# Inbound Connection To Active Transfer Server via SFTP Public Key authentication **URL:** \ **Category:** Forum\ **Tags:** Managed-File-Transfer\ **Created:** [February 23, 2021, 2:50am UTC](https://techcommunity.softwareag.com/t/inbound-connection-to-active-transfer-server-via-sftp-public-key-authentication/239042 "2021-02-23T02:50:14Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 5\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![Kumar\_Saurav2](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/k/779978/32.png) [@Kumar\_Saurav2](https://techcommunity.softwareag.com/u/Kumar_Saurav2)\ **Post date:** [February 23, 2021, 2:50am UTC](https://techcommunity.softwareag.com/t/inbound-connection-to-active-transfer-server-via-sftp-public-key-authentication/239042/1 "2021-02-23T02:50:14Z")
Hi Experts, I am trying to understand if it is possible to setup an incoming connection to Active Transfer Server via SFTP Public Key(i.e. installing public key on our AT Server). I was checking all the possible option(Port, Virtual Folder etc) and found that everywhere in MFT they have option only to provide the path of Private Key(or username/password combination). Can anyone please suggest if I am missing anything. ---
**Author:** ![Bhaskar\_Bhattarai](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/ecae2f/32.png) [@Bhaskar\_Bhattarai](https://techcommunity.softwareag.com/u/Bhaskar_Bhattarai)\ **Post date:** [February 23, 2021, 2:27pm UTC](https://techcommunity.softwareag.com/t/inbound-connection-to-active-transfer-server-via-sftp-public-key-authentication/239042/2 "2021-02-23T14:27:32Z")
Hi Saurav, For SSH public key ‘authentication’, server uses the public keys of its client to authenticate. And client need to use private keys. More details here: [RFC 4252: The Secure Shell (SSH) Authentication Protocol](https://tools.ietf.org/html/rfc4252#section-7) Server’s public key cannot be used for authenticating the client. So VFS(client) cannot be configured to connect just using the username and partner’s public keys. If partners site has shared a public key, that is not for client authentication but should be for host key verification. Would you please confirm this? Thanks, Bhaskar ---
**Author:** ![reamon](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/b77776/32.png) [@reamon](https://techcommunity.softwareag.com/u/reamon)\ **Post date:** [February 23, 2021, 8:10pm UTC](https://techcommunity.softwareag.com/t/inbound-connection-to-active-transfer-server-via-sftp-public-key-authentication/239042/3 "2021-02-23T20:10:36Z")
[SSH Key-Based Authentication on webMethods Active Transfer - DZone](https://dzone.com/articles/ssh-key-based-authentication-on-webmethods-active) may have useful info. ---
**Author:** ![vsingal](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/v/858c86/32.png) [@vsingal](https://techcommunity.softwareag.com/u/vsingal)\ **Post date:** [February 24, 2021, 2:47am UTC](https://techcommunity.softwareag.com/t/inbound-connection-to-active-transfer-server-via-sftp-public-key-authentication/239042/4 "2021-02-24T02:47:41Z")
Hi Saurav, The link in reamon’s reply above will help you setup SSH key auth on the Active Transfer at port level for all users. To configure SSH public key for a particular user, go to **Administration** → **Integration** → **Managed File Transfer** → **User Management** → **Users**. Select the individual user and go to Restrictions tab. At the bottom, there is an option to provide path to the public keys for that user. ---
**Author:** ![system](https://global.discourse-cdn.com/techcommunity/original/3X/c/d/cd19967bb605d28a72d77eb83a1cae22f3df2eb8.svg) [@system](https://techcommunity.softwareag.com/u/system)\ **Post date:** [February 11, 2024, 10:50am UTC](https://techcommunity.softwareag.com/t/inbound-connection-to-active-transfer-server-via-sftp-public-key-authentication/239042/5 "2024-02-11T10:50:52Z")
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