File Transfer Protocol (FTP) connections enable you to use FTP to access source and target files. Secure File Transfer Protocol (SFTP) connections use secure protocols, such as SSH, to access source and target files.
When you configure an FTP/SFTP connection, you define the following directories:
Local directory
Directory local to the Secure Agent that contains a copy of the source or target files.
Remote directory
Location of the files you want to use as sources or targets.
Informatica Intelligent Cloud Services validates the file in the local directory, not the remote directory. When you configure FTP/SFTP connections, ensure that the local directory contains valid copies of all source and target files. When you configure a task with an FTP/SFTP connection, Informatica Intelligent Cloud Services uses the file structure of the local file to define the source or target for the task. The file structure of the local file must match the source or target file in the remote directory. Informatica Intelligent Cloud Services also uses the local file to generate data preview. If the data in the local file does not match the data in the source or target file in the remote directory, data preview might display inaccurate results.
When Informatica Intelligent Cloud Services runs a data integration task with a FTP/SFTP target connection, it creates a target file based on the target defined in the task. As it completes the task, Informatica Intelligent Cloud Services writes the target file to the remote directory, overwriting the existing file.