Documentation Experience Platform Source Connectors Guide

Create an SFTP base connection using the Flow Service API

Last update: April 2, 2025

Topics:
Sources

CREATED FOR:

Developer

A base connection represents the authenticated connection between a source and Adobe Experience Platform.

This tutorial walks you through the steps to create a base connection for SFTP (Secure File Transfer Protocol) using the Flow Service API.

Getting started

This guide requires a working understanding of the following components of Adobe Experience Platform:

Sources: Experience Platform allows data to be ingested from various sources while providing you with the ability to structure, label, and enhance incoming data using Experience Platform services.
Sandboxes: Experience Platform provides virtual sandboxes which partition a single Experience Platform instance into separate virtual environments to help develop and evolve digital experience applications.

IMPORTANT

It is recommended to avoid newlines or carriage returns when ingesting JSON objects with an SFTP source connection. To work around the limitation, use a single JSON object per line and use multi-lines for ensuing files.

The following sections provide additional information that you will need to know in order to successfully connect to an SFTP server using the Flow Service API.

Gather required credentials

Read the SFTP authentication guide for detailed steps on how to retrieve your authentication credentials.

Using Experience Platform APIs

For information on how to successfully make calls to Experience Platform APIs, see the guide on getting started with Experience Platform APIs.

Create a base connection

TIP

Once created, you cannot change the authentication type of an SFTP base connection. To change the authentication type, you must create a new base connection.

A base connection retains information between your source and Experience Platform, including your source’s authentication credentials, the current state of the connection, and your unique base connection ID. The base connection ID allows you to explore and navigate files from within your source and identify the specific items that you want to ingest, including information regarding their data types and formats.

The SFTP source supports both basic authentication and authentication via SSH public key. During this step, you can also designate the path to the sub folder that you want to provide access to.

To create a base connection ID, make a POST request to the /connections endpoint while providing your SFTP authentication credentials as part of the request parameters.

IMPORTANT

The SFTP connector supports an RSA or DSA type OpenSSH key. Ensure that your key file content starts with "-----BEGIN [RSA/DSA] PRIVATE KEY-----" and ends with "-----END [RSA/DSA] PRIVATE KEY-----". If the private key file is a PPK-format file, use the PuTTY tool to convert from PPK to OpenSSH format.

API format

POST /connections

Basic authentication

Request

curl -X POST \
  'https://platform.adobe.io/data/foundation/flowservice/connections' \
  -H 'Authorization: Bearer {ACCESS_TOKEN}' \
  -H 'x-api-key: {API_KEY}' \
  -H 'x-gw-ims-org-id: {ORG_ID}' \
  -H 'x-sandbox-name: {SANDBOX_NAME}' \
  -H 'Content-Type: application/json' \
  -d  '{
      "name": "SFTP connector with password",
      "description": "SFTP connector password",
      "auth": {
          "specName": "Basic Authentication for sftp",
          "params": {
              "host": "{HOST}",
              "port": 22,
              "userName": "{USERNAME}",
              "password": "{PASSWORD}",
              "maxConcurrentConnections": 5,
              "folderPath": "acme/business/customers/holidaySales",
              "disableChunking": "true"
          }
      },
      "connectionSpec": {
          "id": "b7bf2577-4520-42c9-bae9-cad01560f7bc",
          "version": "1.0"
      }
  }'

Property

Description

auth.params.host

The host name of your SFTP server.

auth.params.port

The port of the SFTP server. This integer value defaults to 22.

auth.params.username

The username associated with your SFTP server.

auth.params.password

The password associated with your SFTP server.

auth.params.maxConcurrentConnections

The maximum number of concurrent connections specified when connecting Experience Platform to SFTP. When enabled, this value must be set to at least 1.

auth.params.folderPath

The path to the folder that you want to provide access to.

auth.params.disableChunking

A boolean value used to determine whether or not your SFTP server supports chunking.

connectionSpec.id

The SFTP server connection specification ID: b7bf2577-4520-42c9-bae9-cad01560f7bc

Response

A successful response returns the unique identifier (id) of the newly created connection. This ID is required to explore your SFTP server in the next tutorial.

{
    "id": "bf367b0d-3d9b-4060-b67b-0d3d9bd06094",
    "etag": "\"1700cc7b-0000-0200-0000-5e3b3fba0000\""
}

SSH public key authentication

Request

curl -X POST \
  'https://platform.adobe.io/data/foundation/flowservice/connections' \
  -H 'Authorization: Bearer {ACCESS_TOKEN}' \
  -H 'x-api-key: {API_KEY}' \
  -H 'x-gw-ims-org-id: {ORG_ID}' \
  -H 'x-sandbox-name: {SANDBOX_NAME}' \
  -H 'Content-Type: application/json' \
  -d '{
      "name": "SFTP connector with SSH authentication",
      "description": "SFTP connector with SSH authentication",
      "auth": {
          "specName": "SSH PublicKey Authentication for sftp",
          "params": {
              "host": "{HOST}",
              "port": 22,
              "userName": "{USERNAME}",
              "privateKeyContent": "{PRIVATE_KEY_CONTENT}",
              "passPhrase": "{PASSPHRASE}",
              "maxConcurrentConnections": 5,
              "folderPath": "acme/business/customers/holidaySales",
              "disableChunking": "true"
          }
      },
      "connectionSpec": {
          "id": "b7bf2577-4520-42c9-bae9-cad01560f7bc",
          "version": "1.0"
      }
  }'

Property

Description

auth.params.host

The host name of your SFTP server.

auth.params.port

The port of the SFTP server. This integer value defaults to 22.

auth.params.username

The username associated with your SFTP server.

auth.params.privateKeyContent

The Base64 encoded SSH private key content. The type of OpenSSH key must be classified as either RSA or DSA.

auth.params.passPhrase

The pass phrase or password to decrypt the private key if the key file or the key content is protected by a pass phrase. If PrivateKeyContent is password protected, this parameter needs to be used with the PrivateKeyContent’s passphrase as value.

auth.params.maxConcurrentConnections

The maximum number of concurrent connections specified when connecting Experience Platform to SFTP. When enabled, this value must be set to at least 1.

auth.params.folderPath

The path to the folder that you want to provide access to.

auth.params.disableChunking

A boolean value used to determine whether or not your SFTP server supports chunking.

connectionSpec.id

The SFTP server connection specification ID: b7bf2577-4520-42c9-bae9-cad01560f7bc

Response

A successful response returns the unique identifier (id) of the newly created connection. This ID is required to explore your SFTP server in the next tutorial.

{
    "id": "bf367b0d-3d9b-4060-b67b-0d3d9bd06094",
    "etag": "\"1700cc7b-0000-0200-0000-5e3b3fba0000\""
}

Next steps

By following this tutorial, you have created an SFTP connection using the Flow Service API, and have obtained the connection’s unique ID value. You can use this connection ID to explore cloud storages using the Flow Service API.

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