SFTP Connector | OpenMetadata Drive Guide

In this section, we provide guides and references to use the SFTP connector. Configure and schedule SFTP metadata workflows from the OpenMetadata UI:

• Requirements
• Metadata Ingestion
• Troubleshooting

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Requirements

Before configuring the SFTP connector, make sure the following requirements are in place.

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Metadata

To extract metadata from an SFTP server, the user needs to have:

• A valid SFTP account with either username/password or SSH private key credentials
• Read access to the directories and files to be catalogued
• Network connectivity from the OpenMetadata ingestion host to the SFTP server

The user should be able to:

• Authenticate to the SFTP server via the specified credentials
• List directories under the configured root directories
• Read file metadata (name, size, timestamps)

You can find more details about SFTP configuration in the OpenSSH documentation.

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Profiler & Data Quality

SFTP is a file storage connector. Profiler and data quality workflows are not supported for this connector.

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Metadata Ingestion

To ingest metadata from SFTP, you need to create a service connection. The service connects SFTP with OpenMetadata. Once you create a service, OpenMetadata automatically starts ingesting metadata.

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Step 1: Add New Service

1. Navigate to Settings > Services.
2. Click Add New Service.

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Step 2: Select a Service and Connector

From the service type dropdown, select Drive Services, then click the SFTP connector tile.

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Step 3: Add Service Name and Description

• Enter a unique, descriptive Service Name. OpenMetadata identifies services by their service name. Enter a name that distinguishes this deployment from other SFTP services you are ingesting metadata from.
• Optional: Enter a Description for the service.

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Step 4: Configure Connection Options

Specify your source credentials and verify the connection.

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Enter Connection Details

Enter the connection details for SFTP. The right-hand panel in the UI displays inline help for each field. Connection

• Host: SFTP server hostname or IP address.
• Port: SFTP server port number. Defaults to 22.

Authentication

• Authentication Type: Choose between:
  • Username/Password: Authenticate using a username and password.
  • Private Key: Authenticate using an SSH private key in PEM format. Supports RSA, Ed25519, ECDSA, and DSS keys. An optional passphrase can be provided if the key is encrypted.

Scope & Options

• Root Directories (Optional): List of root directories to scan for files and subdirectories. Defaults to / (the user’s home directory).
• Directory Filter Pattern (Optional): Regex to only include/exclude directories that match the pattern.
• File Filter Pattern (Optional): Regex to only include/exclude files that match the pattern.
• Structured Data Files Only (Optional): When enabled, only catalog structured data files (CSV, TSV) that can have schema extracted. Non-structured files like images, PDFs, and videos will be skipped. Defaults to false.
• Extract Sample Data (Optional): When enabled, extract sample data from structured files (CSV, TSV). Disabled by default to avoid performance overhead.

Advanced Config (driver-level options; most connections don’t need these)

• Connection Options (Optional): Enter the details for any additional connection options that can be sent to the source during the connection. These details must be added as Key-Value pairs.
• Connection Arguments (Optional): Enter the details for any additional connection arguments such as security or protocol configs that can be sent during the connection. These details must be added as Key-Value pairs.

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Test Connection

Once the credentials have been added, click on Test Connection and Save the changes.

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Step 5: Configure Ingestion Options

In the What to Ingest step, use filter patterns to control which assets OpenMetadata ingests from your drive service. Filter patterns use regular expressions applied to asset names.

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How Filter Patterns Work

• Include: Add one or more comma-separated regular expressions. OpenMetadata ingests only assets whose names match at least one expression. Leave blank to include all assets.
• Exclude: Add one or more comma-separated regular expressions. OpenMetadata skips any asset whose name matches an expression. Leave blank to exclude nothing.

Rules match asset names using one of five expressions:

• contains: matches any name containing the value. For example, sales matches my_sales_data and sales_2024.
• starts with: matches names beginning with the value. For example, prod_ matches prod_db and prod_schema.
• ends with: matches names ending with the value. For example, _raw matches events_raw and logs_raw.
• is exactly: matches the exact name only. For example, analytics matches only analytics.
• matches regex: matches names using a regular expression. For example, ^prod_.*_v\d+$ matches prod_events_v1.

When both Include and Exclude are set, Exclude takes priority. Filter Options The Directory, File, Spreadsheet, and Worksheet sections each include the following filter options:

• Directory: Controls which directories (folders) OpenMetadata ingests from the source.
• File: Controls which individual files within the ingested directories are included.
• Spreadsheet: Controls which spreadsheet files are included in metadata ingestion.
• Worksheet: Controls which individual worksheets (tabs within a spreadsheet) are included.

Each section provides the following controls:

• Scan Mode: You can choose between the following scan modes:
  • Scan all: Ingests every asset of that type the connector can access. This is the default.
  • Only specific: Enables include rules so only assets matching at least one rule are ingested.
• Exclude system toggle: Use this toggle to automatically filter out system-reserved names defined by the connector, for example, Exclude system databases for the Databases section.
• Always exclude: Add permanent exclusion rules (shown in red). Assets matching these rules are never ingested, regardless of include rules.
• Preview: Shows a real-time summary of what will be in scope based on your current rules.
• Include rules (available only in Only specific mode): Click + Add to define a rule. Added rules appear as chips; an asset is included if it matches any rule.

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Step 6: Create & Deploy

Click Create & Deploy to deploy the agent and start the first metadata ingestion run. OpenMetadata saves the service configuration and immediately begins pulling metadata from the source. To monitor ingestion progress or view the service you just added, go to Settings > Services and select your service.

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Configure Metadata Agent and Schedule Ingestion

The Metadata Agent extracts directories, files, spreadsheets, and other structural metadata from your source and keeps your OpenMetadata catalog in sync. It powers discovery, lineage, and governance across your data assets. When you click Create & Deploy, OpenMetadata automatically deploys a Metadata Agent for this service and triggers the first ingestion run. View its status and run history from the Agents tab on the service detail page. To configure the additional Metadata Agent and schedule ingestion, follow these steps:

1. Navigate to Settings > Services and select the service type.
2. Click the service you have added.
3. Select the Agents tab and click Add Agent > Metadata. For some services, the dropdown is not available and clicking Add Agent takes you directly to the agent configuration page.
4. On the Configure Ingestion page, do the following and click Next.
   • Name this Ingestion: Enter a unique recognizable name for this ingestion pipeline.
   • Agent Setup: Configure the core parameters for this agent. The following fields are available:

     Field	Default	Description
     Number of Threads	1	Number of threads to use for parallel drive ingestion.
     Mark Deleted Directories	On	Soft-delete directories in OpenMetadata when they are removed from the source. Associated entities like files, spreadsheets, worksheets, and lineage are also deleted.
     Mark Deleted Files	On	Soft-delete files in OpenMetadata when they are removed from the source. Associated entities like lineage are also deleted.
     Mark Deleted Spreadsheets	On	Soft-delete spreadsheets in OpenMetadata when they are removed from the source. Associated entities like worksheets and lineage are also deleted.
     Mark Deleted Worksheets	On	Soft-delete worksheets in OpenMetadata when they are removed from the source. Associated entities like lineage are also deleted.
     Include Directories	On	Fetch directory metadata. Turn off to skip directories entirely.
     Include Files	On	Fetch file metadata. Turn off to skip files entirely.
     Include Spreadsheets	On	Fetch spreadsheet metadata. Turn off to skip spreadsheets entirely.
     Include Worksheets	On	Fetch worksheet metadata. Turn off to skip worksheets entirely.

     
   • Filter Patterns: Apply include or exclude rules to scope which directories, files, spreadsheets, and worksheets this agent ingests. Use FQN for filtering to apply regex on fully qualified names (for example, service_name.directory_name.file_name) instead of raw names. These follow the same filter options described in Step 5: Configure Ingestion Options.
   • Scope & Behaviour: Control what metadata to include and how to handle deletions. Toggle each option on or off based on your needs:

     Toggle	Default	Description
     Enable Debug Log	Off	Sets the ingestion log level to DEBUG. Useful for troubleshooting.
     Include Tags	On	Ingest tags from the source.
     Include Owners	Off	Assign owners from the source when the owner email matches an OpenMetadata user. Does not overwrite an existing owner.
     Override Metadata	Off	When on, source values overwrite existing descriptions, tags, owners, and display names in OpenMetadata. When off, OpenMetadata only updates fields that have no existing value.

     
5. On the Schedule Interval page, set when the agent runs:
   • Schedule: Choose a preset interval (Hourly, Daily, Weekly, Monthly) or enter a custom cron expression.
   • On-Demand: No automatic schedule; trigger the agent manually when needed.
   
6. Click Add to deploy the agent.

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