Cloud Managed File Transfer with Couchdrop

Couchdrop was built for cloud file transfers. As Couchdrop is built on the cloud, for the cloud it makes its offering a simple, reliable, and secure Managed File Transfer solution. There are a number of features that make Couchdrop the most versatile, reliable, and simplest MFT solution that works with your existing storage. 

Managed File Transfer with Couchdrop

Managed File Transfer can relate to many different methods of transferring files. And as a robust MFT platform, Couchdrop provides a simple yet comprehensive solution.

This article will cover the following:

• Couchdrop Overview
• What is Managed File Transfer?
• Configuring Managed File Transfer with Couchdrop
• Configuring Storage
• Configuring Users
• Upload Portal
• Web Portal
• File Sharing
• Email Attachments
• Logging into your Managed File Transfer using FileZilla SFTP

Couchdrop Overview

Couchdrop was founded in 2016 and it’s original purpose was to get files from remote devices into the cloud for easy access and real-time fault troubleshooting. Over time, Couchdrop has evolved to more than just an SCP server and can be utilized as your number one cloud file transfer service.

Transfer Support

Couchdrop supports the following methods to get data into your cloud storage:

• SFTP
• FTP
• SCP
• Email Attachment Upload
• Upload Portal
• Web Portal
• API

Security

Couchdrop prides itself on its security and giving you full control of your service. This entails:

• Bring your own storage providing you full control of your data at rest
• 2048-bit RSA key support
• Granular user permissions right down to the folder level
• File access firewalling, ensuring that only the right networks are able to login
• 2-factor authentication for user accounts
• Data in transit encryption
• Password-protected file-sharing links, that can also have an expiry added on
• HIPAA Compliance

Ease of Use and Additional Features

Couchdrop was built for you, with simplicity and ease of use being our number one goal. Here's how Couchdrop keeps things simple:

• Less than a minute from sign up to have a managed file transfer service running
• Grows with you as you grow and scales based on your user base
• Secure upload and download portal
• File sharing; including expiry dates and password protection
• Make it your own with custom domains and white labeling
• Webhooks and alerting for successful and failed uploads
• Cloud storage support (S3, OneDrive, etc.)
• On-premise infrastructure support 
• Optimizing performance no matter where you are in the world by having a broad geographical presence

What is Managed File Transfer (MFT)?

Traditionally for file transfer, you would have to host your own infrastructure on-site for an SFTP/FTP server or something alike. Over time, this gets expensive, and maintenance often isn’t conducted and thus the infrastructure falls out of date making it unstable and insecure. Another downside is that it is located in a single geographical location which is not optimal, as if you have customers on the other side of the world, their file transfers can become slow and unreliable.

Managed File Transfer is a technology platform that provides administrative control and top-notch security that supports companies and individuals in sharing data in a secure, fast way. Often there is support for protocols like HTTPS, SFTP, and automation for workflows.

MFT provides a more robust method of file transfer than more traditional on-site infrastructure and includes an interface and scalable functionality that provides control, visibility, and longevity.

MFT use cases

• The ability to securely and reliably transfer files between companies, individuals or software
• Digital Transformation that encompasses modern ways of working with a centralized data location that has no downtime and is secure and accessible from anywhere
• A replacement for high-maintenance, outdated, or non-compliant on-site file transfer infrastructure
• Governance and security compliance to fall in line with strict security standards without you bearing the overhead of maintaining these standards

For more information on MFT, see the article What is Managed File Transfer?

Configuring Managed File Transfer with Couchdrop

For a basic Couchdrop MFT solution there are two main parts, storage and users. Both of these are required before your MFT solution can be utilized, both of these combined take less than a minute to configure and will have you up and running in no time!

Configuring Storage

One of the main benefits of Couchdrop is the option to bring your own storage. Setting up a storage integration is simple and only takes a minute. Couchdrop plans also include hosted storage, but keep in mind that Couchdrop supports over 30 cloud storage platforms as well as on-prem file servers. 

Configuring Users

Creating users is easy, and really doesn’t take much, a name and a couple of ticks here and there and you are able to hit the ground running.

Couchdrop also allows for different permission settings 

Write Only — this only allows the user to upload files to the storage bucket, they cannot see the files in the directory either.

Read Only — the user can only download files and can also see the files in the directory.

Read/Write — the user has full upload and download permissions and can also delete and see the files in the directory

Set the user's root directory, and for best practices, we recommend using the customer identifier that your organization recognizes, such as a company name. This will then create a folder under your storage path. By default, if you did not add a sub-path when configuring your storage this folder will reside in your root/top level of your storage.

Note: Whatever root directory you set for your user, your user will be isolated to this directory and any sub-directories under it. They can not go up the directory to your root directory. This ensures that external users are locked down to specific folders and cannot access wider company data.

Advanced user settings

User Role — Users are set to Standard user by default. The Admin User level provides the user access to modify other users and Couchdrop settings and is not recommended if the user is outside of your organization as they will have full admin access to your Couchdrop account

Allowed IPs – Restrict connections to specific IP addresses that you designate here. 

Allow SFTP/SCP/Rsync — We recommend this be turned on, as if it is not enabled users cannot share and transfer files via SFTP into your MFT storage.

Allow Upload Portal — If you are going to use upload.couchdrop.io or a variation of it, this should be turned on, otherwise left unchecked for optimal security.

Allow Web Portal — Allows the user to create anonymous web portals. 

Allow FTP/FTPS — Traditional FTP is insecure and not recommended to be used by Couchdrop. If this is required then enable this, otherwise keep disabled at all times.

After choosing your options and saving, your user is now good to go. They can now jump to an SFTP client such as FileZilla, WinSCP, Bash, or Cyberduck and log in with the new user credentials. 

See this guide for an in-depth guide on creating users within Couchdrop. 

Upload Portal

Sometimes using SFTP software doesn’t work for all customers who prefer a simpler way to upload files to your virtual data room/storage. For these users, Couchdrop has created an upload portal. This is available for users to upload files directly into their specified directory without using any third-party software.

This feature requires Allow Upload Portal to be enabled under the user settings. Couchdrop’s upload portal is secure and easy. The portal can be branded to meet your company's image in your account settings.

Web Portal

Similar to the upload portal, the web portal allows for uploads to a designated directory. The difference is that instead of this being for a single user to their root directory, the web portal requires no credentials and each portal points to its own configured directory. This is ideal for file ingestion, especially from visitors who don't need their own SFTP user account, such as contractors for one-off jobs. 

Note: Couchdrop recommends only small file types up to 50MB in size to be uploaded via either portal. You can try and upload more, however, for larger files, SFTP is recommended.

File Sharing

Sharing files is important, especially when you have users outside of your organization who need access to specific files regardless of their location. Couchdrop’s file sharing supports the following;

• Individual file sharing
• Folder sharing
• Expiry timers on shared links
• Password-protected shared links

Email Attachment Support

Much like the upload portal, sometimes customers don’t want to install software or attempt to use technical products such as an SFTP application. Couchdrop realizes that everyone uses email and knows how to add attachments. Building on this concept, you can enable the ability for your users to email attachments directly into their directory just as if they were emailing you.

Note: Email inboxes are based on unique identifiers. Couchdrop recommends setting up an email alias to simplify the email address that your customers are sending emails to in an attempt to simplify the experience for your end users.

Logging into your Managed File Transfer using an SFTP client

You are set up and good to go, but how do your customers actually log in and transfer files to you using SFTP? For this part of the guide, we will use FileZilla. However, any SFTP application will work. We have users using anything from Linux Bash to Cyberduck and WinSCP.

For your user to log in they require three items:

1. Username
2. Password/RSA key, and,
3. Hostname/URL

Both the username and password are what you set earlier when creating your user within Couchdrop. For the Hostname/URL, in your Couchdrop account click the Connect to button at the top of the screen for connection details. 

Once you have the above entered, click connect and your user will now have secure access to transfer files to and from your MFT solution.

A simpler MFT solution

While this article was quite extensive and in-depth, Couchdrop is actually quite simple and intuitive to use. In reality, the setup takes less than a minute and is simple to configure and operate. 

If you have any questions, concerns, or need assistance, please do not hesitate to contact support@couchdrop.io and the friendly team will help you out or answer any questions you have. You can also try Couchdrop free for 14 days with no credit card required by signing up for a free trial.