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Workday User Guide
Last Updated: 2025-07-25
Create an SFTP Connection

Create an SFTP Connection

Security:
Prism: Manage Connection
 domain in the Prism Analytics functional area.
You can create a connection to an SFTP server so that you can use it as a source in a data change task to load external data into a table. SFTP connections:
  • Can be used in 1 or more data change tasks as the source.
  • Define how to connect to and authenticate against the server.
  • Define the files to get from the server.
When you run a data change task that uses the SFTP connection as the source, Workday connects to the SFTP server using the configured authentication credentials and fetches the specified files. For the data change activity to succeed:
  • The number of files must be less than 5,000.
  • The time to transfer the data must be less than 5 hours.
Each file from the server should be less than 15 GB compressed or uncompressed.
Use the
Test Prism SFTP Connection
 task to verify that Workday can connect to the SFTP server and retrieve files.
  1. Access the
    Create Prism SFTP Connection
     task.
    You can also select
    Create
    Connection
     from the Data Catalog.
  2. As you complete this task, consider:
    Option Description
    Name
    Workday displays the name in the Data Catalog. You can change the name at any time.
    Description
    Enter a description that describes the SFTP server and configured file pattern.
    File Name/Pattern
    Enter the filename or a filename pattern that represents 1 or more files.
    The filename is case-sensitive. You can use the asterisk (*) and question mark (?) characters as wild cards to specify a filename pattern. Use the asterisk (*) to specify zero or more characters, and use the question mark (?) to specify exactly 1 character.
    SFTP Address
    Use this format:
    sftp://
    domain_name
    or
    sftp://
    IP_address
    To specify a port number, add it to the end of the domain name or IP address. If you don't specify a port number, Workday uses port 22.
    Directory
    The directory on the server that contains the files. Directory names are case-sensitive. Include a leading slash (/) only for a full path, not a relative path.
    Use Temp File
    Writes the imported data to a temporary file in Workday with a randomly generated name. After the data import is complete, Workday automatically renames the file to the correct name.
    You might want to enable this option if the data import takes a very long time and might not finish before the next scheduled time to import data from the same server.
    Host Key Fingerprint
    The encryption key that the SFTP server will use for SSH communications.
    Authentication Method and Details
    Select the type of security authentication that the SFTP server uses:
    • User Name / Password
      .
    • SSH Authentication
      . This option uses secure shell key authentication using X.509 certificates.
    Delete After Retrieval
    Deletes the files on the SFTP server after the data is loaded into the target table. If Workday is unable to delete the files from the SFTP server, the data retrieval fails.
    Decompress
    Don't enable this option for data change tasks and tables.
    You can transfer files that are compressed or not. For compressed files, Workday only supports gzip compression.
    Decrypt Using
    If you want to decrypt the imported files using Pretty Good Privacy (PGP), select a PGP Private Key Pair.
    Restricted To
    Select the environment in which you want to use the settings defined in the
    Transport
     section.
    If you leave this option empty, Workday applies the transport settings to each environment in which the data change activity runs. When a data change activity runs in a particular environment, such as Implementation or Production, the transport settings only work if the
    Restricted To
     option matches the current environment. When the current environment and the configured environment don’t match, the data change activity fails and retrieves no files from the SFTP server. You might want to restrict the transport settings to a particular environment to avoid inadvertently transferring test data to a non-test endpoint.
    Example: You create the SFTP connection and a data change task in an Implementation environment and select Implementation in
    Restricted To
    . Later, you migrate this SFTP connection and data change task to a Production environment. The next time the data change activity runs, it fails. To ensure that the data change activity runs successfully in the Production environment, edit the SFTP connection and either clear the
    Restricted To
     option or change it to Production.
Workday creates the SFTP connection and displays it on the
Connections
 tab in the Data Catalog.
Create a data change task using the SFTP connection as the source to load data into the table.

This content is not part of the Workday Administrator Guide.