An SFTP test server you can run on your desktop

A few months ago I was working on a file transfer client that required SFTP.  I quickly learned that one of the challenges of building an SFTP client is finding an SFTP server you can test your code against.  If you have faced this problem or might be facing this problem in the future then you will want to have a look at TinySSFTP.

After several days of scouring the internet looking for a free SFTP server to test my code against I had found nothing.  I’m not saying there are no free SFTP servers out there but I didn’t find any – not a single one.  Even the vendors selling SFTP components for .NET don’t seem to offer anything for their customers.

When hope seemed lost I stumbled across the sftps-lite project from nuane.com.  This helpful bit of code implemented a small command line SFTP server.   It was a major find and it was nice but I found myself wanting more features.

TinySFTP – SFTP Server for your Desktop

So with a little coding TinySSFTP was born and with it you can:

• Create an SFTP test server just about anywhere, anytime.
• Start and stop the server with the press of a button
• Select the port to listen on
• Have test logins, passwords and folders within an XML config file.
• Not bother running an SFTP server as a service.

While I’m fairly certain the server functionality is not 100% complete it allowed me to do some pretty thorough testing of my SFTP client software.  With it I was able to connect, test for, create and change directories, test for, upload and delete files, retrieve directory listings and disconnect.  Not bad for free code.

So while you might expect that companies selling $200 and higher SFTP libraries would offer something in the way of a test server I find that most of them do not.  If you’re working for a larger company you may have an SFTP server you can test with.  For smaller shops and individual developers TinySSFTP may be a useful tool for your toolbox.

You can find the TinySSFTP code project on the downloads page.