SQL Server

SFTP Where Did My Upload Go?

See more SFTP Examples

This example answers a common question: "I use Chilkat SFTP to upload a file. It says it was successful, but file is not on the server. How do you change directories?";

First, "SFTP" is Secure File Transfer over SSH and has *nothing* to do with FTP (the File Transfer Protocol). It is completely unrelated to FTP. Therefore, FTP concepts such as "current directory", and "binary/ascii transfer modes" don't exist in SFTP.

In SFTP, you authenticate using a user account on the remote server. This could be an actual user account on the server, or a logical user account that exists in the context of the SSH server. In either case, the user account has a home directory. If you open a file on the SSH/SFTP server using only the filename and no path, then your filename will be placed in the user account's home directory. To find out the location of the home directory, call RealPath and pass "." for the directory path. It will return the absolute path of the home directory.

Given that there is no "current directory" concept in SFTP, you must specify either an absolute path or relative path when opening/creating a file that is to be in a directory other than the account's home directory. A relative path is relative to the home directory.

SQL Server

-- Important: See this note about string length limitations for strings returned by sp_OAMethod calls.
--
CREATE PROCEDURE ChilkatSample
AS
BEGIN
    DECLARE @hr int
    DECLARE @iTmp0 int
    -- Important: Do not use nvarchar(max).  See the warning about using nvarchar(max).
    DECLARE @sTmp0 nvarchar(4000)
    DECLARE @success int
    SELECT @success = 0

    -- This example assumes the Chilkat API to have been previously unlocked.
    -- See Global Unlock Sample for sample code.

    DECLARE @sftp int
    EXEC @hr = sp_OACreate 'Chilkat.SFtp', @sftp OUT
    IF @hr <> 0
    BEGIN
        PRINT 'Failed to create ActiveX component'
        RETURN
    END

    -- Set some timeouts, in milliseconds:
    EXEC sp_OASetProperty @sftp, 'ConnectTimeoutMs', 5000
    EXEC sp_OASetProperty @sftp, 'IdleTimeoutMs', 10000

    -- Connect to the SSH server.  
    -- The standard SSH port = 22
    -- The hostname may be a hostname or IP address.
    DECLARE @hostname nvarchar(4000)
    SELECT @hostname = 'sftp.example.com'
    DECLARE @port int
    SELECT @port = 22
    EXEC sp_OAMethod @sftp, 'Connect', @success OUT, @hostname, @port
    IF @success <> 1
      BEGIN
        EXEC sp_OAGetProperty @sftp, 'LastErrorText', @sTmp0 OUT
        PRINT @sTmp0
        EXEC @hr = sp_OADestroy @sftp
        RETURN
      END

    -- Authenticate with the SSH server.  Chilkat SFTP supports
    -- both password-based authenication as well as public-key
    -- authentication.  This example uses password authenication.
    EXEC sp_OAMethod @sftp, 'AuthenticatePw', @success OUT, 'myLogin', 'myPassword'
    IF @success <> 1
      BEGIN
        EXEC sp_OAGetProperty @sftp, 'LastErrorText', @sTmp0 OUT
        PRINT @sTmp0
        EXEC @hr = sp_OADestroy @sftp
        RETURN
      END

    -- After authenticating, the SFTP subsystem must be initialized:
    EXEC sp_OAMethod @sftp, 'InitializeSftp', @success OUT
    IF @success <> 1
      BEGIN
        EXEC sp_OAGetProperty @sftp, 'LastErrorText', @sTmp0 OUT
        PRINT @sTmp0
        EXEC @hr = sp_OADestroy @sftp
        RETURN
      END

    -- To find the full path of our user account's home directory,
    -- call RealPath like this:
    DECLARE @absPath nvarchar(4000)
    EXEC sp_OAMethod @sftp, 'RealPath', @absPath OUT, '.', ''
    EXEC sp_OAGetProperty @sftp, 'LastMethodSuccess', @iTmp0 OUT
    IF @iTmp0 <> 1
      BEGIN
        EXEC sp_OAGetProperty @sftp, 'LastErrorText', @sTmp0 OUT
        PRINT @sTmp0
        EXEC @hr = sp_OADestroy @sftp
        RETURN
      END
    ELSE
      BEGIN

        PRINT @absPath
      END

    EXEC @hr = sp_OADestroy @sftp


END
GO