I can connect FTP but not SFTP
 

Please help, I am going to lose it.
I have searched for hours for a solution with no avail.
I can connect to my server using FTP on port 21 but cannot connect using SFTP on port 22.
I have tried forwarding / opening ports on my router - no luck.
I have tried both transmit and cyberduck both are unable to connect.

Thanks in advance.

First off, are you sure that the server you are trying to connect to supports SFTP?

Can you SSH into that server?

Yes the server accepts SFTP. I also have remote login activated in the shared system pref.

Check the software Firewall is letting the connection go through.

I am a new Mac user, but am pretty sure there is no firewall software running. Am I wrong?

You don't need (and therefore don't want) that to be checked for what you are doing.
Checking that turns your Mac into an SSH server - i.e. it allows you (or someone else) to log into your Mac remotely.

You should try logging into that server via SSH (on the command-line or using some SSH GUI app) - just as a test to make sure that SSH is working. SFTP relies on SSH working.

Hayne, could you give the command line code? Thanks.

If you have an account with username "fred" on a remote computer named "myserver.com", you would log in to that remote computer via SSH with the following command (in a Terminal window):

ssh myserver.com -l fred

and you would be prompted for your password. After that you would get a command-prompt on the remote server.

Being that he is using SFTP and not FTPS, and that SFTP uses SSH, would this not be a good idea to keep turned on? You tell him to turn it off in one post, then your next post is to try to SSH in. I am hoping that he ignored your first post to turn it off, so the next 3 posts of him asking about SSH, get taken care of.

I am not trying to start anything, I am just seeing some things that would confuse a new user.

Or even non-new users apparently.
As I said above, checking the box for Remote Login in Sharing Preferences turns your Mac into an SSH server - i.e. makes it listen for incoming requests for SSH connections. This allows you to be at some other location (away from your Mac) and login (via command-line) to your Mac.

That is not what is relevant in the case of this thread. TimCDN is at his Mac and wants to login to some other machine (the FTP server - which is probably not a Mac). It's the opposite direction: login from his Mac into the remote server - not login into his Mac from some other machine.

I was under the impression, that both his computer AND the server were OS X. I took this post:
To mean, the server accepts SFTP, and on the server, I turned on remote login..."

Maybe he has a mac mini server? And only uses the Remote Desktop sharing until now? ;)

It does not appear he has ever specified what the server is. So I guess your assuming too. And the tone of, "Or even non-new users apparently." is not conducive of a friendly exchange of information or pleasant environment. If you had read my post, you would have realized I was confused about WHERE he turned on the remote login, not WHAT it does.

Maybe we ALL need to pay attention. ;)

Sorry - the possibility that TimCDN's "server" is his Mac never occurred to me.
I assumed that he was talking about an FTP server at some hosting company.

TimCDN:
Please clarify your situation. What is this server that you are trying to connect to?

Hayne, I would bet your assumption is more likely correct than my assumption. I was just clarifying where I was coming from. Regardless, it does need to be known, as I am thinking the OP's problem is not solved.

I am perfectly fine being wrong, but not if its only because of a miscommunication, or a simple mistake. :)

Thanks for all the replies guys - hopefully no need for a ref...
I am trying to log into a remote server, my web host.
I have always used (and am still able to) FTP but read an article about security and now want to use SFTP.
Hayne - I tried the terminal command and got this msg:
ssh: connect to host xxx.com port 22: Network is unreachable

So basic SSH isn't working. Or maybe something even more basic.
Let's start by verifying basic network connectivity.
Please run the following commands (with appropriate substitutions to use the actual name of your server) and show us what the results are:

host xxx.com
ping xxx.com

xxx.com has address xx.113.185.62
xxx.com mail is handled by 10 q0.netfirms.com.
xxx.com mail is handled by 20 q1.netfirms.com.

and ping is fine, the FTP on port 21 works fine, it is just the SFTP on port 22 that can't connect

Could it be a firewall or router problem? I forwarded port 22 to test to see if that was at fault - it made no diff.

Not likely a firewall problem.
And port forwarding would be relevant if you were trying to SSH into your Mac from some remote machine. (again the opposite direction from what you are trying to do)

It seems to me that the explanation is simple: that the server xxx.com does not support SSH.
Can you tell us again why you think it does support SSH?

From the hosts website: (and yes, I am using my primary account)

To connect to your main hosting account (secondary ftp accounts does not support SFTP connections) using SFTP, use the following settings:

Username (as indicated in your Netfirms Welcome Letter)
Password (as indicated in your Netfirms Welcome Letter)
Host to Connect to: yourdomain.com OR membername.netfirms.com
Port: 22

WinSCP and Filezilla are both free software that support SFTP connections on port 22.

NOTE #1: Filenames with spaces and special characters may cause your SFTP session to hang with some SFTP clients. We recommend that you name your files and folders with no spaces or use underscore "_" if necessary.
NOTE #2: If the folder contains over ~500 files, this may also cause your SFTP session to hang. We suggest that you organize your files so that no folder contains more than a few hundred files.

Have you tried both YourDomain.com (where YourDomain is your actual domain name) AND MemberName.netfirms.com (where MemberName is your actual member name at netfirms.com)?

In some hosting situations, you need to turn on ssh services in your server from some kind of configuration page.

Trevor