SFTP through AWS LB

Question

We need to host an SFTP server (SFTPGO) on EC2 and expose it publicly (Due to some custom requirements and cost reasons, we cannot use AWS SFTP).

The way I am thinking of doing this is:

1. 2x EC2 instances running SFTPGo backend by some shared DB to store the user data, virtual folder configs, etc. This sftpgo will mostly act as sftp-over-s3.
2. An AWS LB (ALB / NLB) to route the traffic to port 2022 (where sftpgo will be listening for sftp).

Is it possible to use ALB for SFTP traffic? what would be the listener type? Or should we be using NLB here?

Yaniv Rozenboim · Accepted Answer

ALB supports HTTP/HTTPS traffic only so it is not relevant here.

With NLB you can do simple TCP port 22 based load balancing (and if necessary map the port towards the servers from 22 to 2022 to avoid running the sftp process with root privileges).

For storage you can also consider EFS and mount the same storage to all your EC2 instances using NFS protocol.

Vinamra Jain · Answer

Hi! The AWS SFTP (AWS Transfer Family) service team would be keen to learn more about your custom requirements and cost concerns, as it helps us to refine our products and pricing based on customer feedback. Would you be willing to speak with the service team and share your feedback on the AWS SFTP service? Please do reach-out via your account team or AWS support channels.

SFTP through AWS LB

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