SFTP is a file transfer protocol that is similar to FTP (file transfer and management) but different in implementation and core functionality. There are the following benefits provided by SFTP in comparison to the legacy FTP:

  1. Secure: SFTP is operating over highly secure SSH connection/tunnel, Neutron supports authentication by password or by private/public key with passphrase.
  2. Port 22: SFTP needs only single port 22 be opened in the firewall;
  3. Standardized API: SFTP servers are always compatible with SFTP clients;
  4. File system replacement: SFTP can be used as a network file-system making it an ideal choice for providing music collection to Neutron via the network;
  5. Versatile OS support: SSH servers can be found on Windows (as separate server application or built-in OpenSSH server on latest Windows 10), Linux, OSX, so it is possible to run SFTP server on any machine;
  6. Router friendly: SSH/SFTP server is supported by a number of router firmware projects (for example OpenWrt), so it is extremely easy to create own cloud storage which would be served only by the router (USB storage → router → SFTP (port 22) → Neutron) without a need to have dedicated PC/Server machine for this task;
  7. SMB replacement with external access from the Internet: Windows 10 maps SMB shares to the SFTP server, so it is possible to replace SMB sources with SFTP and as bonus this source will be available from the Internet too;
  8. Fast: SFTP is fairly fast and much faster than FTP or WebDAV. 

If standard port (22) can not be used Neutron supports connection via any other port, domain names are supported too:

  • sftp://IP.ADDRESS.COM:PORT (e.g. sftp://127.0.0.1:22)
  • sftp://MY.DOMAIN.NAME.COM:PORT (e.g. sftp://localhost:22)