Secure Software Distribution to Customers

The Problem

Software Delivery at Scale Is Hard

Your build pipeline produces installers, patches, and license keys every sprint. But getting those artifacts to 500+ enterprise customers securely is a different challenge entirely.

Manual Distribution Breaks Down

Email attachments hit size limits. Cloud storage links expire and lack audit trails. FTP servers require per-customer credential management that nobody wants to maintain.

Customers demand protocol choice — some have locked-down networks that only allow SFTP on port 22. Others want browser access. A few need mapped drives via WebDAV for automated downstream processing.

And when a customer downloads a release, your CRM has no idea. Sales can't follow up. Support can't verify which version a customer is running.

The status quo

✗ Email: 25 MB limit, no audit trail

✗ Cloud links: expire, no protocol choice

✗ Manual FTP: credential sprawl

✗ No download visibility for CRM

✗ No per-customer quotas

✗ Different tools for each protocol

The Solution

One Server, Every Customer, Every Protocol

Stylus SFTP Server gives each customer a read-only home directory accessible via SFTP, FTPS, or WebDAV. Your build system uploads releases through the Portal REST API. A webhook notifies your CRM the moment a customer downloads.

Your build pipeline uploads via the Portal REST API. Customers download via their preferred protocol. Every download fires a webhook to your CRM.

Step-by-Step Setup

Configure in Four Files

Read-only customer accounts, per-customer quotas, webhook notifications, and JDBC auth — all from XML configuration.

filesystem-config.xml — Read-only default + quotas


<filesystem

  xmlns="http://www.xmlpipelineserver.com/sftp/">

  <home-root>${STYLUS_SFTPSERVER_DATA}/homes/${username}</home-root>

  <default-access>read-only</default-access>



  <!-- Per-customer download quotas -->

  <quotas>

    <default-quota>5GB</default-quota>

  </quotas>

</filesystem>

sftp-server.xml — JDBC auth for customer accounts


<user-manager>

  <provider>jdbc</provider>

  <jdbc>

    <url>jdbc:h2:${STYLUS_SFTPSERVER_DATA}/db/sftpdb;AUTO_SERVER=TRUE;CIPHER=AES</url>

  </jdbc>

</user-manager>



<!-- Webhook fires on every DOWNLOAD event -->

<audit>

  <webhooks>

    <webhook>

      <url>https://crm.example.com/api/sftp-hook</url>

      <events>DOWNLOAD</events>

      <hmac-secret>${WEBHOOK_SECRET}</hmac-secret>

    </webhook>

  </webhooks>

</audit>

Build pipeline — Upload via Portal REST API


# Upload a release build to customer acme-corp's home directory

curl -X POST https://sss.example.com:9443/portal/api/files/upload \

  -H "Authorization: Bearer ${BUILD_TOKEN}" \

  -F "path=/acme-corp/" \

  -F "file=@build/release-v3.2.1.zip"



# Customer downloads via SFTP (read-only)

sftp acme-corp@sss.example.com

sftp> get release-v3.2.1.zip

Fetching /release-v3.2.1.zip ... done

Key Benefits

Why Vendors Choose Stylus SFTP Server

Read-Only by Default

Customers can download but never modify or delete your release artifacts. A single configuration line enforces read-only access across all protocols.

Protocol Freedom

Customers connect via SFTP, FTPS, WebDAV, or the browser portal — whatever their network policy allows. One server, one set of credentials, five protocols.

CRM Visibility

Webhook notifications fire the instant a customer downloads a file. Your CRM knows which customers are on the latest release — without asking.

Per-Customer Quotas

Prevent bandwidth abuse with per-user disk quotas. Each customer gets a dedicated home directory with enforced storage limits across all access protocols.