How to: Connect to WP Engine SFTP on new 2222 port

I was having difficulty connecting to one of my WP Engine hosted sites that switched over to port 2222 for SFTP.  I had the site information saved in my FTP client’s site manager, but simply changing the port to 2222 didn’t cut it.

Below is how to connect in Core FTP LE and FileZilla.

Core FTP

Step 1:

Note: Requires Version 2.2 build 1737 or newer

In the Core FTP Site Manager click Advanced next to the Host / IP / URL box

20150520_core_ftp_advanced

 

Step 2:
Navigate to the SSH section and check the box next to Use Putty compatible SFTP

20150520_core_ftp_advanced_ssh

 

Step 3:
Change the Port to 2222 and make sure the connection type is SSH/SFTP.

20150520_core_ftp_port_connection

Step 4:
Connect!


FileZilla Quickconnect

Step 1:
Add sftp:// in front of your Host and change the Port to 2222.

20150520_filezilla_quickconnect

Step 2:
Quickconnect!


FileZilla Site Manager

Step 1:
Add sftp:// in front of your Host and change the Port to 2222.  Ensure Protocol is set to SFTP – SSH File Transfer Protocol.

20150520_filezilla_site_manager

Step 2:
Connect!


Additional info

The technical term for “add sftp:// in front of your host” is “prepend the host with the protocol identifier” according to the FileZilla tooltip.

20150520_filezilla_supported_protocols

Supported protocols in FileZilla are:

  • ftp:// for normal FTP with optional encryption
  • sftp:// for SSH file transfer protocol
  • ftps:// for FTP over TLS (implicit)
  • ftpes:// for FTP over TLS (explicit)

Reference: https://forums.adobe.com/thread/1102526


Creating this guide

Jing was used for screenshots and WP Smush was used to remove PNG metadata.