Integrate SFTP Data into Automated Tasks with Power Automate

Power Automate (Microsoft Flow) is an online service that automates events (known as workflows) across the most common apps and services. When paired with CData Connect Server, you get instant, cloud-to-cloud access to SFTP data for visualizations, dashboards, and more. This article shows how to connect to Connect Server from Power Automate and integrate live SFTP data into your workflows and tasks.

CData Connect Server provides a pure SQL interface for SFTP, allowing you to easily integrate with live SFTP data in Power Automate — without replicating the data. CData Connect Server looks exactly like a SQL Server database to Power Automate and uses optimized data processing out of the box to push all supported SQL operations (filters, JOINs, etc) directly to SFTP, leveraging server-side processing to quickly return SFTP data.

Create a Virtual SQL Database for SFTP Data

CData Connect Server uses a straightforward, point-and-click interface to connect to data sources and generate APIs.

1. Login to Connect Server and click Connections.
2. Select "SFTP" from Available Data Sources.
3. Enter the necessary authentication properties to connect to SFTP.

   SFTP can be used to transfer files to and from SFTP servers using the SFTP Protocol. To connect, specify the RemoteHost;. service uses the User and Password and public key authentication (SSHClientCert). Choose an SSHAuthMode and specify connection values based on your selection.

   Set the following connection properties to control the relational view of the file system:

   • RemotePath: Set this to the current working directory.
   • TableDepth: Set this to control the depth of subfolders to report as views.
   • FileRetrievalDepth: Set this to retrieve files recursively and list them in the Root table.
   Stored Procedures are available to download files, upload files, and send protocol commands. See gdatamodel for more on using SQL to interact with the server.

4. Click Save Changes
5. Click Privileges -> Add and add the new user (or an existing user) with the appropriate permissions.

Connecting to CData Connect Server

To use Connect Server to integrate SFTP data into your Power Automate tasks, you need a new SQL Server connection:

1. Log in to Power Automate
2. Click Data -> Connections -> New connection
3. Select SQL Server
4. In the connection wizard:
   
   
   • Set Authentication Type to "SQL Server Authentication"
   • Set SQL server name to the address of your Connect Server instance (connect_server_url)
   • Set SQL database name to the name of the virtual SFTP database you created earlier (like sftpdb)
   • Set the Username and Password and click Create

Integrating SFTP Data into Power Automate Tasks

With the connection to Connect Server configured, you are ready to integrate live SFTP data into your Power Automate tasks.

1. Log in to Power Automate
2. Click My flows -> New and choose to create the flow from blank or template
3. Add (or configure) a SQL Server action (like Get rows) and configure the action to connect to your Connect Server connection
4. Select a Table to work with (from the drop-down menu) and configure any advanced options (like filters, orders, etc)
5. Configure any actions to follow and test, then save the flow

SQL Access to SFTP Data from Applications

Now you have a direct connection to live SFTP data from Power Automate tasks. You can create more connections and workflows to drive business — all without replicating SFTP data.

To get SQL data access to 200+ SaaS, Big Data, and NoSQL sources directly from your applications, see the CData Connect Server.

Related Power Automate Articles

This article walks through using CData Connect Server with Power Automate (Online). Check out our other articles for more ways to work with Power Automate Desktop:

• SFTP Data in Power Automate Desktop using CData Connect
• SFTP Data in Power Automate Desktop via ODBC