Use SFTP and SCP
Last updated on: 2021-07-07
Authored by: Jorge Mijangos
Secure File Transfer Protocol (SFTP) and Secure Copy (SCP) use Secure Shell (SSH) to transfer files. We recommend using these protocols instead of the FTP protocol, which transfers files in plain text.
Install and use SCP
By default, SCP is available for all Rackspace® Cloud Servers. Use the OpenSSH package to install SCP if the scp command does not exist on your Linux® computer.
To install SCP on CentOS® and Red Hat® Enterprise Linux 7:
$ sudo yum install -y openssh-clients
To install SCP on Ubuntu® and Debian®:
$ sudo apt install -y openssh-client
Configure a user on a remote server and use the following command to
copy files to the remote server, where remoteserver is the IP address or
hostname of the remote server:
$ scp username@remoteserver:/path/to/remote/directory/ /path/to/local/machine/directory
Use the following command to copy a file from your local machine to the remote server:
$ scp /path/to/filename.ext username@remoteserver:/destination/path'
SCP connection and commands
You can use SCP to upload and download files and images.
Upload and download files
The ll command shows the directories under the scpuser home directory:
# ll /home/scpuser
down
up
You can download files from the down directory of the server and upload files to the up directory of the server.
To download files from the server to a local machine, use the following command:
$ scp -r scpuser@23.253.20.165:/home/scpuser/down /home/mylocaluser/downloads
Example response:
scpuser@23.253.20.165's password:
Atomos.jpg 100% 19KB 297.7KB/s 00:00
Dinero.jpg 100% 50KB 801.9KB/s 00:00
Entiendos.gif 100% 41KB 1.2MB/s 00:00
figth.jpg 100% 154KB 2.4MB/s 00:00
MoneyPounds.jpg 100% 37KB 1.2MB/s 00:00
Ordenes.gif 100% 191KB 3.0MB/s 00:00
Pastel.jpg 100% 23KB 715.0KB/s 00:00
Wee.jpg 100% 9279 289.0KB/s 00:00
Whereis.gif 100% 738KB 5.1MB/s 00:00
whereisMy.gif 100% 525KB 4.9MB/s 00:00'
List and upload images
List the images in the local machine:
$ ls /home/mylocaluser/downloads/
Example response:
Atomos.jpg Entiendos.gif MoneyPounds.jpg Pastel.jpg Whereis.gif Dinero.jpg figth.jpg Ordenes.gif Wee.jpg whereisMy.gif shh.png Eternity.jpg HomeroNoNo.gif si.gif Con.jpg Jaa.jpg
masake.gif Gato.gif maxresdefault.jpg Puzzle.JPG Tree.gif GoodFellas2.gif len.jpg yes.gif Nervous.gif Husband.jpg masa.gif Numpleanos.jpeg roureright.gif
To upload images from the local machine to the server, use the following command:
$ scp -r /home/mylocaluser/memes/up scpuser@23.253.20.165:/home/scpuser/
Example response:
scpuser@23.253.20.165's password:
GoodFellas2.gif 100% 1423KB 7.6MB/s 00:00
HomeroNoNo.gif 100% 8291KB 23.3MB/s 00:00
yes.gif 100% 1384KB 30.9MB/s 00:00
Husband.jpg 100% 52KB 1.9MB/s 00:00
shh.png 100% 102KB 3.7MB/s 00:00
Eternity.jpg 100% 188KB 5.7MB/s 00:00
masa.gif 100% 941KB 24.8MB/s 00:00
Numpleanos.jpeg 100% 12KB 493.3KB/s 00:00
len.jpg 100% 103KB 3.7MB/s 00:00
maxresdefault.jpg 100% 134KB 4.9MB/s 00:00
roureright.gif 100% 646KB 17.2MB/s 00:00
masake.gif 100% 1876KB 33.2MB/s 00:00
si.gif 100% 2098KB 34.5MB/s 00:00
Puzzle.JPG 100% 0 0.0KB/s 00:00
Tree.gif 100% 1603KB 29.3MB/s 00:00
Jaa.jpg 100% 20KB 794.5KB/s 00:00
Nervous.gif 100% 190KB 6.6MB/s 00:00
Gato.gif 100% 602KB 17.7MB/s 00:00'
Confirm the files on the remote server:
# ll /home/scpuser/up/
-rw-------. 1 scpuser scpuser 192710 Apr 29 16:08 Eternity.jpg
-rw-------. 1 scpuser scpuser 616277 Apr 29 16:08 Gato.gif
-rw-------. 1 scpuser scpuser 1457416 Apr 29 16:08 GoodFellas2.gif
-rw-------. 1 scpuser scpuser 53139 Apr 29 16:08 Husband.jpg
-rw-------. 1 scpuser scpuser 8490279 Apr 29 16:08 HomeroNoNo.gif
-rw-------. 1 scpuser scpuser 20333 Apr 29 16:08 Jaa.jpg
-rw-------. 1 scpuser scpuser 105205 Apr 29 16:08 len.jpg
-rw-------. 1 scpuser scpuser 963122 Apr 29 16:08 masa.gif
-rw-------. 1 scpuser scpuser 1921270 Apr 29 16:08 masake.gif
-rw-------. 1 scpuser scpuser 136948 Apr 29 16:08 maxresdefault.jpg
-rw-------. 1 scpuser scpuser 194803 Apr 29 16:08 Nervous.gif
-rw-------. 1 scpuser scpuser 0 Apr 29 16:08 Puzzle.JPG
-rw-------. 1 scpuser scpuser 661552 Apr 29 16:08 roureright.gif
-rw-------. 1 scpuser scpuser 104672 Apr 29 16:08 shh.png
-rw-------. 1 scpuser scpuser 2148311 Apr 29 16:08 si.gif
-rw-------. 1 scpuser scpuser 1641671 Apr 29 16:08 Tree.gif
-rw-------. 1 scpuser scpuser 1417531 Apr 29 16:08 yes.gif
Note: The -r flag on the scp command copies directories recursively.
SFTP configuration
To connect to a server with SFTP to upload or download files, use the following command,
where remoteserveris the IP address or hostname of the remote server:
$ sftp username@remoteserver
To find the IP address of a server, use the ipconfig command. In the following
example, the server hostname is test has an IP address of 23.253.20.165:
[test ~]# ifconfig
eth0: flags=4163<UP,BROADCAST,RUNNING,MULTICAST> mtu 1500
inet 23.253.20.165
Refer to our configure an SFTP user article for more guidance.
SFTP connection
Perform the following steps to set up an SFTP connection:
-
Configure an SFTP user on the remote host.
-
Jail the user in a directory, such as /var/www/html/test.
-
Change to the directory in the local machine where you plan to upload or download files.
-
Log in to the remote SFTP server.
For example:
-
Change to the directory on the local machine:
$ cd /home/mylocaluser/sftp -
List the files in the directory:
$ ls /home/jorg1234/sftp LocalComp.gif test1.txt themes.tar.gz -
Upload the contents of the local directory to the remote server:
[sftp]$ sftp sftpuser@23.253.20.165 sftpuser@23.253.20.165's password: Connected to 23.253.20.165. sftp> ls public sftp> cd public/ sftp> ls Avis.gif Boock.jpg Good.png Sleep.jpg test sftp> put LocalComp.gif Uploading LocalComp.gif to /public/LocalComp.gif LocalComp.gif 100% 92KB 650.1KB/s 00:00 sftp> put test1.txt Uploading test1.txt to /public/test1.txt test1.txt 100% 8 0.2KB/s 00:00 sftp> put themes.tar.gz Uploading themes.tar.gz to /public/themes.tar.gz themes.tar.gz 100% 4266KB 9.7MB/s 00:00 sftp> ls -al drwxr-xr-x 3 sftpuser root 250 Apr 29 22:21 . drwxr-xr-x 3 root root 20 Apr 28 01:40 .. -rw-r--r-- 1 sftpuser sftpuser 93816 Apr 28 02:09 Avis.gif -rw-r--r-- 1 sftpuser sftpuser 34834 Apr 28 02:09 Boock.jpg -rw-r--r-- 1 sftpuser sftpuser 113722 Apr 28 02:09 Good.png -rw------- 1 sftpuser sftpuser 16662 Apr 28 02:22 Sleep.jpg -rw------- 1 sftpuser sftpuser 93816 Apr 29 22:15 LocalComp.gif -drwxr-xr-x 2 sftpuser sftpuser 6 Apr 28 02:13 test -rw------- 1 sftpuser sftpuser 8 Apr 29 22:21 test1.txt -rw-r--r-- 1 sftpuser sftpuser 4368244 Apr 29 22:21 themes.tar.gz -
Download the content from the remote server to the local directory:
sftp> get Avis.gif Fetching /public/Avis.gif to Avis.gif /public/Avis.gif 100% 92KB 518.3KB/s 00:00 sftp> get Boock.jpg Fetching /public/Boock.jpg to Boock.jpg /public/Boock.jpg 100% 34KB 241.2KB/s 00:00 sftp> get Good.png Fetching /public/Good.jpg to Good.jpg /public/Good.jpg 100% 111KB 520.6KB/s 00:00 sftp> get Sleep.jpg Fetching /public/Sleep.jpg to Sleep.jpg /public/Sleep.jpg 100% 16KB 153.3KB/s 00:00 sftp> get -r test Fetching /public/test/ to test Retrieving /public/test sftp> ls -al drwxr-xr-x 3 sftpuser root 250 Apr 29 22:21 . drwxr-xr-x 3 root root 20 Apr 28 01:40 .. -rw-r--r-- 1 sftpuser sftpuser 93816 Apr 28 02:09 Avis.gif -rw-r--r-- 1 sftpuser sftpuser 34834 Apr 28 02:09 Boock.jpg -rw-r--r-- 1 sftpuser sftpuser 113722 Apr 28 02:09 Good.png -rw------- 1 sftpuser sftpuser 16662 Apr 28 02:22 Sleep.jpg -rw------- 1 sftpuser sftpuser 93816 Apr 29 22:15 LocalComp.gif drwxr-xr-x 2 sftpuser sftpuser 6 Apr 28 02:13 test -rw------- 1 sftpuser sftpuser 8 Apr 29 22:21 test1.txt -rw-r--r-- 1 sftpuser sftpuser 4368244 Apr 29 22:21 themes.tar.gz sftp> quit
FileZilla
You can use FileZilla® to transfer files between machines with SFTP by using SSH access.
You can use the following documents to download and use FileZilla:
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