How to self-host SFTPGo

Connect FileZilla or any FTP program straight to your files. Cresdock runs it on a server you own, from a catalogue, with no Docker and no reverse proxy to configure.

What Cresdock does for you with SFTPGo

• Its configuration is written before the container ever starts, so SFTPGo comes up already set up rather than showing you a blank first-run form.

• Reached through your panel login. There is no second password to invent for SFTPGo and no port to open on your firewall.

• Your Downloads and Media folders are already mounted, and they are the SAME folders your other apps see — so files land where the rest of your setup expects them, with no path mapping to work out.

• Works with FileZilla and any other FTPS-capable program. Its login is created for you when it is installed and shown on its card, so there is nothing to set up first.

• It sees the same Downloads and Media folders as your other apps, and nothing else — full access to your own files, and no one else's.

• The connection is encrypted. Your FTP program will ask you to accept this server's certificate the first time, then remember it.

Why run SFTPGo yourself

Cloud storage is rented, priced per month forever, and readable by whoever runs it. The same files on a server you own cost what the disk cost.

What kind of server SFTPGo needs

Light on power, heavy on disk — sizing is really a question of how much you want to keep. If your library outgrows the server, Cresdock can put it on cloud storage and keep it looking like a normal folder.

Cresdock itself is undemanding — it runs on a small rented server, an old desktop or a mini PC, on Ubuntu or Debian. Everything it installs shares that machine, so the honest question is not "will this app run" but "how much am I going to put on here in total".

Where to run SFTPGo

SFTPGo runs wherever Cresdock runs, and the choice is about the machine, not the app:

• At home, on hardware you already own. A mini PC, an old desktop or a NAS that can run Debian. Cresdock works behind a home router with no port forwarding and no domain, so SFTPGo is reachable on your own network first and from outside only if you choose.
• On a rented server. A small VPS is enough for most apps and is the usual answer when SFTPGo should be reachable from anywhere. The setup guide covers the specs and the one-command install.
• Through a provider that runs Cresdock. Hosting companies deploy Cresdock workspaces for their customers, so SFTPGo can come with a server you rent rather than one you set up — ask your provider, or see how providers offer it.

Installing SFTPGo

1. Put Cresdock on a server

   One line on any Ubuntu or Debian machine — a rented VPS, a spare PC, a home server. It sets itself up.

2. Pick SFTPGo from the catalogue

   Click Install. The panel pulls the image, writes the configuration, gets a certificate and starts it.

3. Open it from your dashboard

   Its address and any login details are on its card. Start, stop, update, roll back or remove it from the same place, any time.

What this replaces

Doing it by hand means writing something like this, then keeping it working:

services:
  sftpgo:
    image: drakkan/sftpgo:v2.6
    restart: unless-stopped
    ports:
      - "2121:2121"
    environment:
      - PUID=1000
      - PGID=1000
      - TZ=Etc/UTC
    volumes:
      - ./sftpgo/config:/config
      - ./downloads:/downloads
      - ./media:/media

And that is the easy half. Still to do:

• Install a reverse proxy and write a server block for it

• Get a TLS certificate and set up automatic renewal

• Create the folders above with the right ownership, or it will not start

• Repeat all of it for the next app, and again on every server rebuild

On Cresdock, SFTPGo is one click and none of the above exists.

Looking for what SFTPGo itself can do? That lives in its own documentation — this page is only about running it.

Pairs well with: Syncthing  ·  dufs  ·  Shell

Before you start: where to rent a server  ·  what it needs to run  ·  Cresdock vs CasaOS