SharePoint doesn't have support for SFTP built in, and allowing external SFTP users to connect to SharePoint can’t be done without a third-party solution. Since Couchdrop was designed to bridge this connectivity gap, integrating with SharePoint is simple and only takes minutes to set up.
In this article, we'll show you how to connect Couchdrop to a SharePoint site, how to access your SharePoint files in the Couchdrop interface, and how to let external users connect to SharePoint through an SFTP client.
How to Connect SFTP users to SharePoint in Couchdrop
Connecting external users to SharePoint via SFTP is easy with Couchdrop and involves three simple steps:
- Connect SharePoint to Couchdrop
- Create SFTP users and provide permissions to access SharePoint
- Send users their credentials so they can connect via SFTP
Connecting to SharePoint
After registering for a Couchdrop account, the next step is to connect to SharePoint. When you log in for the first time, you’ll be prompted to connect storage right away. Choose SharePoint from the list of options.
Couchdrop supports connecting to both standard SharePoint sites and sites in GCC tenants. To connect to a GCC site, change the endpoint type and the fields will change appropriately.
After filling out the fields, Couchdrop will test the connection to make sure it’s working as expected and will tell you if there is an error or if the connection is successful. Finally, you can choose which folder in Couchdrop will be the mount point for SharePoint.
SharePoint is now connected, and you can access files through the Couchdrop interface as well as via SFTP. You can also use Couchdrop to connect a remote sftp server to SharePoint if you need to transfer files between the server and a SharePoint site.
Accessing your SharePoint files in the Couchdrop web interface
Once you’ve successfully connected to SharePoint, you can access your SharePoint files in Couchdrop’s web interface. Simply click on the File Browser and find the name of the folder where you mounted SharePoint. You can also check the “Details” tab to see which type of storage a folder is connected to.
When you click on your SharePoint folders, you’ll see the files from the associated folders in SharePoint as long as the connection was successful and is functioning correctly. Here are the files in a SharePoint site called Couchdrop SFTP and the Documents folder within that site, shown virtually in the Couchdrop interface.
When the connection to SharePoint is successful, you can work in either platform and it will reflect in the other. For example, if you were to delete the file in SharePoint, it would disappear from Couchdrop and vice versa. This happens because you are accessing the SharePoint data directly, and Couchdrop is merely acting as a visual for the data inside the SharePoint site.
Creating external SFTP users
In order for external users to connect via SFTP, you need to create these users first. A powerful benefit of Couchdrop is that it functions as a cloud SFTP server. This server is created automatically at registration using the details you provided at signup, with no configs, VMs, or infrastructure management required.
As a Cloud SFTP server, it's simple to create FTP and SFTP users directly in the platform with granular access controls. You can then connect these users to any folder in your Couchdrop account, including ones like above that are visual representations of your SharePoint site.
What this means is that the external user can access the SharePoint site using an SFTP connection because Couchdrop is both an SFTP server and an integration platform for cloud storage. The users you create can be isolated to the virtual SharePoint folder or even a subfolder within the SharePoint site. This lets them access specific data without access to other parts of the SharePoint site and without having to be a user in your organization's SharePoint account.
Users can be created manually or autogenerated using Couchdrop. With either method, you'll need to send users their credentials. This can be done directly in Couchdrop by generating a credential email.
Depending on whether the user will be connecting via SFTP or FTP, they can connect using any FTP or SFTP client. The user will then be able to access the SharePoint directories and transfer files via the associated transfer protocol.
Connecting to SharePoint with an SFTP client
In Couchdrop, you can see connection details from any page to see how to connect as any user. These users can then use the credentials to connect through the client of their choice such as FileZilla or Cyberduck. Since they're connecting to your Couchdrop account, and that Couchdrop account has access to the SharePoint files you’ve connected, they can access those files you've granted access to during user creation.
The easiest way to give a user access to specific files in SharePoint is to create a user in Couchdrop and then isolate that user to a folder in SharePoint. Couchdrop’s granular access controls allow you to give that user permissions for read and/or write access depending on their usage.
Couchdrop allows you to create as many users as you need and connect to multiple SharePoint organizations and sites with a single Couchdrop account.
Try Couchdrop to simplify SFTP to SharePoint
Couchdrop works with multiple cloud storage providers and not only allows external users to connect to Couchdrop via SFTP, but it's also possible to securely transfer files from any supported cloud storage platform to SharePoint. These processes can also be automated using the visual workflow builder that facilitates cross-platform file automations with SharePoint.
To get started with connecting SFTP users to SharePoint using Couchdrop, register for a free 14-day trial today or log in to your account now.