Integrate SFTP Data into Automated Tasks with Power Automate

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

CData Connect AI provides a pure SQL, cloud-to-cloud interface for SFTP, allowing you to easily integrate with live SFTP data in Power Automate — without replicating the data. CData Connect AI 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.

Configure SFTP Connectivity for Power Automate

Connectivity to SFTP from Power Automate is made possible through CData Connect AI. To work with SFTP data from Power Automate, we start by creating and configuring a SFTP connection.

1. Log into Connect AI, click Sources, and then click Add Connection

2. Select "SFTP" from the Add Connection panel

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 & Test
5. Navigate to the Permissions tab in the Add SFTP Connection page and update the User-based permissions.

Add a Personal Access Token

When connecting to Connect AI through the REST API, the OData API, or the Virtual SQL Server, a Personal Access Token (PAT) is used to authenticate the connection to Connect AI. It is best practice to create a separate PAT for each service to maintain granularity of access.

1. Click on the Gear icon () at the top right of the Connect AI app to open the settings page.
2. On the Settings page, go to the Access Tokens section and click Create PAT.
3. Give the PAT a name and click Create.
4. The personal access token is only visible at creation, so be sure to copy it and store it securely for future use.

With the connection configured and a PAT generated, you are ready to connect to SFTP data from Power Automate.

Connecting to CData Connect AI

To use Connect AI 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:
   
   
   • Choose to connect directly
   • Set SQL server name to tds.cdata.com,14333
   • Set SQL database name to the name of the SFTP connection (e.g. SFTP1)
   • Set Username to a Connect AI user (e.g. [email protected])
   • Set Password to the PAT for the above user
   • Click Create

Integrating SFTP Data into Power Automate Tasks

With the connection to Connect AI 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 flow 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 AI 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 Cloud 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 300+ SaaS, Big Data, and NoSQL sources directly from your cloud applications, sign up for a free trial of CData Connect AI.

Related Power Automate Articles

This article walks through using CData Connect AI 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