Connect to FTP Data in DBeaver

The CData JDBC Driver for FTP implements JDBC standards that enable third-party tools to interoperate, from wizards in IDEs to business intelligence tools. This article shows how to connect to FTP data with wizards in DBeaver and browse data in the DBeaver GUI.

Create a JDBC Data Source for FTP Data

Follow the steps below to load the driver JAR in DBeaver.

1. Open the DBeaver application and, in the Databases menu, select the Driver Manager option. Click New to open the Create New Driver form.
2. In the Driver Name box, enter a user-friendly name for the driver.
3. To add the .jar, click Add File.
4. In the create new driver dialog that appears, select the cdata.jdbc.ftp.jar file, located in the lib subfolder of the installation directory.
5. Click the Find Class button and select the FTPDriver class from the results. This will automatically fill the Class Name field at the top of the form. The class name for the driver is cdata.jdbc.ftp.FTPDriver.
6. Add jdbc:ftp: in the URL Template field.

Create a Connection to FTP Data

Follow the steps below to add credentials and other required connection properties.

1. In the Databases menu, click New Connection.
2. In the Create new connection wizard that results, select the driver.
3. On the next page of the wizard, click the driver properties tab.

4. Enter values for authentication credentials and other properties required to connect to FTP.

   To connect to FTP or SFTP servers, specify at least RemoteHost and FileProtocol. Specify the port with RemotePort.

   Set User and Password to perform Basic authentication. Set SSHAuthMode to use SSH authentication. See the Getting Started section of the data provider help documentation for more information on authenticating via SSH.

   Set SSLMode and SSLServerCert to secure connections with SSL.

   The data provider lists the tables based on the available folders in your FTP server. 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 folders to list as views.
   • FileRetrievalDepth: Set this to retrieve and list files recursively from the root table.

   Stored Procedures are available to download files, upload files, and send protocol commands. See the Data Model chapter of the FTP data provider documentation for more information.

   Built-in Connection String Designer

   For assistance in constructing the JDBC URL, use the connection string designer built into the FTP JDBC Driver. Either double-click the JAR file or execute the jar file from the command-line.

   java -jar cdata.jdbc.ftp.jar

   Fill in the connection properties and copy the connection string to the clipboard.

   Below is a typical connection string:

   jdbc:ftp:RemoteHost=MyFTPServer;

Query FTP Data

You can now query information from the tables exposed by the connection: Right-click a Table and then click Edit Table. The data is available on the Data tab.