Setting Up Your Employees
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      3. Setting Up Your Employees

      Import People via SFTP

        Introduction

        Share911 offers a secure SFTP server which customers may use to update employee data or remove terminated employees. The format is standard XLS, XLSX, or CSV and the file would typically be generated from an employee database so that the process can be automated.

         

        File Format

        The file format used is the same as outlined in Import People via Spreadsheet and Import Students and Guardians via Spreadsheet.  Please see those documents for details.

         

        SFTP Setup

        The following items are required to upload to Share911 via SFTP:

        1. A Share911 account with Manage Users permissions on the channels you wish to grant access to.
        2. An SFTP User ID which we will provide.
        3. An RSA private key file for authentication, which we will provide.

        Share911 uses RSA key files rather than passwords to authenticate with our SFTP server.  

        OPTIONAL: If the SFTP client requires an SFTP Server Host Public Key, it may be found here.  Unlike the private key file which allows the server to authenticate the SFTP user, the server's public key is optional and is used by the SFTP client to authenticate the SFTP server itself.

        Upload Steps

        1. Connect to Share911's FTP server: sftp.share911.com
        2. Upload your data file to the "uploads" directory.

        Once processing is complete, an email with a link to the results will be sent to the user who performed the import.

        Results are visible to all users who have Manage Users permission for the affected channels.  To view latest results, click "Import Results" under the User Menu. 

        A csv version of the results can also be found on the SFTP server in the "downloads" directory.

        Connection Examples

        You can use any SFTP client to upload your data file. For example Filezilla.

        1. Generic SFTP Client

        Protocol: SFTP - SSH File Transfer Protocol

        Host: sftp.share911.com

        Port: 22 (or leave blank)

        Logon Type: Key file

        User: <User ID of Share911 Account>

        Key file: <path to your RSA key file>

        2. FileZilla

        Select your private RSA key file on the connection screen below:

        Troubleshooting

        1. Incorrect destination directory

        The most common issue is not setting the "uploads" directory as the target folder.  In this case, the SFTP server will respond with the following error:

        Status:    Connecting to sftp.share911.com...
        Status:    Using username "KpKFZoP3bMQqnMiky".
        Status:    Connected to sftp.share911.com
        Status:    Starting upload of /Users/alanning/Downloads/test.xlsx
        Command:   cd "/"
        Response:  New directory is: "/"
        Command:   put "/Users/alanning/Downloads/test.xlsx" "test.xlsx"
        Error:        /test.xlsx: open for write: permission denied
        Error:        File transfer failed

        2. Incorrect private key or username

        In this case, the sftp server will respond with an error like this:

        Status:  Connecting to sftp.share911.com...
        Status:  Using username "KpKFZoP3bMQqnMiky". 
        Status:  Server refused our key 
        Error:     FATAL ERROR: No supported authentication methods available (server sent: publickey)
        Error:     Could not connect to server