---
title: "Collect files from an SFTP server"
description: "The Secure File Transfer Protocol (SFTP) is an alternative to FTP that also allows you to transfer files between a client and server on a computer"
url: https://docs.ovhcloud.com/de/guides/public-cloud/data-platform/connectors-sources-sftp
lang: de
lastUpdated: 2026-09-14
---
> For AI agents: the complete documentation index is available at https://docs.ovhcloud.com/de/llms.txt, the full documentation bundle is available at https://docs.ovhcloud.com/de/llms-full.txt.

# Collect files from an SFTP server

## Objective

The Secure File Transfer Protocol (SFTP) is an alternative to FTP that also allows you to transfer files between a client and server on a computer network, but further adds a layer of security to the process.

The Platform allows you to connect to an SFTP server, select your files on it, and import their data directly into your platform.

![SFTP1](/images/public-cloud/data-platform/product/connectors/sources/connectors/sftp/picts/SFTP1.png)
## Add a SFTP source on the Platform

### Configuration screen overview

Once you have found _SFTP_ in the **Platform store**, click on _Select_ and you will be able to see the configuration screen as shown below -

![SFTP2](/images/public-cloud/data-platform/product/connectors/sources/connectors/sftp/picts/SFTP2.png)
### Supported files and sizes

Before you proceed with learning how to configure an SFTP source, it would be interesting to note that -

- Even though our SFTP connector is able to list every file on your server, keep in mind that meta/data extraction only support the following types: .csv, .xls, .xlsx, .xml, .json, .parquet

- For the Metadata Extraction (see the Analyze part of our Connectors guide), the actual limits of size for a file downloaded by our SFTP connector are:

- Complete Extract: about 900 Mo

- Sample Extract: about 2.5 Go

### Configuring your source

When creating the source, you will be required to input the following information :

- Host: The URL/IP of the SFTP server you want to connect to (ex: 127.0.0.1)
- Port: The port listened to by your SFTP server
- Username: The login used to authenticate
- Password: The password associated
- Server public key: Your SFTP configuration key
- Path: The path to find specific files on the server (ex: Documents/data/export\_2018.csv)

Once you add the above details click on _Connect_ and then on the _Create_ button on the top right-hand corner.

:::warning
Don't forget to name your source before creating it. The technical name cannot be changed after creating the source and will be used when trying to open the source using the [SDK](https://docs.ovhcloud.com/de/guides/public-cloud/data-platform/landing-page-developers-python-sdk.md).
:::

## Go further

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