When you connect to a server using Secure File Transfer Protocol (SFTP), SSH encryption is used to protect the connection between your client machine and the server. This protects your password and your data, preventing an eavesdropper from capturing or stealing them as they travel over the network.

Despite the similarity in name and operation, SFTP is a completely different protocol from FTP and does not support all the same features and commands as FTP. Also, while they are both secure file transfer protocols and have similar names, FTPS (FTP with TLS/SSL) should not be confused with SFTP.

To use SFTP for secure connections, the server you are connecting to must also support SFTP. If you try to connect with SFTP to a server that does not support it, you will receive an error. Your network administrator or service provider can tell you if your server supports SFTP, and what other information you might need to use SFTP if it does.

For more information on how to configure supported Secure File Transfer Protocol (SFTP) components (for example, listeners, emitters, and services) using iSM, see the iWay FTP Solutions Development Guide.