In this knowledge base article, you will find the steps which should be completed in order to establish an SFTP (SSH) connection to your hosting account. We will use the FileZilla FTP client for this article.
Note that SFTP is not the same as FTPS. Setting up an FTPS connection requires different steps.
How to set up an SFTP connection in FileZilla:
- Log in to your cPanel > SSH/Shell Access and generate new SSH key pair. Watch the detailed video tutorial below. If you cannot find that in cPanel, submit a ticket.
- After you have generated your SSH key pair, click on the Manage link next to the corresponding key pair that you have just generated and select Authorize.
- Click on the View/Download link and enter the password you just generated in the key conversion section and Convert.
- Download or Copy the content of the text area, paste it in an empty file on your computer and save it.
- Open Filezilla, click the Edit button from the menu then select Settings.
- Select SFTP from the left menu.
- Click the Add keyfile... button and select the file that you have just created with the private key pasted inside.
- You will be prompted to convert the file to a supported but unprotected format (no password), confirm it by clicking the Yes button and type your password.
- Filezilla will ask you to store the key in the PuTTY format. Save it somewhere on your computer.
- Connect to your server using the following login credentials:
FTP Server: sftp://hostname.brontobytes.com (where hostname is the server where your hosting account resides and it might be checked from your cPanel > top left corner, next to Server Hostname.)
FTP Username: yourcpanelusername
FTP Password: yourcpanelpassword
FTP Port: (our SSH port is not 22 and must be requested via ticket for Brontobytes's servers since SFTP is FTP over SSH and it is only given to existing and active clients)
During your first connection you will be prompted to store the server's fingerprint. Click the OK button to continue connecting and tick the "Always trust this host, add this key to cache" check box if you plan to connect to the same server again.
* Keep in mind that the username and the password for the connection to your hosting account via SFTP are the same as your cPanel's username and password and you cannot connect with an FTP account that you have created in your cPanel > FTP Accounts.
