SFTP Access to bwDataArchive

At this time, bwDataArchive only offers access via the SFTP-protocol. SFTP clients are available for all common operating systems:

  • Linux: sftp command, lftp, filezilla,...
  • Windows: winscp, filezilla,...
  • MacOs: filezilla,...

Use the client you feel most comfortable with. Please read the instruction manual carefully. For lftp we offer a short introduction.

Login at the SFTP servers

Our SFTP servers can be reached using the shared address archive-sftp.lsdf.kit.edu. You will be automatically redirected to one of our servers.

To log in, use the following command:

sftp <username>@archive-sftp.lsdf.kit.edu

replacing <username> with the alphanumeric username you chose during the registration. Enter your previously set password when prompted. Example:

[user@yourhost ~]# sftp k23 ∂does-not-exist.archive-sftp lsdf kit edu
Connecting to archive-sftp.lsdf.kit.edu...
k23 ∂does-not-exist.archive-sftp lsdf kit edu's password:
sftp> ls -l
drwx------    4 654321      scc         512 Nov 23 16:51 private
sftp> cd private
sftp> pwd
Remote working directory: /private
sftp>

Setting up public key authentication

As an alternative to logging in with a user name and password, you can set up login with an ssh key pair.

  1. Create an ssh key pair on your local computer in the folder $HOME/.ssh (ssh-keygen):
    ssh-keygen -f bwda -t ed25519
    To increase security, we recommend adding a password to the key. You can freely choose the name for the key files. To do this, replace bwda in the above instruction with the desired name.
  2. Create a file with the name authorized_keys in another folder (!) and copy the content of the previously created file bwda.pub into this file.
  3. Log in to the SFTP server with your username and password (see above)
  4. Navigate to the .ssh folder in your home directory on the server.
  5. Copy the file authorized_keys from your local machine to this remote folder:
    sftp> put authorized_keys
  6. Modify the access permissions for the file authorized_keys on the server to -rw-------:
    sftp> chmod 600 authorized_keys
    sftp> ls -l
    -rw-------    1 654321   scc      93 Sep 16 13:42 authorized_keys

You can now log in to the SFTP servers using the deposited key pair:

sftp -i .ssh/bwda <username>@archive-sftp.lsdf.kit.edu

Server fingerprints

During your first connection you might want to be sure to connect to the right server(s) and there is no man-in-the-middle attack. Therefore, here are the fingerprints of our sftp servers in different formats - use the one your client supports:

  • RSA:
    SHA256:lO43+mdCiX3G8dYglCJEzE84ZHNK+oK2yVNJaIKyQXM
    MD5:6c:82:04:67:f9:16:01:40:99:33:c1:3f:9c:49:d6:13
  • ECDSA:

    SHA256:MkeUgBukLYHGrSSsGAqbXWPtdZir2SPJjYrLPXM/44E
    MD5:97:20:b0:a6:15:53:20:0d:75:63:db:7f:7b:98:e3:28
  • ed25519:
    SHA256:mNgCiXzv8gj9OGQt4RIWcZ1ZHeySGYxYl1u05Gpdd3w
    MD5:83:53:8f:17:19:89:e4:a9:5f:36:2d:54:44:b1:dc:dd