What is SFTP?
SFTP (Secure File Transfer Protocol) is a method of data transfer that can transmit and receive files via the cryptographic SSH protocol. SFTP was created in the late 1990s as a secure option to FTP ( File Transfer Protocal), a standard file transfer method that uses TCP/IP.
Configuring SFTP is usually more specific when using Unix-based operating systems such as Linux and macOS, although it can also be done on Windows. Since it would take far too long to account for every possible variable in a user’s technical setup, we’ll offer a high-level overview of the SFTP configuration process in this section.
However, SFTP is not merely FTP over SSH. Instead, it is an entirely separate protocol.
If you cannot connect to your cPanel account via SFTP, open a support ticket with cPanel Technical Support.
Configure your SFTP client
The following details are normally needed by SFTP clients in order to connect to a server:
- Hostname— The hostname of the server (for example, hostname.example.com).
- SSH port number— The port that sshd listens on (for example, 22).
- Security— whether the client combines the features of SFTP and FTP.
- Username— the username for SSH connections that the client uses to access the server. The root user or an authorized cPanel account username can be used as the username.
- Password— The password of the SSH user.
- Private Key— The private key of the SSH user. On your local computer, this is the full path of a private key (for instance, c:dataid dsa).
