FTPS connector

With the FTPS connector, you can use commands in a chain to interact with a file transfer protocol (FTP) or FTP Secure (FTPS) server. For example, with this connector, you can:

• Upload and download files on a server
• Create and delete directories
• Move or copy files
• List files and folders

Note: To interact with a Secure Shell FTP (SFTP) server within a chain, use the SFTP connector.

Prerequisites

To use the FTPS connector, your organization needs access to its own FTP/S server. Workiva does not host or provide FTP/S servers.

To secure the connection to your server, the connector uses basic username and password authentication. To set up the connection, you'll need:

• The server's Host name
• The port the server runs on
• The authentication credentials to use to connect to the server
• The protocol the server uses to transmit data—FTP or FTPS
• For an FTPS server, whether it requires encrypted data transfers
• To connect to an on-premise server, the GroundRunner to perform the commands

Note: The connector supports explicit FTP/S, not implicit FTP/S.

Set up the FTPS connector

Note: To make the connector available for use in your organization's chains, an org security administrator first enables it from Configuration.

1. From Chain Builder, click Connections  compare_arrows, and then Create at the top right.
2. Under BizApp Connection, select FTPS Connector and the runner to use with the connector.
   
3. Under Basic Info, enter a unique name and description to help identify the connection.
4. Under Properties, enter the connection's details:
   
   

   Property	Details
   Hostname	Enter the server's host name, such as ftp.domain.com.
   Port	Enter the port the server runs on; by default, 21. Note: The connector supports explicit FTP/S over port 21, not implicit FTP/S over port 990.
   Username	Enter the username used to log into the server.
   Password	Enter the password for the Username property.
   Protocol	Select whether the server uses FTP or FTPS protocol to transfer data.
   PROT value	If the Protocol property is FTPS, select how server transfers data. If it requires encrypted transfers, select P (Encrypted). If it supports unencrypted transfers, select C (Not encrypted).
   Session reuse	Match this setting to your server configuration. Defaults to True. Please note that the connector will always attempt to reuse the SSL/TLS session when executing a command; this setting merely controls what happens after that point: When set to "True": If the session can't be reused, the command will fail. When set to "False": If the session can't be reused, the command will switch to a new session. If the new session still can't be used, then the command will fail.

   Note: All sensitive credentials are automatically encrypted and stored at Advanced Encryption Standard (AES)-256 encryption.

5. Select the environments to use the connection, and click Save.
6. To test the connection, create and run a chain with the connector's List Files/Folders command, and verify it returns a valid output.

Troubleshooting

 If the connection to the server fails:

• Verify the connector's authentication credentials are correct. For example, use the same credentials to connect to the server through an SFTP client application such as FileZilla or WinSCP.
• Check the hostname, port, and protocol for the server.
• Verify your session reuse setting. This defaults to "true" and should usually not be changed.