Publication on SFTP Server

Presentation

EcoStruxure Panel Server provides connection to an SFTP server.

If SFTP publication is active:

Alarms can be monitored and displayed in Panel Server webpages.
Alarms are not published in the CSV or JSON file.
Alarms can be enabled for email notification.

When SFTP function is active, the data publication on cloud is not available.

Availability

This function is available on Panel Server Entry, Universal, and Advanced.

Setting the Parameters

Publishing function is set on the EcoStruxure Panel Server webpages, at Settings > Publication > Publication method > SFTP.

SFTP Publication Settings

The following table describes the settings.

Parameter	Settings	Description
Connection information	Server	The host name of the SFTP server can be defined as the IP address value or as, for example, `mysftpserver.mydomain.com`.
	Port	Used to define the SFTP server TCP port. It is usually set to 22.
	Path	Used to enter the path to use on the SFTP server for data publishing. For example, if `/home/user/` is the default directory for the SFTP server, then the path configured with `/mySFTPPath` will publish on `/home/user/mySFTPPath`.
	User ID	Used to type the username for SFTP server access.
	Authentication method	Connection to the SFTP server is done with either user name and password or user name and SSH key in PEM (Privacy Enhanced Mail) format.
	Password	Used to type the password for SFTP server access.
	Test connection	Button used to test connection to the SFTP server.
Publication settings	Publication format	Used to select the exported file format: JSON (for details) CSV (for details)
	Publication period	Used to select the publication frequency to the SFTP server (default setting: 1h).
	Start	Button used to activate data publication to the SFTP server.

Connecting to SFTP Server

To connect the Panel Server to an SFTP server:

Configure data to be sampled by the Panel Server through the Panel Server web pages in Settings > Data management (see detailed topic) and activate sampling in Settings > Data management > Data Sampling.
In the Settings > Publication webpage, select SFTP as Publication method.

By default SFTP data publications (CSV or JSON file format) are stored at the top of the hierarchical file tree of the SFTP server. If you customize the file path for the data storage, make sure that the path is created and validated on the SFTP server. For more information, refer to the user guide of your SFTP server.
To connect to the SFTP server, enter the user name and password or user name and SSH key in PEM (Privacy Enhanced Mail) format in the Connection information section, and click Test connection. The list of SSH key exchanges and ciphers supported by the Panel Server is available in Appendix E.

When using SSH key authentication, key must be provided in PEM format (default setting when relying on OpenSSH version less than 7.8).

NOTE: If it is the first time the Panel Server connects to this SFTP server, a message appears and requests that you confirm the authenticity of the SFTP server.
Once the test is performed, the Panel Server webpage displays information:
- In case of success, a file has been successfully uploaded on the SFTP server.
- In case of dysfunction, check the SFTP server parameters, user credentials, and write access privileges on the SFTP server.
To publish data, set Publication settings and click Start.

Result: Data for one device, related to the selected sampling period, is published to SFTP, in the generic CSV file format.
If you update the SFTP server, the SFTP server fingerprint changes. In this case, click Test connection to allow you to connect to the SFTP server again.

Disconnecting from Publishing Services

To disconnect Panel Server from the SFTP server, click Stop.

File Format of CSV Publication

One .csv file is produced per downstream device and includes measurements configured with the same sampling period.

The name of the CSV files that are exported follows the naming convention ReducedID_DeviceName_DateTime.csv where:

ReducedID
is the internal identifier of the device, what enables that files produced are unique for devices that would share the same name (for example, 10_mb, 21_zd).
DeviceName is the name given to the downstream device.
DateTime is the time stamp corresponding to when the file was published, expressed down to the milliseconds in the format YYYYMMDDhhmmssSSS.
Only the following characters are allowed in the .csv file name : UTF-8 and basic ASCII (32 to 7F, excluding \ / : * ? " < > |). Any non-supported characters will be replaced by ~.

Example: Considering the following file name:
11_mb_F160 3P 3P+N_20221104084830994.csv where:

ReducedID is 11_mb.
DeviceNameis F160 3P 3P+N, name of the device.
NOTE: This name is the default value (product model) if the user has not updated it.
DateTime is 20221104084830994, that means, produced November 4, 2022 at 8:48:30.994.

The .csv file content only supports UTF-8 standard character encoding for device name, event name, measurement name, and file name.

Quotation marks in all data fields of the .csv file help ensure compatibility with special characters.

For details and examples of the .csv file, see Appendix D SFTP Publication File Formats.

File Format of JSON Publication

One .json file is produced, which includes measurements of multiple downstream devices configured with the same sampling period.

The name of the JSON file that is exported follows the naming convention DateTime.json where DateTime is the time stamp corresponding to when the file was published, expressed down to the milliseconds in the format YYYYMMDDhhmmssSSS.

For an example of a .json file, see Appendix D SFTP Publication File Formats.