SFTP access troubleshooting

Are you seeing a "Permission denied, please try again" error when trying to connect by SFTP to fortrabbit? Please proceed like so:

Check your access method first

Make sure that you know which access method you are currently using. We have "username + password" or "SSH public key authentication". If you are unsure, please please see the section about figuring out which access method is currently active for your fortrabbit Account.

Tips to proceed when username + password is enabled

If you are using the username + password access mode:

• the username will look like this {{app-name}}.{{randomletters}}
• use your fortrabbit Account password as your SFTP password

Make sure to copy-paste the correct credentials for hostname and user from the Dashboard. Find the Access to your App.

Tips to proceed when SSH public key is enabled

If you are using the SSH public key authentication and still face a password prompt it can mean a few things:

General SSH connection issues

Often SFTP problems are general connection issues. That's why we advice to test if SSH connections are working for you. This is easier to debug.

• See here how to connect by SSH
• See here if you have trouble connecting by SSH
• See here if the trouble is connected to your SSH keys

After you have solved connecting by SSH, it's likely that SFTP will also work. Continue reading here if SSH is working for you, but you can not get it work for SFTP.

Settings with your SFTP client

Also double check the following settings with your SFTP client:

• Use SFTP as the protocol, nor FTP or something else
• Use standard port 22
• Make sure to have copied the correct credentials from our Dashboard
• When using SSH public key authentication you might need to point your SFTP client to the location of the key, a password is not required in that case

Other general connection issues

If it hangs for a long time while trying to connect, then it is possible that you have problems dialing in. Please see our SSH troubleshooting guide for common cases.

Problems logging in to a Pro App by SFTP

There is no SFTP for Pro Apps. There is only remote SSH execution.

Testing SFTP from the terminal

With this test you can use use SFTP from the terminal. This is sometimes easier to debug, than working with GUI clients:

App:        {{app-name}}
Region:     {{region}}
Host:       deploy.{{region}}.frbit.com
Login:      {{ssh-user}}
Password:   Leave blank when using SSH key auth OR use Account password for username + password auth

Use your own App name and the correct region. Best grab the credentials from our Dashboard.

If you are using a specific framework such as Craft CMS or Laravel, then before running the commands, go to the root path of the App first. That folder is usually called public or web (depending on CMS or framework).

To verify that SFTP access works, open a terminal and type the following:

$ unset SSH_AUTH_SOCK
$ echo hello world > f
$ sftp -F /dev/null {{ ssh-user }}@deploy.eu2.frbit.com
# Might ask for password for username + password auth

When you get to sftp> prompt:

1. type "put f"
2. hit the enter key
3. type "exit"
4. then hit the enter key again

Connected to deploy.eu2.frbit.com.
sftp> put f
Uploading f to /srv/app/tripple-w-app/htdocs/f
f                                         100%   11     0.3KB/s   00:00
sftp> exit

Now access the file with an HTTP client like so:

$ curl -D- https://tripple-w-app.frb.io/f
# HTTP/1.1 200 OK
# Date: Thu, 18 Mar 2022 09:50:21 GMT
# Server: Apache 2.x
# Last-Modified: Thu, 18 Mar 2022 09:43:32 GMT
# ETag: "b-5bdcc6ebed7b6"
# Accept-Ranges: bytes
# Content-Length: 12

hello world

You can also use your web browser to visit https://tripple-w-app.frb.io/f.

Related topics

• Access testing with SSH
• Code access methods on fortrabbit
• Deployment methods on fortrabbit
• SFTP access
• SSH access troubleshooting
• SSH key setup
• SSH key troubleshooting