DSFX - Gather SFTP credentials

DSFX requires an SFTP (Secure File Transfer Protocol) server to exchange files.

SFTP server configuration

The server can either be hosted by DropStream, or you can provide your own.

If you would like the SFTP server to be hosted by DropStream, contact our Support team at support@packagebee.com to request that one be created for you.

If you will be hosting the server yourself, it should be hosted on an operating system that supports case-sensitive filenames, and the SFTP user account must have read/write access to the following required folders:

  • /in
  • /out

SFTP connection string

PackageBee uses an SFTP connection string to connect to the FTP server, which contains the server hostname and port number, and the account username and password. The string is formatted as:

sftp://username:password@hostname:portnumber

For example, if the credentials are:

  • Username: jane.doe
  • Password: Hunter2
  • Hostname: sftp.yourwms.com
  • Port number: 22

Then the connection string would be:

sftp://jane.doe:Hunter2@sftp.yourwms.com:22

If you don't know the port number, you can omit it from the string, and the default SFTP port of 22 will be used. For example:

sftp://jane.doe:Hunter2@sftp.yourwms.com

...would connect to sftp.yourwms.com on port 22.

URL encoded usernames and passwords

In a URL encoded string, a non-alphanumeric character is replaced with a percent sign (%) followed by its two-digit hexadecimal ASCII value.

If the SFTP account username or password contains non-alphanumeric characters, they should be URL encoded to ensure they are transmitted correctly to the server.

The following characters should be URL encoded in SFTP usernames or passwords.

Character URL-encoded
  (space) %20
" %22
# %23
$ %24
% %25
& %26
+ %2B
, %2C
/ %2F
: %3A
; %3B
< %3C
= %3D
> %3E
? %3F
@ %40
[ %5B
\ %5C
] %5D
` (backtick) %60
{ %7B
| %7C
} %7D
~ %7E

For example, the username might be an email address, which includes an @ symbol. Or, the password might contain characters like : and @ that have special meaning in a connection string.

  • Username: jane.doe@gmail.com
  • Password: p@$$:W0rd

Here, the URL-encoded connection string would be:

sftp://jane.doe%40gmail.com:p%40%24%24%3AW0rd@sftp.example.com

Encryption support

Client software connecting to DropStream's SFTP server must support one of the following TLS ciphers:

  • TLS_ECDHE_ECDSA_WITH_AES_128_GCM_SHA256
  • TLS_ECDHE_RSA_WITH_AES_128_GCM_SHA256
  • TLS_ECDHE_ECDSA_WITH_AES_128_CBC_SHA256
  • TLS_ECDHE_RSA_WITH_AES_128_CBC_SHA256
  • TLS_ECDHE_ECDSA_WITH_AES_256_GCM_SHA384
  • TLS_ECDHE_RSA_WITH_AES_256_GCM_SHA384
  • TLS_ECDHE_ECDSA_WITH_AES_256_CBC_SHA384
  • TLS_ECDHE_RSA_WITH_AES_256_CBC_SHA384

If you have trouble connecting to the DropStream SFTP server, email our support team at support@packagebee.com.


Next: Enable SFTP access

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