Connecting to webapp with ftp in a release pipeline to download files

Question

Ive tried connecting to an ftp with the following powershell script:

#FTP Server Information - SET VARIABLES
$ftp = "ftp://XXX.com/" 
$user = 'UserName' 
$pass = 'Password'
$folder = 'FTP_Folder'
$target = "C:\Folder\Folder1\"

#SET CREDENTIALS
$credentials = new-object System.Net.NetworkCredential($user, $pass)

function Get-FtpDir ($url,$credentials) {
    $request = [Net.WebRequest]::Create($url)
    $request.Method = [System.Net.WebRequestMethods+FTP]::ListDirectory
    if ($credentials) { $request.Credentials = $credentials }
    $response = $request.GetResponse()
    $reader = New-Object IO.StreamReader $response.GetResponseStream() 
    while(-not $reader.EndOfStream) {
        $reader.ReadLine()
    }
    #$reader.ReadToEnd()
    $reader.Close()
    $response.Close()
}

#SET FOLDER PATH
$folderPath= $ftp + "/" + $folder + "/"

$files = Get-FTPDir -url $folderPath -credentials $credentials

$files 

$webclient = New-Object System.Net.WebClient 
$webclient.Credentials = New-Object System.Net.NetworkCredential($user,$pass) 
$counter = 0
foreach ($file in ($files | where {$_ -like "*.txt"})){
    $source=$folderPath + $file  
    $destination = $target + $file 
    $webclient.DownloadFile($source, $target+$file)

    #PRINT FILE NAME AND COUNTER
    $counter++
    $counter
    $source
}

But i keep getting 530 error (authentication error) when connecting. I know the username and password is working cause i've tested it in other ftp clients. So, i think it might be a problem because the webapp demands a certain protocol, which isnt used in this script.

Ive been doing some research and i found something called Posh-SSH which might work. But is there a way to modify my script instead? When im connecting with winscp i use FTP protocol with TLS/SSL implicit encryption to port 990.

UPDATE: WORKS I made the following work:

#FTP Server Information - SET VARIABLES
$ftp = "ftp://waws-prod-xxx.ftp.azurewebsites.windows.net" 
$user = 'xxxxx\[email protected]' 
$pass = '$FRnqxxpxxxxxxx'
$folder = 'site/wwwroot/wwwroot/images/uploaded'
$target = "C:\Folder\Folder1\"

#SET CREDENTIALS
$credentials = new-object System.Net.NetworkCredential($user, $pass)

function Get-FtpDir ($url,$credentials) {
    $request = [Net.WebRequest]::Create($url)
    $request.Method = [System.Net.WebRequestMethods+FTP]::ListDirectory
    if ($credentials) { $request.Credentials = $credentials }
    $response = $request.GetResponse()
    $reader = New-Object IO.StreamReader $response.GetResponseStream() 
    while(-not $reader.EndOfStream) {
        $reader.ReadLine()
    }
    #$reader.ReadToEnd()
    $reader.Close()
    $response.Close()
}

#SET FOLDER PATH
$folderPath= $ftp + "/" + $folder + "/"

$files = Get-FTPDir -url $folderPath -credentials $credentials

Write-Host($files)


$files 

$webclient = New-Object System.Net.WebClient 
$webclient.Credentials = New-Object System.Net.NetworkCredential($user,$pass) 
$counter = 0
foreach ($file in ($files)){
    $source=$folderPath + $file  
    $destination = $target + $file 
    $webclient.DownloadFile($source, $target+$file)

    #PRINT FILE NAME AND COUNTER
    $counter++
    $counter
    $source
}

I ended up adding a new credential to the web app, and changing sftp in hostname to ftp, and now it works. Using the credentials from webpublish file works too.

I also made WinSCP work and im able to download the full folder with children.

#FTP Server Information - SET VARIABLES
$ftp = "waws-prod-xxx-xxx.ftp.azurewebsites.windows.net" 
$user = 'xxxxxx\[email protected]' 
$pass = '$xxxxxxxxx'
$folder = 'site/wwwroot/wwwroot/images/uploaded/*'
$target = "C:\Folder\Folder1\*"

# Load WinSCP .NET assembly
Add-Type -Path "WinSCPnet.dll"

# Setup session options
$sessionOptions = New-Object WinSCP.SessionOptions -Property @{
    Protocol = [WinSCP.Protocol]::Ftp
    HostName = $ftp
    UserName = $user
    Password = $pass 
}

$session = New-Object WinSCP.Session

try
{
    # Connect
    $session.Open($sessionOptions)

    # Download files
    $session.GetFiles($folder, $target).Check()
}
finally
{
    # Disconnect, clean up
    $session.Dispose()
}

Martin Prikryl Martin Prikryl · Accepted Answer · 2020-10-27T09:37:25

FtpWebRequest (nor any other built-in .NET FTP API) does not support implicit TLS/SSL encryption.
See Does .NET FtpWebRequest Support both Implicit (FTPS) and explicit (FTPES)?

Posh-SSH is SSH/SFTP library. It has nothing to do with FTP.

And as you get an "authentication error", I believe your problem is actually different. Double check your credentials. You are probably using wrong ones in your code.

Also, if WinSCP works for you, you can use WinSCP .NET assembly from the PowerShell. WinSCP GUI can even generate a code template for you, based on your working GUI session.

Connecting to webapp with ftp in a release pipeline to download files

1 Answers