# FTP (remote file system) connection #

To access your data with the FTP protocol, create a connection asset for it\.

FTP is a standard communication protocol that is used to transfer files from a server to a client on a computer network\.

## Create an FTP connection ##

To create the connection asset, you need these connection details:

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 *  Connection mode: The connection method configured on the FTP server:
    
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     *  Anonymous
     *  Basic authentication (with username and password)
     *  SFTP Tectia: Transfer data sets that are in Multiple Virtual Storage (MVS) format to or from an IBM z/OS mainframe computer. MVS data sets use a period (`.`) to separate the qualifiers in the data set names. To write to an MVS data set, select **Access MVS Dataset** and enter the file transfer advice (FTADV) strings in key-value pairs separated by commas. For information, see the [Tectia documentation](https://info.ssh.com/hubfs/2021%20Support%20manuals%20documents/TectiaServer_zOS_UserManual.pdf).
     *  SSH: File transfer over a secure channel that uses the Secure Shell protocol. Also requires username and password.
     *  SSL: File transfer that uses File Transport Protocol (FTP), which supports secure transmission via SSL (sslTLSv2) protocol. Also requires username and password.
    
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 *  Hostname or IP address
 *  Port number of the FTP server
 *  SSH mode: Private key and Key passphrase

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 *  Authentication method:
    
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     *  Username and password
     *  Username, password, private key. If you use an encrypted private key, you will need a key passphrase.
     *  Username and private key. If you use an encrypted private key, you will need a key passphrase.
    
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If you use a private key, make sure that the key is an RSA private key that is generated by the **ssh\-keygen** tool\. The private key must be in the PEM format\.

For **Private connectivity**, to connect to a database that is not externalized to the internet (for example, behind a firewall), you must set up a [secure connection](https://dataplatform.cloud.ibm.com/docs/content/wsj/manage-data/securingconn.html)\. This selection is available for the SSH connection mode only\.

### Choose the method for creating a connection based on where you are in the platform ###

**In a project** : Click **Assets > New asset > Connect to a data source**\. See [Adding a connection to a project](https://dataplatform.cloud.ibm.com/docs/content/wsj/manage-data/create-conn.html)\.

**In a deployment space** : Click **Add to space > Connection**\. See [Adding connections to a deployment space](https://dataplatform.cloud.ibm.com/docs/content/wsj/analyze-data/ml-space-add-assets.html)\.

**In the Platform assets catalog** : Click **New connection**\. See [Adding platform connections](https://dataplatform.cloud.ibm.com/docs/content/wsj/manage-data/platform-conn.html)\.

### Next step: Add data assets from the connection ###

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 *  See [Add data from a connection in a project](https://dataplatform.cloud.ibm.com/docs/content/wsj/manage-data/connected-data.html)\.

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## Where you can use this connection ##

You can use FTP connections in the following workspaces and tools:

**Projects**

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 *  Data Refinery
 *  SPSS Modeler
 *  Synthetic Data Generator

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**Catalogs**

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 *  Platform assets catalog

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## Supported file types ##

The FTP connection supports these file types: Avro, CSV, Delimited text, Excel, JSON, ORC, Parquet, SAS, SAV, SHP, and XML\.

**Parent topic:**[Supported connections](https://dataplatform.cloud.ibm.com/docs/content/wsj/manage-data/conn_types.html)

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