SFTP Hybrid Runner

• Requirements
• Metadata Ingestion

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Requirements

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Metadata

• A valid SFTP account with either username/password or SSH private key credentials
• Read access to the directories and files to be catalogued
• Network connectivity from the Collate ingestion host to the SFTP server

• Authenticate to the SFTP server via the specified credentials
• List directories under the configured root directories
• Read file metadata (name, size, timestamps)

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Profiler and Data Quality

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Metadata Ingestion

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Step 1: Add New Service

1. In the left navigation, click Connections.
2. On the Connections page, click Add New Service.

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Step 2: Select a Service and Connector

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Step 3: Add Service Name and Description

• Enter a unique, descriptive Service Name. Collate identifies services by their service name. Enter a name that distinguishes this deployment from other Sftp services you are ingesting metadata from.
• Optional: Enter a Description for the service.

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Step 4: Configure Connection Options

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Select Ingestion Runner

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Enter Connection Details

• Host: SFTP server hostname or IP address.
  • Port: SFTP server port number. Defaults to 22.
  • Authentication Type: Choose between:
    • Username/Password: Authenticate using a username and password.
    • Private Key: Authenticate using an SSH private key in PEM format. Supports RSA, Ed25519, ECDSA, and DSS keys. An optional passphrase can be provided if the key is encrypted.
  • Root Directories (Optional): List of root directories to scan for files and subdirectories. Defaults to / (the user’s home directory).
  • Directory Filter Pattern (Optional): Regex to only include/exclude directories that match the pattern.
  • File Filter Pattern (Optional): Regex to only include/exclude files that match the pattern.
  • Structured Data Files Only (Optional): When enabled, only catalog structured data files (CSV, TSV) that can have schema extracted. Non-structured files like images, PDFs, and videos will be skipped. Defaults to false.
  • Extract Sample Data (Optional): When enabled, extract sample data from structured files (CSV, TSV). Disabled by default to avoid performance overhead.

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Advanced Configuration

• Connection Options (Optional): Enter the details for any additional connection options that can be sent to the source during the connection. These details must be added as Key-Value pairs.
• Connection Arguments (Optional): Enter the details for any additional connection arguments such as security or protocol configs that can be sent during the connection. These details must be added as Key-Value pairs.

password: secret:/my/database/password

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Test Connection

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Step 5: Configure Ingestion Options

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How Filter Patterns Work

• Include: Add one or more comma-separated regular expressions. Collate ingests only assets whose names match at least one expression. Leave blank to include all assets.
• Exclude: Add one or more comma-separated regular expressions. Collate skips any asset whose name matches an expression. Leave blank to exclude nothing.

• contains: matches any name containing the value. For example, sales matches my_sales_data and sales_2024.
• starts with: matches names beginning with the value. For example, prod_ matches prod_db and prod_schema.
• ends with: matches names ending with the value. For example, _raw matches events_raw and logs_raw.
• is exactly: matches the exact name only. For example, analytics matches only analytics.
• matches regex: matches names using a regular expression. For example, ^prod_.*_v\d+$ matches prod_events_v1.

• Directory: Controls which directories (folders) Collate ingests from the source.
• File: Controls which individual files within the ingested directories are included.
• Spreadsheet: Controls which spreadsheet files are included in metadata ingestion.
• Worksheet: Controls which individual worksheets (tabs within a spreadsheet) are included.

• Scan Mode: You can choose between the following scan modes:
  • Scan all: Ingests every asset of that type the connector can access. This is the default.
  • Only specific: Enables include rules so only assets matching at least one rule are ingested.
• Exclude system toggle: Use this toggle to automatically filter out system-reserved names defined by the connector — for example, Exclude system databases for the Databases section.
• Always exclude: Add permanent exclusion rules (shown in red). Assets matching these rules are never ingested, regardless of include rules.
• Preview: Shows a real-time summary of what will be in scope based on your current rules.
• Include rules (available only in Only specific mode): Click + Add to define a rule. Added rules appear as chips; an asset is included if it matches any rule.

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Step 6: Create & Deploy

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Configure Metadata Agent and Schedule Ingestion

1. In the left navigation, click Connections and select your service.
2. Click the Agents tab.
3. Click Add Agent and select Metadata from the dropdown. For some services, the dropdown is not available and clicking Add Agent takes you directly to the agent configuration page.
4. On the Configure Ingestion page, do the following and click Next.
   • Name this Ingestion: Enter a unique recognizable name for this ingestion pipeline.
   • Agent Setup: Configure the core parameters for this agent. The following fields are available:

     Field	Default	Description
     Number of Threads	1	Number of threads to use for parallel drive ingestion.
     Mark Deleted Directories	On	Soft-delete directories in Collate when they are removed from the source. Associated entities like files, spreadsheets, worksheets, and lineage are also deleted.
     Mark Deleted Files	On	Soft-delete files in Collate when they are removed from the source. Associated entities like lineage are also deleted.
     Mark Deleted Spreadsheets	On	Soft-delete spreadsheets in Collate when they are removed from the source. Associated entities like worksheets and lineage are also deleted.
     Mark Deleted Worksheets	On	Soft-delete worksheets in Collate when they are removed from the source. Associated entities like lineage are also deleted.
     Include Directories	On	Fetch directory metadata. Turn off to skip directories entirely.
     Include Files	On	Fetch file metadata. Turn off to skip files entirely.
     Include Spreadsheets	On	Fetch spreadsheet metadata. Turn off to skip spreadsheets entirely.
     Include Worksheets	On	Fetch worksheet metadata. Turn off to skip worksheets entirely.

     
   • Filter Patterns: Apply include or exclude rules to scope which directories, files, spreadsheets, and worksheets this agent ingests. Use FQN for filtering to apply regex on fully qualified names (e.g. service_name.directory_name.file_name) instead of raw names. These follow the same filter options described in Step 5.
   • Scope & Behaviour: Control what metadata to include and how to handle deletions. Toggle each option on or off based on your needs:

     Toggle	Default	Description
     Enable Debug Log	Off	Sets the ingestion log level to DEBUG. Useful for troubleshooting.
     Include Tags	On	Ingest tags from the source.
     Include Owners	Off	Assign owners from the source when the owner email matches a Collate user. Does not overwrite an existing owner.
     Override Metadata	Off	When on, source values overwrite existing descriptions, tags, owners, and display names in Collate. When off, Collate only updates fields that have no existing value.

     
5. On the Schedule Interval page, set when the agent runs:
   • Schedule: Choose a preset interval (Hourly, Daily, Weekly, Monthly) or enter a custom cron expression.
   • On-Demand: No automatic schedule; trigger the agent manually when needed.
   
6. Click Add to deploy the agent.

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Troubleshooting