Create an SFTP account

You need to have an SFTP account to use SFTP to manage your files on your Bravenet account. You can still use the File Manager without an SFTP account.

It is recommended that you use SFTP to manage any larger websites that you may choose to host with Bravenet. It provides greater ease-of-use and reliability when dealing with the hundreds, or perhaps even thousands of files involved in more complicated websites.

Note that you need to complete these steps to create a new SFTP account whether you plan on using our SFTP applet or a 3rd party SFTP program.

Creating a SFTP account

1. Log in to your Bravenet account.
2. Select the SFTP tab.
3. Select the New SFTP Account option.
4. You will be prompted to select a home directory. This will be the directory that your SFTP client will show when you log in with the account you are creating. For most users, the default is fine - it will give the SFTP user you are creating full access to all your websites. For information on changing the home directory, see below.
5. Type in a username and password. Note that your username will automatically be followed by a number - this is part of your username. For example, testuser-1234567890. Ensure you choose a secure password! When done, click the create SFTP account button.
6. You can now login to your SFTP account using either our SFTP applet or a 3rd party SFTP program.

Using a Non-Standard Home Directory

There are cases where you may not want to give an SFTP account full access to all of the files on your account. For example, maybe you manage multiple websites for multiple people/businesses - you may want each person to have their own SFTP account, and restrict that account to only one website, or one part of one website.

In that case, in step 4 above, navigate through the directories in the dialog box to the directory you wish to have as the home directory. Only subdirectories of that home directory will be accessible through that SFTP account.

The typical account has the following directory structure:

• web
  • website1.example.com
    • some subdirectory
    • another subdirectory
  • website2.example.com
  • example.com

In this example, if you set web/website1.example.com/ as your home directory for an SFTP account, that account will only be able to access files in website1.example.com and its subdirectories. It would be unable to access files on example.com or website2.example.com.