Create a file connector

A file connector lets DCT Compliance access flat data files for discovery and masking. This page covers FTP and SFTP connectors only.

For other connector types, see:

  • Cloud file connectors — Connect to cloud object stores (Amazon S3, S3-compatible, Azure Blob Storage).
  • Mounts — Connect via NFS/CIFS mounts (VM-based engines) or external mounts (containerized engines in Kubernetes).
  • FTPS is supported for mainframe environments only and is not supported in this release.
  • PARQUET file type is not supported with FTP connectors.

Prerequisites

  • To use Public Key Authentication (SFTP only), register an SSH private key in DCT before creating the connector. See Register an SSH key. SSH key registration is available through the API only — there is no GUI for this step.

Steps

  1. In the left navigation pane, click Compliance > Connectors.

  2. Click + Connector.

  3. In the Details step, enter the connector name and optionally add tags, then click Next.

  4. In the Configuration step:

    1. Select the Job Orchestrator that will run operations for this connector.

    2. Select a Source Type: File - Delimited, File - Fixed Width, File - JSON, File - Parquet, or File - XML.

    3. Select a Connection Method: FTP or SFTP.

    4. Enter the Server Name (hostname or IP address of the file server).

    5. Enter the Port.

    6. Enter the File Path (the directory on the file server that contains the data files).

    7. (Optional) Select User Directory as root to resolve the file path relative to the user's home directory.

    8. Select an Authentication Method and enter the credentials:

      • Username/Password: Enter the Username and Password.

      • Public Key Authentication (SFTP only): Enter the Username. DCT automatically lists SSH keys that have been registered. Select the key to use for authentication.

      • Password Vault: Select the Credential Path dropdown to choose a pre-configured credential path from an external secret manager (HashiCorp Vault, CyberArk, Azure Key Vault, or GCP Secret Manager). See Password vaults for details.

    9. Click Test Connection to validate connectivity to the file server. This step is recommended before creating the connector.

  5. Click Next.

  6. In the Summary step, review the connector details. Click Back to make changes, or click Submit to create the connector.