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Dear Vikram,
Thank you for submitting this RFE and clearly articulating the onboarding challenge when creating SFTP connections on CH using AI and JSON upload. We appreciate you highlighting this from a practical automation and user‑experience perspective.
This request identifies a usability gap in the current bulk JSON upload capability, where users can create either inbound or outbound SFTP connections, but not both together in a single operation. In real‑world scenarios, SFTP integrations are typically bi‑directional, and requiring separate JSON uploads for inbound and outbound increases setup time, introduces duplication, and raises the risk of configuration inconsistencies.
Enabling bulk JSON upload to create both inbound and outbound directions in one request would streamline connection creation, improve automation workflows, and align better with how customers provision SFTP connections at scale using APIs and AI‑driven setup.
Questions
To properly evaluate scope and design implications, the PM should clarify:
JSON structure expectation
Should inbound and outbound definitions be part of a single combined JSON payload, or separate sections within the same upload?
Dependency handling
If one direction (inbound or outbound) fails validation, should the entire connection creation fail, or should partial creation be allowed?
Use‑case priority
Is the primary need initial connection creation, or also bulk updates to existing inbound/outbound connections?
Consistency and defaults
Are inbound and outbound expected to share common attributes (partner, authentication, certificates), or are there frequent cases where they differ?
Backward compatibility
Should the existing single‑direction JSON upload continue to work unchanged, with bi‑directional upload as an optional enhancement?
Scale
Approximately how many connections are typically created using this bulk upload approach?
These details will help ensure the enhancement is intuitive, safe, and compatible with existing automation patterns while reducing overall setup effort.
Thanks again for sharing this enhancement idea. Feedback like this helps us improve automation, reduce customer effort, and make configuration workflows more efficient at scale.
—
Manoj Panda
Senior Product Manager
IBM Sterling