What is SFTP/SCP? (Okay to use to transfer confidential data)

SFTP (Secure File Transfer Protocol) is a file transfer protocol similar to FPT but with additional security (both commands and data are encrypted). The SFTP client talks to the SSH daemon on the server. When you use SFTP, you can transfer files and also perform some simple file and directory commands such as listing files and changing directories.

SCP (Secure Copy Protocol) is a secure file transfer protocol. The SCP client talks to the SSH daemon on the server. It is used only for transferring files. To use SCP, you must know the exact directory tree of the destination location.

Client Setup

No additional setup is required.

Transfer Files using SFTP

1. At the command prompt, enter:
   sftp userid@server_name.

2. For example, sftp wrhse@warehouse.cit.cornell.edu.
   You may be prompted to enter your password.

3. After connecting to the server, you can use standard commands including cd, dir, get, and put.

4. To transfer files to the server, enter:
   put june06extract

Transfer Files using SCP

1. At the command prompt, enter:
   scp source_file_name
   userid@server_name:/path/destination_file_name.

   For example, scp june06extract
   wrhse@warehouse.cit.cornell.edu:/mydata/june06extract.

Unattended File Transfers

If you want run an unattended server to server file transfer, see Unattended Server to Server File Transfers: Unix to Unix.