Setting up the SFTP Proxy Server for Third-Party Clients

Connectivity Secure Shell

Setting up the SFTP Proxy Server for Third-Party Clients

For third-party FTP clients to connect to the SFTP proxy server, the server must be started and configured to listen on a convenient and accessible listening interface. A listening interface is comprised of two parts: the IP address of the machine on which the SFTP server runs, and an unused port.

The SFTP proxy server resides in Hummingbird’s Connectivity Secure Shell server (humshsrv.exe). You can use the following command line arguments for HUMSHSRV to start the SFTP proxy server and to configure it to listen for FTP client connection requests.

Command

Definition

-startsftp

Instructs HUMSHSRV to load into memory and to start the SFTP proxy server. An icon appears in the system tray if the server is started successfully.

By default, the proxy is configured to listen on localhost:0, in which case, the interface used will be determined as follows:

  • If the server is already listening on a local port, that interface is used.
  • If there are no active local interfaces, and you do not specify another interface, the server uses the next unused port on the local machine.

You can use the -i and -p command line arguments to specify a different IP address and/or port. Separate all commands following the -startsftp command with spaces.

Note:  If you require more than one interface, you can call HUMSHSRV with -startsftp repeatedly, once for each unique IP address/port combination. Only one instance of an interface can be active at one time.

-i <address>

Instructs the SFTP proxy server to listen for FTP connections on the specified address instead of the default address, localhost (127.0.0.1).

-p <port>

Instructs the SFTP proxy server to listen for FTP connections on the specified port instead of the default port, 0. A port value of 0 instructs the server to start an arbitrary unused port, unless the server is already listening on an active interface with the same address as the one being requested. In which case, that interface is used.

-showinterface

Instructs HUMSHSRV to show a message box that lists the active listening interfaces on which the SFTP server is listening. The interfaces are listed as ipaddress:port. You can configure FTP clients to connect to any listed interface.