European Hosted SFTP Checklist | Secure File Transfer

Published {$created} by Viggo

Need a secure, reliable SFTP solution hosted within Europe? It's a solid choice for data privacy and compliance. This checklist will guide you through selecting and setting up your SFTP service with ftpGrid.

1. Understanding Your Requirements

Before diving into service selection, consider these points:

• Storage Needs: How much data will you be transferring and storing? Check our pricing page for details on available storage tiers.
• Bandwidth: Estimate your monthly bandwidth consumption, especially if dealing with large files or frequent transfers.
• Security: SFTP is crucial for security. Password authentication should be avoided. Key-based authentication (SSH-RSA, ECDSA-SHA2-NISTP256, or SSH-ED25519 - the last is recommended) is the way to go. See advanced SSH key authentication for details.
• Compliance: Ensure the provider aligns with your data residency and compliance needs (GDPR, etc.).
• Ease of Use: Consider the management interface and API availability.

2. Evaluating ftpGrid as Your SFTP Host

ftpGrid is purpose-built for secure file transfer and storage within Europe. Here's how we stack up:

• European Hosting: Data resides within the EU, addressing GDPR and data residency requirements.
• SFTP Focus: SFTP is a core offering, providing a secure tunnel for file transfers. We strongly recommend against using plain FTP or FTPS.
• Key-Based Authentication: We support secure key-based authentication. Create SSH keys following our guide: create SSH keys for SFTP/SCP authentication.
• Management Features: Our dashboard offers real-time storage and bandwidth monitoring, quota management, user suspension, and detailed audit logs. Check out our dashboard features.
• API Access: Programmatic access is available for integration with your workflows. Explore our quick storage API series.
• Free Tier: Start with our free tier to test the service and familiarize yourself with the interface. It offers 512MB of storage.

3. Setting Up Your SFTP Connection

1. Sign Up: Create an account at ftpgrid.com.
2. Create an SFTP User: Within the dashboard, add an SFTP user and generate SSH keys (or upload your own).
3. Configure Your SFTP Client: Use an SFTP client like FileZilla (see our guide: upload files to ftpgrid using filezilla) or WinSCP to connect. Enter the hostname (edgeN.ftpgrid.com), port 22, username, and your private key.
4. Test the Connection: Verify that you can upload and download files.
5. Automate Transfers (Optional): Utilize scripts and our API to automate SFTP transfers.