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Setting up an SFTP feed

Do you want to interactively learn how to set up a basic export feed, or some advanced techniques for setting up an export feed in Channable? Learn how to create a Channacademy account in the Channable app through this Help Center article and start with the Basic Feeds course or the Expert Feeds course.

With an SFTP export feed, Channable offers a setup to connect to an SFTP file server you can upload your feed to. Using SFTP, you have a secure file transfer to a known and managed location from which someone else can pick it up again. Basic requirements to do so are: you will need to have configured your own server already, have access to it and have the right access credentials available to others.

The difference between an SFTP feed and a regular feed export

The main difference is that the SFTP feed will export the feed to a fixed destination, while a regular feed is hosted at files.channable.com to be fetched by you and uploaded somewhere else. In other words, SFTP feeds are sent to a location you have preset, whereas regular feeds are automatically generated by Channable but must be uploaded in the right place manually.

As such, you need to give the right people the right access so they can retrieve the feed from your server. Access rights should be managed on the server that the file is exported to. When creating a feed, make sure to use a new filename. This will cause a new file to be created while the other file remains unaltered.

Note: Setting up a new file with a name that is equal to another file will cause the exported file to be overwritten in the target destination. 

How to set up an SFTP feed

  1. Set up a feed, for example a Custom XML, in the Feeds menu as you normally would. Then, click 'Continue' and move back to 'Settings' to select 'SFTP settings'.

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  2. A new SFTP connection will need to be used. When selected, this SFTP connection will override the normal feed behavior of generating a downloadable feed link. Instead, it will generate a file path that the file will be sent to. You can configure this yourself by clicking 'Add a new connection'.

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  3. Fill in all the mandatory fields and user credentials in the setup menu. If you don’t have this info, please consult your IT department or specialist, as they can provide you with this information. Channable does not have this information. If the creation is successful, the SFTP connection will be established and it will be used whenever you run the exporter.

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  4. (Optional) Before using the connection, you can check the hostkey type and hostkey in the connection overview. These are generated after the connection is established. You can also review the file path/link that the file will be sent to. If the SFTP connection has been setup properly, you can just change the file name and nothing more. From now on, your feed will be updated on the specified server path.

How you can use SFTP feeds

  1. Sending files to servers using SFTP: You can send your feed to the specified server, after which the file will land in the root folder.
  2. Exporting to another folder than the root folder: It is possible to change the file name field to modify the file path that the file will be uploaded to. That is, assuming that the folder exists. If not, the exporter will fail. For example:

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Note: It is not possible to download the file from files.channable.com. The SFTP exporter will override storing the file on files.channable.com. If you want to use both options, you need to create two feeds for this: one standard and one SFTP feed.