FTP (Outbound to a Remote)

In addition to Files.com's built-in FTP capabilities for accepting inbound connections via the FTP or FTPS protocols, Files.com also supports connecting outbound to other services via FTP or FTPS.

You can even complete the loop and connect to Files.com via FTP and have Files.com proxy that connection out to another service that also uses FTP, SFTP, WebDAV, or any other outbound connection supported by Files.com.

Files.com's Remote Server Mount feature lets you connect a specific folder on Files.com to the remote server in real time.

That folder then becomes a client, or window, accessing the files stored in your remote server or cloud.

Once you configure a Mount, any operation you perform on or inside that folder acts directly on the remote in real time. Whether you are dropping a file into that folder, deleting a file, creating a subfolder, or performing any other file or folder operation your Files.com user has permissions for, those operations pass through to the remote in real time.

This feature supports use cases such as accessing files on a counterparty (client or vendor)'s cloud without provisioning individual access to individual users, reducing storage costs by using on-premise or bulk storage solutions, and enabling applications to access third-party clouds via the Files.com API, FTP, SFTP, or Files.com Apps.

Alternatively, Files.com's Sync feature lets you push or pull files to or from remote servers. The files exist in both places at the end of the sync process.

A sync can be a "push", where files from your Files.com site are transferred to the remote server, or a "pull" where files are transferred from the remote server to your Files.com site.

Add a Remote Server Using the FTP Protocol

Add a new Remote Server to your site, and select FTP as the remote server type.

You must provide an Internal name for this connection. If you're managing multiple remote servers, make the name clear enough to easily identify this particular connection.

The Hostname and Port are required to create the remote server because they define how Files.com connects to the FTP server, and the Authentication Information provides the credentials to log into the server.

Once your Remote Server is added, you can integrate it with Files.com as either a Remote Server Mount or Sync.

Hostname and Port

The Hostname must be the fully-qualified domain name, with any protocol specified at the front. This must be an address that is publicly resolvable, because the Files.com platform must be able to reach it.

Most of the time, the default port value of 21 is the right choice for FTP. Only use an alternate port if you know the remote server requires it. The other commonly used remote port, 990, typically means that the server requires SSL using the Implicit method. When using port 990, you most likely need to also select Require SSL (Implicit) under the SSL selection.

Authentication Information

Enter the username for the FTP connection, and provide the password. FTP connections do not support the use of SSH/SFTP keys for authentication.

You can enter credentials directly, or select a saved credential from the Remote Server Credential Manager.

IP Addresses Used For Connection

If you have a Custom Domain installed on your site, Files.com has provisioned two dedicated IP addresses for your site and uses them by default for outbound connections to the remote server. Provide these two IP addresses to your counterparties and ask them to whitelist them in any applicable firewall.

If you do not have a Custom Domain installed on your site, you do not have Dedicated IP Addresses provisioned for your site, and Files.com uses its entire pool of IP addresses for connecting outbound to the remote server. If your counterparties maintain an IP Address whitelist, you will need to have them whitelist all of the IPs on this list.

Customers often ask for Dedicated IP addresses as a way to avoid having to ask their counterparty to whitelist a long list of IP addresses.

Files.com offers Dedicated IP Addresses for Remote Server connection purposes through the indirect method of adding a Custom Domain to your site. The custom domain provides the justification for the dedicated IP address.

Files.com automatically provisions a pair of dedicated IP addresses for every site that has a custom domain enabled. FTP, unlike HTTP, requires that every custom domain be hosted on a dedicated IP address in order to have a custom SSL Certificate that matches the domain.

If you have users who restrict outbound access via a firewall, they only need to whitelist your two dedicated IP addresses, rather than the entire published list of IP addresses (see above).

Dedicated IPs, once provisioned, are used for both inbound connections to your site via your custom domain and for outbound connections from Files.com to certain applicable Remote Servers used for Sync and Remote Server Mount.

By default, Files.com uses your dedicated IP addresses for outbound connections to FTP, SFTP, WebDAV, and S3 Compatible remote servers. You can disable the use of your dedicated IP in these circumstances if you need to. (You might do that if your counterparty has already whitelisted the main Files.com IP range, for example.)

SSL

Files.com uses SSL security for outbound FTP connections wherever possible. You can customize how Files.com uses SSL on this specific remote server connection. The available options are Use If Available, Require SSL (Explicit), Require SSL (Implicit), and Never use. Require SSL (Explicit) and Require SSL (Implicit) are the most secure options.

FTPS has two incompatible methods. Explicit FTPS starts on port 21 and upgrades the connection to TLS. Implicit FTPS uses TLS from the start on port 990. Check with the operator of your remote FTP site which method they use before selecting Require SSL (Explicit) or Require SSL (Implicit).

Only choose Never if your remote FTP server does not support SSL. This option is insecure.

By default, Files.com verifies that the remote SSL Certificate matches the hostname and is signed by a trusted Certificate Authority. A valid certificate must also be not expired and not dated in the future. If the remote site uses a self-signed or otherwise invalid certificate, you can configure the Remote Server to allow non-matching certificates, but this option is insecure.

SSL/TLS connections use the cipher agreed upon by both Files.com and the remote server. Files.com presents its supported ciphers to the remote FTP server in order from strongest to weakest, and the remote server selects which cipher to use.

Maximum Number of Connections

You can configure a maximum number of connections that Files.com will make at a time to the remote FTP server. We recommend the default value of 25, which provides a high level of parallelism and improves performance.

Some server administrators will request that you reduce this number to reduce the pressure on their server. Reducing it too low will reduce performance because requests may have to wait for a free connection before they can complete.

Files.com uses best efforts to honor the maximum number specified here, though it may still burst above this number on certain occasions, such as when moving the connection to another one of our gateway servers internally. As a cloud-based service, we often reconfigure our network in real time to provide optimized performance. If the count ever goes above this number, it returns to the specified number promptly.

Use Moves To Emulate Atomic Uploads to FTP

FTP Remote Servers support the Use Moves To Emulate Atomic Uploads to SFTP option to specify a staging folder path on the remote system.

When this option is used, Files.com uploads files to the specified staging folder first. After the upload completes successfully, Files.com moves the file from the staging folder to the final destination upload folder.

Using a staging folder prevents partially uploaded files from appearing in the destination folder, where they could be detected or processed before the upload is complete. Only fully uploaded files are made available to downstream systems or workflows.

Add Remote Server Mount

Remote Server Mounts are created by mounting them onto an empty folder in Files.com. This folder is generally not the Root of your site, although that is supported if you need it.

Add Sync

After creating the Remote Server, you can use it to perform Syncs between your server and Files.com.

Automations

Folders configured with Remote Server Mount to the FTP server can also be used with automations, letting you include the FTP server's folders as source locations or destinations for your automations.