SFTP client software or Secure FTP that uses SSH (Secure Shell) and PGP encryption for secure file transfer over the SSH2 protocol as defined by the Internet Engineering Task Force (IETF) SSH (SECSH) working group. Customers with an AS400, iSeries or IBM i can use the Secure FTP (SFTP) to automate secure file transfers to their bank or other trading partners in just a few minutes.
Banks like Bank of America, BankOne, CitiGroup, JP Morgan Chase, State Street, US Bank, Vanguard and Wells Fargo have additional file transfer requirements such as PGP encryption, ASCII armored, RSA public key exchange, sign and verify, key import and export, and other common secure file transfer processes which the IBM i SFTP software also supports. Banks also commonly require trading partners use an SFTP client software that supports their environment, such as their exchange, EDI or Value Added Network (VAN) services, including GE eXchange Services (GXS), Sterling, Inovis, Pantellos and Advantis. The IBM i SFTP client software supports these services and allows for Public Key and/or User ID and Password for authentication. A few banks will also have unique and complicated requirements for non-standard FTP ports, directory changes, file naming conventions and scripts that use special User and Password specifications. The IBM i Secure FTP (SFTP) software is very flexible and feature rich tool that supports these unique requirements, and many other complicated scenarios.
Perhaps the most cost effective SFTP Client Software for IBM i, iSeries and AS400 systems on the market, includes free installation, configuration support and trials. Send us your IBM i system information, and we will send you a download link and walk you through the setup.
Run the following command: CALL PGM(QLZARCAPI)
Press F1 on the message at the bottom of the screen, press F10 to display the full message and send us the copy/paste.
Common secure file transfer requirements for banks include Remittance Transfers, ACH Payments, Bank Statement Transfers and Image Processing. The IBM i Secure FTP software also supports FTPS (FTP over SSL 'implicit'), and provides the same file transfer, automation and data conversion features as the SFTP protocol provides, however most banks will require SFTP (SSH).
The IBM i Secure FTP software enables your AS400, iSeries or IBM i to act as a Client and Server for SFTP, FTPS and FTP processes, can communicate with any external system or cloud service, automates the entire file transfer process (monitors files meeting X criteria or % wild cards in a specific IFS folder, directory or Library), can be integrated into your existing processes (your programs can call our commands or APIs to start secure file transfers), utilizes the IBM i job scheduler, and can perform data translation and conversions from one format to another. It can also start an application or run a program on the remote system before or after file transfer completes to process your files. Secure file transfers from the IBM i can be done as a single bulk transfer instead of multiple transfers.
Unless you are communicating with another IBM i or z Series (MVS) IBM mainframe, you are likely going to need to convert some files to another format for your bank or trading partner’s remote server. Below are some of the file formats supported and data conversion features included with the product.
ASCII/EBCDIC and EBCDIC/ASCII translation
XML/DB2 and DB2/XML translation
EDI ANSI X12 translation
ISO 8583/DB2 and DB2/ ISO 8583 translation
IBM OS400 translation
Custom data conversion and translation
IBM OS400 translation tables with template in product
EDI ANSI X12 translation
ISO 8583/DB2 and DB2/ ISO 8583 translation
IBM OS400 translation
Custom data conversion and translation
IBM OS400 translation tables with template in product
File conversion and data translation formats supported (source to target, target to source): DB2, csv, txt, html, pdf, spoolfile, ZIP, WinZip, GZIP, ASC (Fixed length ASCII) files, tab delimited, Relational Database file, IBM Queries, email (Final Form Text), internally Described Files (CVFormat), AS2 and almost any other data type supported by the IBM i, except Variable Length Character Data (VLCD) and Double Byte Character Set (DBCS).
Other features and uses for your organization
The IBM i Secure FTP (SFTP) software is a suite of interactive, batch and API programs designed to automate file conversion and distribution tasks. The batch programs monitors specified libraries and directories for files meeting characteristics you want to trigger an action or process. The product has many APIs that allow you to trigger a scan or batch process from your CL, RPG or Cobol programs to enable complete flexibility to control the entire process from your own applications, or use IBM’s built in job scheduler. Although some companies simply use our interactive panel to define an automated put or get script, the APIs can be used by any batch or interactive job. You also automatically distribute reports or spool files to a shared folder in the QDLS or IFS directory in ASCII or HTML format with graphics and links.
The IBM i Secure FTP (SFTP) software is a suite of interactive, batch and API programs designed to automate file conversion and distribution tasks. The batch programs monitors specified libraries and directories for files meeting characteristics you want to trigger an action or process. The product has many APIs that allow you to trigger a scan or batch process from your CL, RPG or Cobol programs to enable complete flexibility to control the entire process from your own applications, or use IBM’s built in job scheduler. Although some companies simply use our interactive panel to define an automated put or get script, the APIs can be used by any batch or interactive job. You also automatically distribute reports or spool files to a shared folder in the QDLS or IFS directory in ASCII or HTML format with graphics and links.
Pretty Good Privacy (PGP) encryption is recognized as one of the strongest encryption solutions available for B2B transactions, and uses public and private key encryption technology. The IBM i SFTP software uses the commercial version of PGP from PGP Corporation and can encrypt files using the Pretty Good Privacy (PGP) encryption program that is included within the product. Any file encrypted with PGP can be transmitted to banks or other trading partners securely, as the bank or recipient will only be able to decrypt the data if they have the corresponding secret key. Similarly, the software will decrypt any PGP encrypted files sent to you using your secret key. The IBM i SFTP software includes all of the key management functions needed to create, verify, sign, distribute, and import keys from your bank and other trading partners, and will automatically encrypt and decrypt data in unattended mode.
Ability to scan a remote server’s directory or library may be of importance for various situations, which can be done using the IBM i Secure FTP software. It allows you to monitor or scan a remote server at scheduled intervals and get all files, any new or changed files, new and changed files, or files that meet specific criteria. These files can then be sent or copied to an IFS director or DB2 database file.
Notifications and alerts are often important when a file transfer completes successfully or fails. The IBM i Secure FTP software can alert you via email, SNMP and via message queue (such as QSYSOPR or MQSeries queue) when either occur, and provided a detailed ftp debug log.
The IBM i Secure FTP (SFTP) can generate EDI documents and translate EDI documents into a DB2 file format for GE eXchange Services (GXS) and Advantis. It can also translate XML documents into a DB2 file format and vice versa. The software is also able to translate ISO 8583 file format messages containing financial information to and from DB2 database files.
Large file transfers are able to be automatically compressed using GZIP or WINZIP before transferring any files.
Detailed SFTP, FTPS and FTP history and audit logs can be stored on system, which can also be used to rerun or replay past failed jobs with very little effort for an administrator.
Some firewalls and proxy servers are more difficult than others to get in and out of, and when more than one is involved, it can get very tricky. The IBM i Secure FTP (SFTP) software uses Clear Channel Command (CCC) for firewall negotiation, and intelligent negotiation and management features so customers and trading partners do not have to spend hours, days and weeks trying to figure out how to configure rules. The software does the hard work, so you can focus on the important stuff.