FTP Forwarding Agent Configuration

Owned by Jenni Wallin
Last updated: Mar 16, 2023 by Former user (Deleted)
5 min read

You open the FTP forwarding agent configuration dialog from a workflow configuration. To open the FTP forwarding agent configuration, click  Build → New Configuration. Select  Workflow from the Configurations dialog. When prompted to  Select workflow type, select  Batch. Click Add agent and select FTP from the Forwarding tab of the Agent Selection dialog.

This dialog contains two tabs: FTP and Filename Template. The FTP tab in turn contains four tabs; Connection Target, Advanced, and Backlog, which will be described on this page. For information about Filename Template configuration, see Workflow Template.

Connection

The Connection tab is used to configure the remote server connection.


The FTP forwarding agent configuration - Connection tab

SettingDescription
Connection Information

Host

Enter the hostname or IP address of the remote host. If a connection cannot be established to this host, the Additional Hosts specified in the Advanced tab, are tried.

Username

Enter the username for the remote host account.

Password

Enter the associated password. 

Transfer Type

Select the data transfer type to be used during file retrieval.

  • Binary - agent uses binary transfer type. Default setting.

  • ASCII - agent uses ASCII transfer type.

File System TypeSpecify the file system type of the remote host. You can choose between Unix, Windows NT, and VAX/VMS. 
Forwarding Retries

Enable

Select this check box to enable forwarding connection retry attempts.

When this option is selected, the agent will attempt to connect to the host as many times as is stated in the Retry Intervals(s) field. The maximum number of attempts is defined in the Max Entries field. 

Retry Interval(s)

Enter the retry time interval in seconds.

Max EntriesEnter the maximum number of forwarding retry attempts. 

Target Tab

The FTP forwarding agent configuration - Target tab


SettingDescription
Input File Handling

Input Type

The agent can act on two input types. Depending on which one the agent is configured to work with, the behavior will differ.

The default input type is byte array, that is the agent expects byte arrays. 

If the input type is MultForwardingUDR, the behavior will change. For further information about the agent's behavior with MultiForwardingUDR input, refer to FTP Forwarding Agent MultiForwardingUDR Input. 

File Information

Directory

Enter the absolute pathname of the target directory on the remote host. The pathname may also be given relative to the home directory of the user's account.

The files will be temporarily stored in the automatically created subdirectory DR_TMP_DIR. When an endBatch message is received, the files are moved from the subdirectory to the target directory.

Create Directory

Select this check box to create the directory, or the directory structure, in the specified path.

Note!

The directories are created during workflow execution.

Compression

Select the compression type of the target files. When enabled this will compress the files before they are stored on the server. 

  • No Compression - The agent will not compress the files.

  • Gzip - The agent will compress using Gzip.

    Note!

    No extra extension will be appended to the target filenames, even if compression is selected.


Target File Handling

Produce Empty Files

Enable this option if you need to create empty files.

Handling of Already Existing Files

Select the behavior of the agent when handling existing files. The available options are:

  • Overwrite - The old file will be overwritten and a warning entry will be created in the System Log.

  • Add Suffix - If the file already exists the suffix ".1" will be added. An ascending order of numeral suffixes will be applied if it already exists, starting from ".2". 

  • Abort - This is the default option and it is applied for upgraded configurations.

Temporary File Handling

Use Temporary Directory

If this option is selected, the agent will move the file to a temporary directory before placing it in the target directory. After the whole file has been transferred to the target directory, and the endBatch message has been received, the temporary file is deleted from the temporary directory.

Use Temporary File

If there is no write access to the target directory and, hence, a temporary directory cannot be created, the agent can move the file to a temporary file that is stored directly in the target directory. After the whole file has been transferred, and the endBatch message has been received, the temporary file will be renamed.

The temporary filename is unique for every execution of the workflow. It consists of a workflow and agent ID, and a file number.

Abort Handling

Select the file handling behavior in case of cancelBatch or rollback is received. The options are to Delete Temporary File or Leave Temporary File.

Note!

When a workflow aborts, the file will not be removed until the next time the workflow is run.

Advanced Tab

The FTP forwarding agent configuration - Advanced tab


SettingDescription
Advanced Settings

Command Port

Select the port number of the remote FTP server.

Timeout(s)

The maximum time, in seconds, to wait for a response from the server. A value of "0" will wait indefinitely. 

Passive Mode (PASV)

This enables Passive Mode. 

In passive mode, the channel for data transfer between the client and server is initiated by the client instead of by the server. This is useful when a firewall is situated between the client and the server.

Additional Hosts

Here you can specify additional host names or IP addresses that can access the data storage. Connections attempts to these hosts are initiated, in sequence from top to bottom, if the agent fails to connect to the remote host set in the Connection tab.

Use the Add, Edit, Remove, Up, and Down buttons to configure the host list.

Note!

The names of the created files are determined by the settings in the Filename Template tab. The use and setting of private threads for an agent, enabling multi-threading within a workflow, is configured in the Thread Buffer tab. For further information, see Thread Buffer Tab in Workflow Template.

Backlog Tab

The Backlog tab contains configurations related to backlog functionality. If the backlog is not enabled, the files will be moved directly to their final destination when an end batch message is received. If the backlog however is enabled, the files will first be moved to a directory called DR_POSTPONED_MOVE_DIR and then to their final destination. Refer to Retrieves in FTP Forwarding Agent Transaction Behavior for further information about transaction behavior.

When the backlog is initialized and when backlogged files have been transferred a note is registered in the System Log.

The FTP forwarding agent configuration - Backlog tab


SettingDescription

Enable Backlog

Check to enable the backlog option.

Directory

Base directory in which the agent will create sub-directories to handle backlogged files. Absolute or relative path names can be used.

Max Size 

Type

Files is the maximum number of files allowed in the backlog folder. Bytes refer to the total sum of all files that reside in the backlog folder. If a limit is exceeded the workflow will abort.

Size

Enter the maximum number of files or bytes that the backlog folder can contain.

Processing Order

Determine the order by which the backlogged data will be processed once the connection is reestablished, and select between First In First Out (FIFO) or Last In First Out (LIFO).

Duplicate File Handling

Specifies the behavior if a file with the same file name as the one being transferred is detected. The options are Abort or Overwrite and the action is taken both when a file is transferred to the target directory or to the backlog.