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SFTP (and FTPS) protocol support for Azure Files

Exposing the SFTP protocol would facilitate a bunch of scenarios where today 2 VMs (with all the management overhead that implies) are required.

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Vincent-Philippe Lauzon shared this idea  ·   ·  Flag idea as inappropriate…  ·  Admin →
under review  ·  AdminMicrosoft Azure Storage Team (Product Manager, Microsoft Azure) responded  · 

Thanks for the feedback! We are interested in collecting feedback on this request – please vote for it if this is something you like to see.

We’re also interested in learning more what people want to use the SFTP/FTPS for and which protocol they prefer. Please feel free to leave us a comment letting us know more detail!

Thanks,

Will Gries
Program Manager, Azure Files

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216 comments

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  • LaughingJohn commented  ·   ·  Flag as inappropriate

    Firstly I just want to point there is a duplicate of this suggestion under "additional services"!

    To add my thoughts around this:

    We have a multi-tenant web based system for financial companies, one database per client. Part of our requirement is that we receive files from our clients and other 3rd parties which usually but not exclusively contain financial data which we then load automatically into the client's individual database.

    At the moment we have an SFTP product which is on a VM which for historical reasons is not hosted within Azure (it could be). We have one login per-client/per 3rd party. In other words one 3rd party data supplier may supply data for more than one client and each client may have one or more additional logins of their own. Each of these logins will put files into a separate physical folder to avoid intermingling client data. The server is also IP restricted.

    We have multiple processes in Azure that poll the SFTP server for a particular login/folder (for security we may have separate read/write logins for the same folder). When a file is found it is "downloaded" to local or blob storage and then processed. Some of these processes are "per client" because they have specific requirements; some are generic and run across multiple clients (i.e. they have some common file being received). Clearly separation is important for the process that handles multiple clients/tenants.

    So some of the things I would personally like to see are:

    - SFTP as a service (i.e. no requirement for installing on a VM).
    - IP restrictions (for keeping track of why we add an allowed IP/IP range it is important that each restriction can at least have a text description).
    - Our current server can't do this but I would like to see IP restriction associated with a login or group of logins. The server would reject incoming connection if the IP address isn't listed for any login. If the connection passes that restriction then there would be a second check to make sure the login comes from an IP associated with it.
    - Multiple logins
    - Files go to blob storage
    - Each login can write to a different blob container.
    - Possibly logins could be grouped which would allow:
    * Setting up of the same IP restrictions across a group of logins.
    * Associating a single blob container with a group of logins if desired.
    - When a file is transferred it would be great to be able to trigger an action in Azure. Possibly via a queue or some sort of notification (which would save polling). Ideally triggers could be configured at a general, login group or individual login level. The queue entry/event would tell us the date/time, login name, group name(s) (if applicable) and the file name and blob location.
    - Obviously security is important so perhaps encrypting the files on blob storage and having a mechanism to decrypt using Key Vault or something similar.
    - From the sending side it would be good if we could add a file to the SFTP server for an external 3rd part to pick up just by adding it to a Blob container (i.e. bypassing the need to use the SFTP protocol "internally" if we want to).
    - Personally I am only interested in SFTP!

  • James Hancock commented  ·   ·  Flag as inappropriate

    We need hosted SFTP functionality for legacy partners. Adding this to blob storage would solve the problem nicely without having to have a virtual machine.

  • Anonymous commented  ·   ·  Flag as inappropriate

    We need to send performance data from an IBM mainframe to Azure blob storage or Azure data lake store. Need the mainframe to generate the files and push them into Azure.

  • Jordi commented  ·   ·  Flag as inappropriate

    It will be great if you support an sftp protocol for azure files, because it's a widely used protocol so it's easy to explain to our customers (companies) how can they send and receive files. Also it's easy to integrate with etl processes.

  • Carl Bonvini commented  ·   ·  Flag as inappropriate

    We are in need immediately of this service. Just recreating the old world with server in Azure seems quite silly. Considering this is the first internet protocol this would have already been present, but I guess going home for the basics isn't flashy. But we need to get a job done! Please!!!

  • Phil commented  ·   ·  Flag as inappropriate

    The ability to spin up an SFTP or even FTPS service without having to first deploy VMs would make a lot of people's lives easier. Tie that in to events and functions and feel the collective love from around the world. I want to focus on writing code to process incoming data from clients and not have to worry about managing the infrastructure. Please make it so!

  • Andriejus commented  ·   ·  Flag as inappropriate

    SFTP is the superior protocol. This would make file transfers between different sources much easier, no need for a virtual machines and providing disks for such simple activity.

  • T.Falls commented  ·   ·  Flag as inappropriate

    My global ISV is interested in a cost-effective way to to do SFTP. They are currently using a 3rd party library and writing code around this. They do not, however, have an acceptable place in Azure to host this. App Services, WebJobs, Functions, etc. They are finding port restrictions though. This could be a different way to think about it for them though. If you want to speak with an ISV I am sure they would be excited to talk to you about this if that helps.

  • Shashank Banerjea commented  ·   ·  Flag as inappropriate

    I would love to have see event notifications tied to Event grids or triggers on this feature as well to integrate with Azure Functions/Logic Apps.

  • Thilak Sriram commented  ·   ·  Flag as inappropriate

    When will be SFTP using SSH Keys will be available for Files and Blobs? Most of our clients understand the same.

  • Charles Phillips commented  ·   ·  Flag as inappropriate

    PaaS SFTP and FTP to Azure files seems like a no brainer, so many of our enterprise customers only seem to understand SFTP.

  • Robert Caretta commented  ·   ·  Flag as inappropriate

    I would also like serverless FTP option, where I could create a container and hand out credentials to a client.

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