How to load data from SFTP Bulk to Snowflake destination

Learn how to use Airbyte to synchronize your SFTP Bulk data into Snowflake destination within minutes.

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Start syncing with Airbyte in 3 easy steps within 10 minutes

Set up a SFTP Bulk connector in Airbyte

Connect to or one of 400+ pre-built or 10,000+ custom connectors through simple account authentication.

Set up Snowflake destination for your extracted SFTP Bulk data

Select where you want to import data from your source to. You can also choose other cloud data warehouses, databases, data lakes, vector databases, or any other supported Airbyte destinations.

Configure the SFTP Bulk to Snowflake destination in Airbyte

This includes selecting the data you want to extract - streams and columns -, the sync frequency, where in the destination you want that data to be loaded.
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Check out our interactive demo and our how-to videos to learn how you can sync data from any source to any destination.

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How to Sync to Manually

Step 1: Set Up Snowflake Account and Configure Access

Begin by ensuring you have a Snowflake account set up. Create a dedicated database and warehouse for your data import. Configure the necessary roles and privileges for users who will access this data. Ensure that you have the Snowflake CLI (SnowSQL) installed and configured on your local machine to execute SQL commands.

Use a command-line SFTP client (such as OpenSSH SFTP) to connect to the SFTP server. Ensure you have the necessary credentials (username, password, or key-based authentication) to access the SFTP server. Test the connection to ensure you can access and list files in the SFTP directory.

Once connected to the SFTP server, navigate to the directory containing the data files you need to transfer. Use the SFTP `get` command to download these files to your local machine or a server where you can perform further processing. Ensure the files are downloaded in a format compatible with Snowflake, such as CSV or JSON.

Inspect the downloaded data files to ensure they are correctly formatted and contain the necessary data. If needed, clean or transform the data using scripting languages like Python or shell scripts. Ensure the data is free from errors and aligns with the table schema in Snowflake.

Use the SnowSQL command-line tool to upload your data files to a Snowflake stage. First, create an external stage within your Snowflake environment using the `CREATE STAGE` command. Next, use the `PUT` command in SnowSQL to upload your data files to this stage. This step temporarily stores the files in Snowflake for further processing.

With the data files in the Snowflake stage, use the `COPY INTO` command to load the data into your target Snowflake table. Ensure that the table schema matches the data format. Use options within the `COPY INTO` command to handle any specific needs such as file format specifications or error tolerances.

After loading the data, perform a verification step by running queries to ensure the data has been loaded correctly and completely. Check row counts and spot-check data quality. Once verified, clean up by removing the files from the Snowflake stage using the `REMOVE` command to free up space. Additionally, delete or archive the local copies of the data files if no longer needed, ensuring secure handling of sensitive data.

By following these steps, you can transfer and load data from SFTP to Snowflake manually without relying on third-party connectors or integrations.