Connectors → SFTP

About Secure File Transfer Protocol (SFTP)

Secure File Transfer Protocol (SFTP) is a file transfer protocol that leverages a set of utilities that provide secure access to a remote computer to deliver secure communications. It is considered by many to be the optimal method for secure file transfer. It leverages SSH Secure Socket Shell or Secure Shell (SSH) and is frequently also referred to as “Secure Shell File Transfer Protocol”.

SFTP Connector Updates

This section is to explore the updates in the newer versions of the SFTP connector available on the Incorta connectors marketplace.

In order to get the newer version of the connector, please update the connector using the marketplace.

About the SFTP connector

The SFTP connector allows you to connect to a remote computer or server where the files you need to load are stored. Incorta is able to load the following file types from an SFTP server:

• Text (.csv, .tsv, .tab, .txt)
• Excel (.xlsx)

The SFTP connector supports the following Incorta-specific functionality:

Steps to use the SFTP connector

Here are the high level steps to use the SFTP connector:

• Create an external data source
• Create a physical schema with the Schema Wizard
• or, Create a physical schema table with the Schema Designer
• Load the physical schema
• Explore the physical schema

Create an external data source

Here are the steps to create an external data source with the SFTP connector:

• Sign in to the Incorta Direct Data Platform.
• In the Navigation bar, select Data.
• In the Action bar, select + New → Add Data Source.
• In the Choose a Data Source dialog, in Data lake, select Data Lake - SFTP.
• In the New Data Source dialog, specify the applicable connector properties.
• To test, select Test Connection.
• Select Ok to save your changes.

SFTP connector properties

Here are the properties for the SFTP connector:

Create a physical schema with the Schema Wizard

Here are the steps to create a SFTP physical schema with the Schema Wizard:

• Sign in to the Incorta Direct Data Platform.
• In the Navigation bar, select Schema.
• In the Action bar, select + New → Schema Wizard
• In (1) Choose a Source, specify the following:
  • For Enter a name, enter the physical schema name.
  • For Select a Datasource, select the SFTP external data source.
  • Optionally enter a description.
• Select Next.
• In (2) Manage Tables, in the Data Panel, navigate the directory tree as necessary to select the SFTP files. You can either check the Select All checkbox or select individual sheets.
• Select Next.
• In (3) Finalize, select Create Schema.

Create a physical schema with the Schema Designer

Here are the steps to create a SFTP physical schema using the Schema Designer:

• Sign in to the Incorta Direct Data Platform.
• In the Navigation bar, select Schema.
• In the Action bar, select + New → Create Schema.
• In Name, specify the physical schema name, and select Save.
• In Start adding tables to your schema, select Data Lake.
• In the Data Source dialog, specify the SFTP table data source properties.
• Select Add.
• In the Table Editor, in the Table Summary section, enter the table name.
• To save your changes, select Done in the Action bar.

SFTP table data source properties

For a physical schema table in Incorta, you can define the SFTP specific data source properties as follows:

Summary of Data Access Methods Based on Remote and Performance Optimized Settings

Incremental Extract Methods

There are two extract methods, Last Successful Extract Time and Timestamp in File Name.

Last Successful Extract Time

The Last Successful Extract Time option instructs the Loader Service to extract data from the table source using the time of the previous successful extraction as the starting time for next extraction. Here is an example use case for the Last Successful Extract Time option:

• /path/to/sales is a directory that contains the following files:
  • /path/to/sales/sales_california.csv
  • /path/to/sales/sales_newyork.csv
  • /path/to/sales/sales_illinois.csv

When you perform an initial full load, the Loader Service extracts all the files from the directory. After the successful load, a new file is added to the directory: sales_ohio.csv. As the new file has a last modified timestamp that is more recent than the timestamp of the previous successful extraction, the next incremental load will only extract the sales_ohio.csv file.

Timestamp in File Name

The Timestamp in File Name option instructs the Loader Service to extract data using the file name. The file name must contain a specific timestamp format. Here is an example use case for the Timestamp in File Name option:

• /path/to/sales is a directory that contains the following files:
  • /path/to/sales/sales_2021-04-01.csv
  • /path/to/sales/sales_2021-04-02.csv
  • /path/to/sales/sales_2021-04-03.csv

When you perform an initial full load, the Loader Service extracts all the files from the directory. After the successful load, a new file is added to the directory: sales_2021-04-04.csv. As the new file has a timestamp name value that is greater than the already extracted timestamp name values, the next incremental load will only extract the sales_2021-04-04.csv file.

Timestamp Formats in File Name

• yyyy-MM-dd
• dd.MM.yyyy
• dd-MMM-yy
• dd-MMM-yyyy
• yyyy-MM-dd HH.mm.ss
• Unix Epoch (seconds)
• Unix Epoch (milliseconds)

Text File Date Format

• yyyy-MM-dd
• dd/MM/yyyy
• dd.MM.yyyy
• dd/MMM/yyyy
• dd-MMM-yy
• dd-MMM-yyyy
• MM/dd/yyyy
• yyyy/MM/dd
• Unix Epoch (seconds
• Unix Epoch (milliseconds)
• Other

Text File Timestamp Format

• yyyy-MM-dd HH:mm:ss
• yyyy-MM-dd HH.mm.ss
• yyyy-MM-dd HH:mm:ss.SSS
• dd/MM/yyyy HH:mm:ss
• dd/MM/yyyy HH.mm.ss
• dd/MM/yyyy HH:mm:ss.SSS
• Unix Epoch (seconds
• Unix Epoch (milliseconds)
• Other

Text File Character Set

• US-ASCII
• ISO-8859-1
• UTF-8
• UTF-16BE
• UTF-16LE
• UTF-16

Text File Separator

• Comma
• Tab
• Other

View the physical schema diagram with the Schema Diagram Viewer

Here are the steps to view the schema diagram using the Schema Diagram Viewer:

• Sign in to the Incorta Direct Data Platform.
• In the Navigation bar, select Schema.
• In the list of physical schemas, select the SFTP physical schema.
• In the Schema Designer, in the Action bar, select Diagram.

Load the physical schema

Here are the steps to perform a Full Load of the SFTP physical schema using the Schema Designer:

• Sign in to the Incorta Direct Data Platform.
• In the Navigation bar, select Schema.
• In the list of physical schemas, select the SFTP physical schema.
• In the Schema Designer, in the Action bar, select Load → Full Load.
• To review the load status, in Last Load Status, select the date.

Explore the physical schema

With the full load of the SFTP physical schema completed, you can use the Analyzer to explore the physical schema, create your first insight, and save the insight to a new dashboard.

To open the Analyzer from the physical schema, follow these steps:

• In the Navigation bar, select Schema.
• In the Schema Manager, in the List view, select the SFTP physical schema.
• In the Schema Designer, in the Action bar, select Explore Data.