Managing SFTP (SSH) File Monitoring

Take full control of your SFTP file transfers with the Nodinite File and FTP Folder Monitoring Agent. Prevent file stockpiling, ensure secure transfers complete successfully, and maintain compliance with automated monitoring and alerts.

Why Monitor SFTP File Transfers?

SFTP servers handle critical business data transfers—invoices, orders, partner integrations, secure file exchanges. When files accumulate or transfers fail, consequences include:

• File stockpiling – Failed pickup jobs leave files stranded, consuming disk space and blocking new transfers
• Business process delays – Unprocessed orders, invoices, or data feeds prevent downstream operations
• Security risks – Long-lived sensitive files increase exposure to unauthorized access
• SLA breaches – Partner agreements for timely file processing go unmet
• Disk space exhaustion – Accumulating files fill SFTP volumes, preventing new uploads

Without proactive monitoring, teams discover transfer failures only after partners report missing files or disk alerts trigger.

What Does Nodinite Monitor?

The File and FTP Folder Monitoring Agent automatically monitors SFTP locations with advanced filtering and authentication, providing:

✅ Password or private key authentication – Support for passphrase-protected private keys (PPK/OpenSSH format) ✅ Advanced file filtering – Age thresholds, count limits, size ranges, and RegEx patterns ✅ Child folder monitoring – Include/exclude subfolder patterns with RegEx support ✅ Proxy support – Monitor SFTP through Socks4, Socks5, or HTTP proxies ✅ Remote actions – List files, download, and edit thresholds directly from Nodinite ✅ Timezone handling – Correctly evaluate thresholds across different SFTP server timezones

Example of SFTP resources displayed in a Monitor View with status indicators and action buttons.

When to Use SFTP File Monitoring?

Use this feature when you need to:

• Monitor partner integrations – Track EDI, invoice, or order files exchanged with external partners
• Prevent file stockpiling – Alert when files exceed age or count thresholds before disk fills
• Ensure secure transfers – Verify sensitive data pickup jobs complete within compliance windows
• Empower operations teams – Enable support staff to view and download files without SFTP client access
• Meet SLA commitments – Detect delayed file processing before breaching partner agreements
• Track integration health – Monitor file volumes and patterns to identify bottlenecks

How It Works

The Nodinite File and FTP Folder Monitoring Agent monitors files based on user-defined criteria on one or more SFTP sites, with or without using a Proxy.

You can fine-tune the files to monitor based on filter settings. These filters can be applied to either include and/or exclude files and folders based on the following user-configurable options:

• Age (time-span)
  • Warning threshold
  • Error threshold
• Count
  • Warning threshold
  • Error threshold
• Size (bytes)
  • Min
  • Max
  • It supports an exclusion range
• RegEx based filter
• Include child folders
  • Exclude child folders
  • Exclude child folder by RegEx

Note

You may need to specify the time zone of the SFTP server to get correct evaluation of thresholds. The default time zone is from where the monitor agent is installed.

Remote Configuration

As a Nodinite Administrator, click on the 'Configuration' button to open a modal to configure the agent:

Here's an example of the 'Configuration' button, available on the Monitoring Agent Configuration administration page.

For Monitor View with the Remote Actions feature enabled, you can manage specific monitoring configurations using the Action button on the specified Resource.

Info

To Manage the SFTP configuration, you must be a member of the Nodinite Administrator Role.

Add SFTP Server

The agent can monitor many SFTP Servers/Folders. Add and remove SFTP servers from the 'SFTP (SSH)' tab.

Here's an example of the SFTP tab.

Click the Add button to add another SFTP Server to monitor; Repeat as needed.

Add new SFTP server configurations as needed.

You can set the following common properties for each SFTP configuration:

• Enabled - Flag to set if monitoring for this configuration is enabled or not.
• Display Name - The user-friendly name for this FTP configuration. This name is also the Resource name in Monitor Views.
• Description
• Application ID - Resources groups by Application name, and then by Category.

General settings for SFTP configuration.

Additional configuration options are available from within the following tabs:

• Basic
• Proxy
• Advanced
• Thresholds
• Authentication

Tabs for advanced SFTP configuration options.

Basic tab

From within the Basic tab, you can enter the essential information to connect with the SFTP server to monitor:

• Host - Server Host-name or IP-address
• Folder - The base path of the Folder to monitor
• Port - The TCP port to use (channel specific)
• Filter - Filter file names by the use of a RegEx (match). To match only XML files (.xml) you should use \.xml$ as the value for the RegEx. The filter is case insensitive and ignores multiple white spaces.

  Warning

  The Windows-style filter *.xml can NOT be used!

• Time zone - Specify the time zone the SFTP server is located for the correct evaluation of thresholds. The default time zone is from where the monitor agent is installed.
  
  Basic tab for SFTP connection details.

RegEx Filter examples:

Filter	Example	Comment
\.xml$	XML Files	All XML files with suffix ".xml"
\.txt$	Text Files	All text files with suffix ".txt"
^ONLYME\.data$	Specific file	Only this file "ONLYME.data"
^PrefixedFileName.*\.csv$	Matching a file name pattern	Files with prefix ^PrefixedFileName, and suffix .csv

Proxy tab

From within the Proxy tab, you can enter the additional information to connect with the SFTP site to monitor using a Proxy service:

Proxy tab for SFTP proxy configuration.

• Type - The type of Proxy setting to use, select 'None' (default) to disable the use of a Proxy
  • None - Not in use
  • Socks4
  • Socks5
  • Http
• Host - The Proxy address (DNS name or IP-address)
• Port - The TCP Port to use when connecting with the Proxy service
• User name - User name to authenticate with Proxy service
• Password - Specify the Password to use for user authentication

Advanced tab

From within the Advanced tab, you can enter the additional information to connect with the SFTP site to monitor:

Advanced tab for SFTP configuration.

• Filter on size.
• Include child folders - When checked, all the folders within subfolders are searched except Exclude child folders and their children.
• Exclude child folders - A full match like C:\temp\INT001 - Demo\Out to exclude the Out folder and their children if Folder is set to C:\temp\INT001 - Demo.
• Exclude child folders by RegEx - List of matched child folders to exclude from monitoring if the 'Include child folders' option is checked.
  An example configuration is in detail in the Folders (SMB) user guide.

Filter on size

You can opt to monitor files based on filter settings for the size of files to be monitored.

Filter on size options for SFTP monitoring.

• Enabled - Turn on/off monitoring based on size
• Max size filter - Max size filter in bytes
• Min size filter - Min size filter in bytes

Range exclusion option: For example; If you wish to exclude the files larger than let's say 1000 bytes AND smaller than 5000 bytes, enter Max=1000 and Min=5000. The Files that are smaller or larger than the user-defined thresholds are then included in the monitoring.

Include child folders

To include files in a subfolder in the monitoring, enable this option. Exclude specific child folders with a configuration entry in the 'Exclude child folders' list..

Option to include child folders in SFTP monitoring.

Exclude child folders

List of child folders to exclude (The include child folders option must be checked).

Exclude specific child folders from SFTP monitoring.

Thresholds tab

From the Thresholds tab, you can enter the following monitoring thresholds:

Thresholds tab for SFTP monitoring.

• Warning time span The longest allowed time-span before Warning alert is raised should be in the following format (days.hours:minutes:seconds, e.g. 7.12:30:59).

  Tip

  Use the same time as Errors (or higher) to disable the use for warnings.

• Error time span The longest allowed time span before Error alert is raised should be in the following format (days.hours:minutes:seconds, e.g. 7.12:30:59).
• Enable count evaluation

The different evaluated states are documented in the Overview

Enable count evaluation

Count based monitoring options.

• Enable count evaluation - When checked, the number of files will be evaluated
• Warning count - The 'Warning' threshold for the maximum number of allowed files
• Error count - The 'Error' threshold for the maximum number of allowed files

Enable count evaluation for SFTP monitoring.

Scheduling tab

From within the Scheduling tab, you can manage the following schedule-related monitoring properties:

Scheduling options for SFTP monitoring. >[!TIP] >An example configuration is detailed in the Folders (SMB) user guide

Authentication tab

From the Authentication tab, you can enter the essential information to authenticate the connection with the SFTP site to monitor:

Authentication options for SFTP monitoring.

• User name - Authenticate as a user
• Password - password for the user
• Use a Private Key - When checked enables the use of a private key
  • Private Key - Enter the Private Key in the OpenSSH format
  • Passphrase - When required; Enter the Passphrase for the specified Private Key; otherwise, leave this field empty

  Info

  The Private Key must be in OpenSSH format

Private Key

Use the PuTTy Key Generator to convert and/or generate a key and export it with the OpenSSH key format.

Use PuTTY Key Generator to create or convert keys to OpenSSH format.

Authentication options for SFTP monitoring with private key.

The format should look like the following example (PEM encoded PKCS#1):

-----BEGIN RSA PRIVATE KEY-----
...
-----END RSA PRIVATE KEY-----

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Save

You must click 'Save' or 'Save and close' for changes to persist. The new settings/thresholds are evaluated on the next synchronization.

Here's an example of the Save options.

Note

The delay in presenting the new evaluated state depends on the synchronization interval set for the monitoring agent. Click the Sync Now button to force an immediate synchronization.

Save and close, saves, and then closes the dialogue. Cancel, closes the dialogue without saving any changes.

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Remote Actions

The following Remote Actions exist:

Remote actions available for SFTP resources.

	Resource Name	Monitoring	Actions	Metrics/Statistics
	NFS		List files Edit	-

Info

All operations you and other Users perform are logged to the Nodinite Audit Log, ensuring you stay compliant with policies and applicable regulations.

List files

To view the list of files; Select an SFTP folder in the Monitor View, then, click on the List files Remote Action.

List files action for SFTP monitoring.

Example of listed files in SFTP monitoring.

To download a file; Click the Download menu item available as a sub-entry in the Actions button.

Download files directly from SFTP monitoring.

Edit thresholds

To manage the monitoring thresholds; click on the Edit menu item available as a sub-entry in the Actions button.
Edit thresholds for SFTP monitoring.

From within the modal, you can alter the monitoring thresholds:

Edit and fine-tune thresholds for SFTP monitoring.

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Next Step

Install File Folder Monitoring Agent

Related Topics

FTP/FTPS
Folders (SMB)
Folders (NFS)

Monitor Views
Monitoring Agents