FTP is one of the most used method of transferring files between the servers. It ensures the files are transferred safely and comprehensively between the servers. Though, it is one of the oldest ways of transferring files online and is not considered as the fully safest, but is still being used by many administrators for completing file transfer.
A more advanced method of transferring files between the servers is Secure File Transfer Protocol (SFTP). It is basically an updated version of FTP, and rated as more safer & secured as compared to FTP. It is considered as a much safer protocol for transmitting data online. Both of these methods are used by the PHP administrators for transferring files online. However, SFTP is said to be the much reliable one.
Still, because of some extreme hacking cracks, some security experts do not recommend file transfer using SFTP, as the growing malicious attempts on the internet has comprised that method also. To sort out that issue, there are number of libraries available to integrate with PHP and securely transfer files between the servers. The one most used by the developers is PHPSeclib.
It is one of the most used library for transferring files with SFTP, as it puts an additional layer of security with the SFTP protocol for safely transmitting data within the file. It builds up a secure connection between end to end servers, for safely initiating a transmission process. Moreover, its integration is quite easy and could be done within few simple steps.
Symfony being one of the most preferred PHP framework for development, allows the integration of PHPSeclib easily. In fact, Symfony is known for its secured platform and precisely helps in building applications with right security protocols. That is why, PHPSeclib makes up perfect combination with Symfony in building up one secured file transferring protocol.
So, this article gives a brief overview about PHPSeclib and its usage in the Symfony framework. It defines in detail how to setup secure PHP SFTP connection in Symfony using PHPSeclib library. And shows how you could successfully create/upload files to live servers using SFTP.
Firstly, it demonstrates how to integrate PHPSeclib in Symfony. Since, Symfony requires bit of technical knowledge to execute the integration, the article shows how to use composer for installing PHPSeclib in the project.
Next, it moves to towards logging in the SFTP server, where PHPSeclib library is initialized in the defaultController.php file. Once setting up the login procedure correctly and accessing the home URL of the server with PHPSeclib, it shows how to define several operations using PHPSeclib.
From Directory management to uploading and downloading files from the server, the article shows the step by step procedure how to work with PHPSeclib on SFTP server. To upload multiple files, it shows how to use Finder component for transferring multiple files.
In short, PHPSeclib gives complete control to administrators for creating/uploading files through secured SFTP protocol. Making the data transmission highly secured and effective within the SFTP protocol.