Skip to content

SFTP

SFTP is a secure data transfer protocol provided by the SSH software. The protocol is very similar to FTP and uses many of the same commands.

Logging into an SFTP server

Login is accomplished using the sftp command-line client, providing a username and hostname:

sftp bmjl@cosmos.lunarc.lu.se
Password:
Enter your Pocket Pass OTP: 207151
Connected to bmjl@cosmos.lunarc.lu.se.
sftp>

sftp> is the prompt where commands can be entered to initiate data transfers, list files, or create directories.

Use the Pocket Pass app on your smartphone to obtain the Pocket Pass OTP.

Listing remote files

Files on the remote server can be listed using the ls command:

sftp> ls
imb                              imb_test
mpibench-1.1.tar.gz              mpibench-1.2
skampi                           skampi-5.0.4-r0355
skampi-5.0.4-r0355.tar.gz

Listing files on the local computer

Listing files on the local computer is done using the lls command:

sftp> lls
Desktop         Pictures
Development     Public
Documents       Downloads
Dropbox         Library
Movies          Music

Changing remote directory

Change the working directory on the remote server using the cd command:

sftp> cd imb
sftp> ls
ReadMe_first    WINDOWS         doc             license
src             versions_news

Changing working directory locally

Changing the working directory on the local computer is done using the lcd command:

sftp> lcd Documentation
sftp> lls
qmake.qch    qt.qch    qtcreator.qch    sdk.qch

Transferring a local file to the remote server

A single file is transferred to the remote server using the put command:

sftp> put PyQt-mac-gpl-4.8.5.tar.gz
Uploading PyQt-mac-gpl-4.8.5.tar.gz to /home/bmjl/openmpi/PyQt-mac-gpl-4.8.5.tar.gz
PyQt-mac-gpl-4.8.5.tar.gz   27% 2592KB 918.4KB/s   00:07 ET

sftp> ls
PyQt-mac-gpl-4.8.5.tar.gz        imb
imb_test                         mpibench-1.1.tar.gz
mpibench-1.2                     skampi
skampi-5.0.4-r0355               skampi-5.0.4-r0355.tar.gz

Transferring a remote file to the local computer

A file on the remote server is retrieved using the get command:

sftp> get mpibench-1.1.tar.gz
Fetching /home/bmjl/openmpi/mpibench-1.1.tar.gz to mpibench-1.1.tar.gz
/home/bmjl/openmpi/mpibench-1.1 100%  235KB 235.0KB/s   00:01
sftp> lls
Desktop         Pictures
...
Library         mpibench-1.1.tar.gz

Transferring multiple local files

To transfer multiple local files use the mput command with a wildcard pattern:

sftp> mput *.txt
Uploading Changelog.txt to /home/bmjl/openmpi/Changelog.txt
Changelog.txt              100%   15KB  15.4KB/s   00:00
Uploading InstallationLog.txt to /home/bmjl/openmpi/InstallationLog.txt
InstallationLog.txt        100%  452KB  90.5KB/s   00:05

Transferring multiple remote files

To retrieve multiple remote files use the mget command with a wildcard pattern:

sftp> mget *.tar.gz
Fetching /home/bmjl/openmpi/mpibench-1.1.tar.gz to mpibench-1.1.tar.gz
/home/bmjl/openmpi/mpibench-1.1 100%  235KB 235.0KB/s   00:01
Fetching /home/bmjl/openmpi/skampi-5.0.4-r0355.tar.gz to skampi-5.0.4-r0355.tar.gz
/home/bmjl/openmpi/skampi-5.0.4 100%  377KB 377.1KB/s   00:00

Info

Available commands in the SFTP client can be listed by typing help at the sftp> prompt.

Author: (LUNARC)

Last Updated: 2022-10-05