State-of-the-art Cloud solutions
by Softronics

The FTP storage can be accessed under the following domains.

Server location Switzerland: premiumftp.ch

Server location EU: eu.premiumftp.ch

Can I change my subscription during the subscription period?

You can adjust your subscription yourself at any time.

The credit of the current subscription will be credited to you when you order the new subscription.

Domains are the exception because they can only be reserved with fixed terms.

What happens if I do not renew my subscription?

Before your subscription expires, we will contact you three times by email.

• If you wish to renew your subscription, simply pay the invoice using your chosen payment method.
• If you do not want to renew your subscription, you do not have to do anything. However, we would be happy to receive a notification.

Yes, you can access your FTP Storage under your own domain or subdomain.
For example, the subdomain might look like this: cloud.mydomain.ch

We will send you the details for the DNS entry by e-mail. 
The FTP server is set up in such a way that your connection is also established via a secure, encrypted link. We will automatically set up the required SSL certificate for you.

The FTP service to up- and download files is well known. 
But what is the difference between the other types such as FTPS and SFTP? Which one is responsible for a secure transfer? To understand the difference, let’s start by explaining the regular FTP protocol.

What is FTP?

The FTP protocol originates from 1971 when the first RFC entry (959) was published for the FTP protocol. FTP could upload, download copy and delete files on different computers/servers. Additionally, it could create, delete and read directories. FTP uses usernames and passwords for authentication via an unencrypted connection as well as the transfer (usually through the default port 21).

What is FTPES / FTPS?

FTPS – File Transfer Protocol over SSL establishes the connection and the data transfer via the SSL/TLS protocol. There are two modes:

• Explicit Mode  (FTPES)

In Explicit Mode the client will request that the connection to the Server is secured and accept the encryption together. If the client doesn’t request this security, the server can either allow an unsecure connection to be established, suppress the connection or straight up block it.

• Implicit Mode  (FTPS)

In Implicit mode negotiating connections is not supported. The client sends his answer right after he sends the request via SSL/TLS. The connection is cut off if the client doesn’t receive an answer. However, this mode is not described in the official RFC 4217, so there is no standard for it and it is not supported by us..

The authentication is preformed using username and password via an encrypted connection as well as the transfer.

The safety feature for FTP is FTPES.

What is SFTP?

Another Security standard has developed in UNIX systems: SSH. SSH’s main function back then was to encrypt remote access on the UNIX Shell and was improved through the File Transfer Protocol (FTP) later on – initially with SCP afterwards with SFTP. Thereby SFTP has nothing to do with the actual FTP and is called “SSH File Transfer Protocol” for that reason. The authentication is preformed using username and password and the transferred data gets encrypted.

So SFTP is the “SSH File Transfer Protocol” via an active SSH connection.

The frequent mistake

The abbreviation SFTP is often used falsely to describe “Secure FTP” which it is not in fact. A similar common mistake is that the phrase SFTP is used as “FTP over SSL” which in this context is wrong as well. “FTP over SSL” is FTPS!

And now? FTPS or SFTP?

We advise you not to use FTP without encryption if possible.
Ideally you should use FTPS in explicit mode (FTPES).

With SFTP, the transmission of access data is always encrypted, the transmission of files can be encrypted.

We offer SFTP with Swiss Premium FTP and with Premium FTP.

We support numerous of functions via keyboard shortcuts.

You can call the list of keyboard functions with Shift + ? (Available in the home view)

The market offers numerous FTP clients. In terms of functionality and operation, they sometimes differ greatly. Some are only compatible with Windows, others only with macOS or Linux. We present you some free programs.

Cyberduck

• compatible with Windows and macOS
• supports SSL and SSH encryption
• enables connection to FTP, SFTP, WebDAV, Azure, OpenStack, Amazon S3 and many more
• number of simultaneous transfers can be regulated
• archive and expand tar/zip files via SSH
• segmented uploads for files larger than 5 GB

Filezilla

• compatible with Windows, Linux and macOS
• supports SSL and SSH encryption
• configurable transfer speeds
• number of simultaneous transfers can be regulated
• enables connection to FTP proxy servers
• Keepalive system to maintain the network connection
• Can transfer files of any size

Free FTP

• compatible with Windows
• supports SSL and SSH encryption
• enables connection to FTP, SFTP, HTTP
• English documentation

WinSCP

• compatible with Windows
• supports SSL and SSH encryption
• enables connection to FTP, SFTP
• Directory synchronization in several semi- or fully automated steps
• Integration into PuTTY possible
• Available in several languages