Reflection for Secure IT Gateway - Administrator’s Guide > Initial Reflection Gateway Configuration > How To... > Set Up Directory Access on your SFTP Servers

Set Up Directory Access on your SFTP Servers

If you are going to use an SFTP server in Job actions, review this information to ensure that Job actions will have access to required directories on the server.

Each SFTP server you add to Gateway Administrator includes a UserID whose credentials provide access to this server. All transfers and commands executed on this server use the access rights of this user.

Job actions that transfer files use an SFTP connection running as the user specified for UserID.

  • If you specify a relative path for a transfer destination, files are transferred to a location relative to the SFTP home directory of this user.

  • If you specify an absolute path for a transfer destination, the location must be accessible to this user from an SFTP session.

Job actions that execute commands run a remote SSH command as the user specified for UserID. The action runs in a shell session from the user's home directory.

  • Commands specified without path information run in the SSH home directory of the user.

  • If you specify a relative path for command output, files are created in a location relative to the home directory of user.

  • If you specify an absolute path for command output, the location must be accessible to the user in an SSH terminal session.

If you want files to land in a location other than the user’s home directory, you need to configure your SFTP server to provide access to the required directories. The approach you use depends on your server type.

Configuring Directory Access on a Reflection for Secure IT Server for Windows

On a Reflection for Secure IT Server for Windows, the SSH terminal directory is configured on the Permissions pane. The default is the user’s Windows Profile directory. When configuring fully qualified paths for Job actions that execute commands, use the actual Windows path (for example c:\Users\Joe).

The Reflection for Secure IT Server provides SFTP directory access using virtual directories. By default users log into a virtual directory called Home, which is mapped to the user’s Windows Profile directory. When configuring fully qualified paths for Job actions that transfer files, use the virtual directory name (for example \Home). If you want to configure Job actions that transfer files to a different location, you can configure additional virtual directories. The following procedure shows how to create a virtual directory called destination that is mapped to the physical location c:\destination on the server.

To configure an additional accessible directory on a Reflection for Secure IT Server for Windows

  1. Start the Reflection for Secure IT Server for Windows console and open the Configuration tab.

  2. Click SFTP Directories and click Add.

  3. For Virtual directory specify the directory name you want to use in Job actions that transfer files (for example destination).

  4. For Local or UNC directory enter the actual path to a directory available to UserID on this server (for example c:\destination).

  5. Click OK.

  6. Save your settings (File > Save Settings).

Configuring Directory Access on a UNIX Server

On UNIX servers, both the default SSH and SFTP home directories are typically the same (for example /home/joe).

If you want to configure Job actions that transfer files or create files in a different location, you can use UNIX system commands to specify a different home directory for the user.