Connect Legacy FTP DevicesDirectly to Cloud Storage
IoT devices, IP cameras, PLCs, and legacy manufacturing systems often only speak FTP. Rilavek acts as a virtual FTP server that routes every upload directly into object storage and data lakes without touching the hardware.
Migrate legacy hardware to the cloud in three steps
Point the Hardware at Rilavek
Change the FTP host in your device's network settings to ftp.rilavek.com. The device thinks it's talking to a local FTP server.
Configure Your Destination
In the Rilavek dashboard, connect your S3 bucket, GCS, Azure Blob, or Snowflake. Use Smart Paths to organize files by device, date, or location.
Stream Without Code
Every file the device uploads is routed in real time to your destination. No middleware, no local disk writes, and no custom scripts to maintain.
Bridge layer vs big-bang replacement
The key value is not just protocol support. It is avoiding a hardware migration project before your data can start flowing somewhere useful.
| Question | Rilavek Bridge | Replace / Rebuild |
|---|---|---|
| Do devices need firmware changes? | No | Usually yes |
| Time to first useful cloud upload | Immediate after endpoint cutover | After replacement project completes |
| Operational risk | Low, sender behavior stays the same | Higher, device-side changes across the fleet |
| Scales across mixed hardware generations | Yes | Often fragmented |
| Source-side custom scripting | No | Common |
Migrate at your own pace
"Big Bang" migrations are risky. Swapping out firmware or replacing hardware fleet-wide to support modern APIs can take months or years. Meanwhile, the data from those devices still needs to go somewhere useful.
Use Rilavek as a Legacy FTP Bridge. Your existing devices keep uploading exactly as they do today. On the Rilavek side, that data lands in your S3 Data Lake, ready for analytics pipelines, AI models, or downstream ETL, all with zero changes to the hardware.
The Big Bang Migration Trap
Replacing 200 factory PLCs to update their network configuration is a multi-month project with real production risk. Rilavek acts as an abstraction layer, so the devices never need to change. You cut over the cloud side when you are ready, at your own pace.
Sender Groups for Fleet Management
Onboarding 100 cameras or PLCs individually is painful. Sender Groups let you create a shared credential profile and assign it to an entire device fleet at once. Add or remove devices from the group without touching each device's config.
Your device thinks it is saving to a local FTP server. We route it straight to S3 or another cloud destination.
Route industrial sensor data directly to Snowflake or Databricks via S3 with no glue code.
Stop writing and maintaining Python sync scripts. The routing logic lives in the Pipe config.
Files land in your cloud destination the moment the device finishes uploading. No batch windows.
Common deployment patterns
Teams usually route the same legacy upload stream into different modern systems depending on what the data is for.
Factory Cameras to S3
Image feeds land in object storage first, then downstream quality-control or AI jobs read from the bucket.
PLC Logs to Data Lake
Industrial telemetry lands in a central storage layer where ETL and analytics pipelines already know how to read it.
Edge Archive + Cloud Copy
Keep the device behavior unchanged while creating an immediate off-device copy for resilience and analysis.
Fleet Rollout by Group
Use shared onboarding flows for many devices and move plant-by-plant instead of all at once.
Built for the industrial and IoT use case
These are the requirements that come up when managing large fleets of legacy devices.
FTP, FTPS & SFTP
Every major transmission protocol is supported. Works with whatever firmware your device ships with.
Real-time Streaming
No local buffer. Files are streamed as they arrive directly into your cloud storage with zero on-disk intermediate writes.
Fleet-scale Sender Groups
Manage hundreds of devices under one credential profile. Onboard entire manufacturing lines in minutes.
Smart Path Formatting
Auto-organize files into /year/month/day/device-id/ folder structures without coding. Configure once in the Pipe.
Per-Device Identity
Each device gets a unique Sender credential. Compromise or decommission one device without affecting the rest of the fleet.
Any S3-Compatible Destination
AWS S3, GCS, Azure Blob, Snowflake, Databricks. Route industrial data to wherever your analytics stack expects it.
What matters once the pilot turns into a fleet
The first ten devices are easy. The real challenge is keeping credentialing, organization, and observability manageable when the count is much higher.
Credential grouping
Avoid one-off manual setup when onboarding large device batches.
Consistent path structure
Keep device and date-based organization predictable without per-device scripting.
Protocol flexibility
Accommodate mixed firmware realities across FTP, FTPS, and SFTP.
Low-change rollout
Move cloud-side architecture forward without forcing a synchronized hardware project.
Frequently Asked Questions about FTP to S3 Gateway
Do I need to update my device firmware?
No. If your device supports FTP, FTPS, or SFTP, you only change the host and credentials in the network settings. Rilavek handles the rest on the cloud side.
Can this work behind a NAT or corporate firewall?
Yes. Rilavek supports FTP passive mode, which is the standard configuration for devices behind firewalls and NAT. SFTP and FTPS also work without special firewall rules.
How do I manage 200 PLCs without configuring each one individually?
Use Sender Groups. Create a group with a shared credential profile and assign all 200 devices to it. Each device uses the same login but is tracked individually in the audit log via its filename patterns.
Can files be organized into specific bucket folders or prefixes?
Yes. You can configure destination prefixes in your Pipe settings and assign dedicated folders per sender. Any folder hierarchy or subdirectories sent by your device during the FTP session are preserved directly in your destination bucket.
What cloud destinations are supported?
Any S3-compatible storage provider works out of the box, including AWS S3, Cloudflare R2, Backblaze B2, Wasabi, MinIO, IDrive e2, and RustFS. You can also fan-out to multiple storage destinations simultaneously.
Does this work with legacy devices that cannot do passive mode or TLS?
Yes. We support standard RFC 959 plain FTP on port 21 for older PLCs, industrial hardware, and legacy appliances that lack TLS support. For systems that do support encryption, we offer explicit FTPS and SFTP to keep data safe in transit.
Can I use desktop clients like FileZilla, WinSCP, and Cyberduck?
Yes. Any standard FTP, FTPS, or SFTP client works seamlessly. We implement standard directory listings, UTF-8 filenames, and passive transfer negotiation, so your team can keep using FileZilla, WinSCP, Cyberduck, or shell scripts without adjusting their daily habits.
Bridge your legacy hardware to the cloud today.
No firmware changes. No migration risk. Point your device at Rilavek and your data lands in S3 within minutes.
Free plan includes 10GB of transfer. No credit card required.