FTP/SFTP Connections
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 a remote directory and a local directory.
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 Cloud 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 Cloud 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 Cloud 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 Cloud runs a 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 Cloud writes the target file to the remote directory, overwriting the existing file.
FTP/SFTP Connection Properties
The following table describes the FTP/SFTP connection properties:
Connection Property | Description |
|---|
Runtime Environment | Runtime environment that contains the Secure Agent to use to access the files. |
User Name | User name for the database login. |
Password | Password for the database login. |
Host | Name of the machine hosting the database server or FTP/SFTP host. For an FTP/SFTP connection, enter the host name or IP address. |
Port | Network port number used to connect to FTP/SFTP connection. Default port is 21 for FTP and 22 for SFTP. |
Local Directory | Directory on a local machine that stores the local file. The local machine must also run the Secure Agent used to run the corresponding task. Enter a local directory or use the Browse button to select a local directory. |
Remote Directory | Directory on the FTP/SFTP host that stores the remote flat file. Depending on the FTP/SFTP server, you might have limited options to enter directories. For more information, see the FTP/SFTP server documentation. |
Date Format | Date format for date fields in the flat file. Default date format is: MM/dd/yyyy HH:mm:ss |
Code Page | Code page compatible with the system where the source or target flat file resides. Select one of the following code pages: - - MS Windows Latin 1. Select for ISO 8859-1 Western European data.
- - UTF-8. Select for Unicode data.
- - Shift-JIS. Select for double-byte character data.
- - ISO 8859-15 Latin 9 (Western European).
- - ISO 8859-2 Eastern European.
- - ISO 8859-3 Southeast European.
- - ISO 8859-5 Cyrillic.
- - ISO 8859-9 Latin 5 (Turkish).
- - IBM EBCDIC International Latin-1.
- - Japanese EUC (with \ <-> Yen mapping
- - IBM EBCDIC Japanese
- - IBM EBCDIC Japanese CP939
- - PC Japanese SJIS-78 syntax (IBM-942)
- - PC Japanese SJIS-90 (IBM-943)
- - MS Windows Traditional Chinese, superset of Big 5
- - Taiwan Big-5 (w/o euro update)
- - Chinese EUC
- - ISO 8859-8 Hebrew
- - PC Hebrew (old)
- - PC Hebrew (w/o euro update)
- - EBCDIC Hebrew (updated with new sheqel, control characters)
|
This is a Secure FTP Connection | Indicates if the connection is secure or not secure. Select to create an SFTP connection. |
FTP/SFTP Connections Rules and Guidelines
Consider the following rules and guidelines for FTP/SFTP connections:
- •Informatica Cloud does not lock the target file while writing to the file. To prevent data corruption, verify that only one task writes to a target file at any given time.
- •If metadata in the local target file and remote target file are different, Informatica Cloud overwrites the metadata of the remote target file with the local target file at run time.
- •The Activity Log shows the row count of rows loaded into the local target file.
- •In Windows, you cannot select FTP/SFTP directory on a mapped drive through the Browse for Directory dialog box. You can access a network directory by browsing My Network Places. You can also enter the directory with the following format:
\\<server_name>\<directory_path>
If the Browse for Directory dialog box does not display My Network Places, you might need to configure a network login for the Secure Agent service.
- •Error messages for FTP/SFTP connections might only reference FTP or SFTP. Read any error message that references FTP or SFTP as an error message for an FTP/SFTP connection.