I was getting a lot of timeouts using Notepad++ with plain FTP on Siteground. This was very annoying. I also find SSH very useful when editing websites, so decided it would be nice to have both SFTP and SSH access running.
To set up SSH with Siteground:
Load up Puttygen.exe - the SSH key file generator.
Set bits to 4096.
Make sure SSH-2 RSA is selected
DO NOT TYPE A PASSWORD
Click Generate (move mouse around the area to generate random bits for it)
Save the Private key as "siteground_domain.ppk"
You'll see at the top is the public key you need to paste into Siteground's SSH import textbox. Copy this text (it should begin with ssh-rsa)
Load up Cpanel in Siteground and choose SSH/Shell Access
Paste the public key into the "Upload SSH Key" text box and click "Upload".
Siteground is now ready to be connected to using the private key on your machine.
To connect using Putty :
Load up Pageant.exe (the putty key manager).
Right click on the icon and choose View Keys. Add the "siteground_domain.ppk" private key you created/saved.
Load up Putty or right click the icon and connect to Siteground SSH using port 18765. It should open a window asking for 'login'.
You can then login to the command shell using your standard FTP/Siteground login id.
To set up on Notepad++
as Notepad++ can only only deal with OpenSSH private keys, you need to export the same private key, but as an OpenSSH key using Puttygen.
So load Puttygen, load the "siteground_domain.ppk" key you generated earlier.
Click Conversions and choose "Export OpenSSH key". Save this as something like "siteground_domain_OpenSSH.ppk" (this key you can now use in Notepad++).
Load up Notepad++. Create new profile - the parameters are the same as regular FTP - except :
Connection type: SFTP
Port: 18765
Go to the Authenication tab and tick "Try private key file authenication" (do not tick anything else).
Choose the "siteground_domain_OpenSSH.ppk" key as the "private key file".
Save the profile and try connecting, it should ask you to accept the host key. The log should read something like :
Connecting
[SFTP] Host key accepted
[SFTP] Successfully authenticated
Connected
To connect using Filezilla SFTP :
Set up a standard FTP site with the regular parameters of host/login/password (Logon type - normal) for your Siteground account, except Protocol should be SFTP and port should be 18765.
Then go to Edit -> Settings -> Connection -> SFTP
Click "Add Keyfile". Load up the "siteground_domain.ppk" private key file you generated earlier.
That's the set up!
Click connect on the site, the log should be something like this :
Connecting to X.X.X.X:18765...
Response: fzSftp started
Command: keyfile "E:\ftp_keys\siteground_mywebsite.ppk"
Command: open "mywebsitelogin@X.X.X.X" 18765
Status: Connected to X.X.X.X
Status: Retrieving directory listing...
Command: pwd
Response: Current directory is: "/home/mywebsite"
Command: ls
Status: Listing directory /home/mywebsite
Filezilla set up with pics can be found here : http://kb.siteground.com/how_to_establish_sftp_connection_to_hosting_with_filezilla/