What is SFTP?

Secure File Transfer Protocol (SFTP) is a network protocol designed for safely retrieving, transferring, and managing sensitive data and sizeable data files. SFTP ensures secure data transfer by requiring client authentication when accessing the server.

With this method, you can save time and effort by securely and automatically updating your data in Aeqium with your company's latest HRIS data. SFTP can be utilized to create new users, deactivate former employees, and update fields for existing users.

How Does SFTP Work?

Using SFTP is similar to uploading your employee information via a spreadsheet import, but it occurs on an automated schedule. Many HRIS providers can generate a file of your employee data and send it to our SFTP server.

If you don't know if your HRIS has this capability, contact your HRIS representative directly. They can help you set this up. Otherwise, if you have an engineering or IT team, they may be able to write a script to upload spreadsheet files to Aeqium’s SFTP server.

Instructions for Setting up SFTP

Aeqium supports SFTP using key-based authentication. For HRIS providers that support SFTP natively, this is typically an option that you can select, and your HRIS will provide you with the key file. If your IT team is setting up a custom SFTP transfer, they will need to create an SSH key, for example, using a command line utility like ssh-keygen -t rsa -b 4096 -f <YOUR_KEY_NAME>

For context, an SSH key is a pair of unique keys:

• There's a private key, which should only be used by you (or very carefully within your own organization), and there's a public key, which can safely be shared outside your organization.
• The integration uses the combination of the two keys to verify the security of the connection.

Once you have a key file, please follow these steps to get your SFTP with Aeqium set up.

1. Go to the Integrations tab of Aeqium Settings, click “Connect” under the Employees card and select the SFTP option in the dropdown:

   

2. Paste in the public key you'll be using.

3. Aeqium will add the key to our system and you’ll see the username we set up for your account, as well as the host name:

   

4. From there, you can create a report in your HRIS to be used with Aeqium SFTP.

   1. The report should be in the same format as our manual employee spreadsheet upload. You can find instructions on getting data in that format here: Importing Employee Data Manually
   2. At this point, to ensure your report is properly formatted, we strongly recommend following the process described in the “Testing Your SFTP Connection” section below.

5. Transfer an XLSX file in the same format as our manual employee spreadsheet upload to your home directory on our server at sftp.aeqium.com

6. Every hour our system checks for new files and imports them into your account.

Testing Your SFTP Connection

Aeqium will send an email to all your admins when the SFTP import fails. However, to ensure you have a valid data set to use with SFTP, we suggest testing it by first running a manual import of your data. Doing so will confirm that your data is formatted correctly and allow you to focus specifically on the SFTP connection.

You can find instructions on running a manual import here: Importing Employee Data Manually

Once you’ve attempted a manual import, please review any errors and request adjustments to the report, if any are required. If there are no errors, you can proceed with transferring your data via SFTP.