use to log into the server. Your private key is encrypted and stored securely within the Mover platform.

Authenticating with New Private Key Only

Choose this option if you will connect to the SFTP server with an SSH key that does not yet exist.

When generating a new private key, Mover generates a new key pair of type RSA, with 4096 bit length, and a SHA-256 hash. Your private key is encrypted and stored securely within the Mover platform.

The public portion of the new key is presented to you, with options to copy it to your clipboard and to download it. The public key must be installed on the SFTP server before you can connect. Send the public key to the server's administrator.

Authenticating with Both Password and an Existing Private Key

Choose this option if you connect to the SFTP server with both a password and an SSH key, and you already have the key.

Enter your password in the Password field of the connection.

Upload the private key that Mover will use to log into the server.

Your password and private key are encrypted and stored securely within the Mover platform.

Authenticating with Both Password and a New Private Key

Choose this option if you connect to the SFTP server with both a password and an SSH key, and the key does not yet exist.

Enter your password in the Password field of the connection.

When generating a new private key, Mover generates a new key pair of type RSA, with 4096 bit length, and a SHA-256 hash.

Your password and private key are encrypted and stored securely within the Mover platform.

The public portion of the new key is presented to you, with options to copy it to your clipboard and to download it. The public key must be installed on the SFTP server before you can connect. Send the public key to the server's administrator.

Host Key Verification

Host Key Verification is set to Require server host key to match by default. If the server's host key ever changes, Mover disables the SFTP connection until you restore it by manually updating the host key. This protects your connection against Man-In-The-Middle attacks, where some other party tries to impersonate your server.

You can change this to Allow non-matching server host keys, which may be required in rare cases. This behavior is insecure and not recommended.

Server Host Key

You can configure a Server Host Key for the SFTP server. If you do not provide one at setup, Mover automatically detects the server's host key the first time it connects and stores it for you.

The Server Host Key is not used for user authentication. It is a cryptographic identifier of the SFTP server that confirms each connection reaches the same server.

Max Connections

You can configure a maximum number of connections to the SFTP server that Mover opens at once. We recommend the default value of 25, which provides a high level of parallelism and improves performance.

Some server administrators will request that you reduce this number to reduce the pressure on their server. Reducing it too low reduces performance, because requests may have to wait for a free connection before they can complete.

Mover uses best efforts to honor the maximum number specified here, but the connection count may temporarily burst above it when Mover moves the connection to another gateway server internally. As a cloud-based service, Mover reconfigures its network in real time to optimize performance. After any temporary excess, the connection count returns to the specified number promptly.

Check For Case Sensitivity

Be aware of case sensitivity differences when copying, moving, or syncing files and folders between connections. Copying items from a system which is not case sensitive to another that is case sensitive could result in 1 item being treated as 2 different ones, such as attempting to overwrite MyFile.txt with myfile.txt .

In the other direction, copying from a case sensitive system to another that is not case sensitive can cause files to be overwritten, and folders to have their contents merged, if their case insensitive names are a match.

Check the documentation on your storage providers to determine if you need to account for case sensitivity differences.

Troubleshooting

Verify that you are using the correct SFTP settings for your connection. Check that the server hostname, port, and authentication information are correct.

Confirm that the outbound server is an SFTP server. The default SFTP port is 22, though some servers use a customized port. If the connection information you received specifies port 21 or 990, the server is an FTP/FTPS server, not SFTP.